My Thirty Minute Phone Call From Mitch McConnell!

Last night, just as I was falling off to sleep, my telephone rang and I answered. To my ecstatic surprise, it was Mitch McConnell in the flesh, so to speak, since so many million Americans have begun to doubt his existence. I spat, sputtered, regained control of my rapidly beating heart and finally responded, "Mr. Senator, thank you very much for calling me! I'm surprised you remember me since it has been so many years since we last spoke." Mitch rejoined, "Not remember you??? How could I not remember you? We ate pinto beans together at the old Rock House Restaurant at the mouth of Slone Fork between Hindman and Mousie in the summer of 1968 when we were both just young whipper snappers. You were sixteen years old and fresh out of high school at that wonderful old Knott County High School at Pippa Passes on Caney Creek, what an institution! I was a young, wet behind the ears attorney, just twenty-six years young, just graduated from law school the year before, working for Marlowe Cook in his run for the US Senate seat as his college coordinator with all the colleges in the state. We were desperate for every vote we could find so he sent me to see you in Knott County because you were enrolled in Alice Lloyd College after a wonderful academic summer or two in Upward Bound, that reprehensible program which had been such a waste of federal money by Democrats." I was thunderstruck to say the least but I tried to speak, to ask what he could possibly need from me now almost 60 years after that fortuitous bowl of pinto beans. I tried to speak, to question why it was his idea to call me now. "You and that bowl of pinto beans changed my life forever. You actually agreed to be the campus student chair for Marlowe Cook and Richard Nixon, God bless their sainted souls! You worked that job so hard, called me once a week at my office in Louisville and repeatedly told me the truth, that there were no Republican votes on Caney Creek. You taught me how to face the truth with that kind of honesty. You set me on the path to great power, motivated me to become a powerful United States Senator and Senate Majority Leader for a record stretch. I'll never forget you or that wonderful bowl of pinto beans." I said,"Sir, I'm afraid that you have more important calls to make than this one. I hope you don't intend to waste twenty minutes of your valuable time with me as you have with so many of your Republican colleagues! To my utter surprise, Mitch then said with a sly chuckle, "Waste twenty minutes? Oh no, this won't be a waste, and I'm going to give you a full half hour unlike the others. Just relax and listen as I tell you my plans." I agreed to sit quietly and listen as the half hour flew by, or actually just twenty-eight minutes of it. I can't divulge what plans Mitch told me about but they were fantastic, exhilirating, stupendous, supercalifragilisticexpealidoscious, but he swore me to secrecy. Then just as my bedside clock showed the call to have been going on for twenty-seven minutes, I heard a stentorian but heavenly voice in the background of Mitch's call. "Mitch, it's time. Let's go, please!" I heard Mitch respond, "Peter? Saint Peter, NO, it can't be. I have so much to do. I was just telling Roger Hicks how much I have planned from now until the end of my term...". Then,to my utter consternation, the line went dead...and, I suspect, the line did not go dead alone.

Pinto Bean Politics!

When I was growing up in a country store on Beaver Creek in Knott County Kentucky, we sold pinto beans by the pound, weighed from a galvanized barrel that sat under the main counter in the store. We bought the beans in 100 pound bags, dumped them in the barrel which also held a pretty nice blackjack carved from a piece of wood to a shape just like a miniature baseball bat, about a foot long with a nice handgrip and about a 3-4 inch circumference on the head which was drilled to about three inches down the handle to include a nice round cylinder of lead. To my knowledge the blackjack was never used in the long period my parents operated the store. Our customers came in, usually talked small talk for a short while, bought whatever they needed, maybe even a pound or two of pinto beans, and left without ever needing to be knocked out with the blackjack in the bean barrel. I no longer own that blackjack but in today's world of the most corrupt politics in the history of the nation, and the worst living example of a human being working on a daily basis from the White House to destroy the entire nation and our democracy, we sure need a good metaphorical political blackjack. On a recent check of the price of pinto beans, I found that WalMart is charging $14.94 for a 20 pound bag of pinto beans. That boils down to about 74.7cents a pound for bulk pinto beans. WalMart is now selling the one pound bag of pinto beans for a dollar. When I was often helping my parents behind the bean barrel, I don't think we ever charged more than 10cents a pound and we were making a decent profit in those days. The point to this focus on pinto beans is important because there are millions of Americans of all stripes and cultures who are eating pinto beans on a daily basis. Several different cultures are highly dependent on pinto beans as a staple source of protein. Most people of moderate to poor means in the American south depend on pinto beans as a major portion of their diet. That includes both Caucasian and African American citizens of the deep south. Most members of the various Hispanic cultures in America are also largely dependent on pinto beans. Frijoles, in many forms, are a common sight on Hispanic dinner tables. Nearly every person who ever grew up in Central and Southern Appalachia grew up, in large part, on pinto beans. We even had pinto beans once a week in the high school lunch room at Knott County High School at Pippa Passes, Kentucky, when I was a student there. Pinto beans may well be the answer to help us solve our ongoing attempted tyranny by TRAITOR Trump and the Right Wing Radical Repugnican party.

One of my favorite memories about pinto beans goes back to about 1992 when I was working for a short while, between human services jobs, at a horse farm in Central Kentucky. I was salesprepping several brood mares which were headed toward a November Breeding Stock Sale at Keeneland. The mares were actuallly owned by a man who was contracting for the sales prepping with the owner of a farm I was working on at the time. I was sent to the owner's farm to do the work. One day, the owner who was born and raised in Quito Ecuador, a Mexican immigrant blacksmith, and I were standing in front of a barn in a conversation and found ourselves talking about how we had grown up in three very different locations and cultures. We suddenly discovered that all three of us had grown up eating pinto beans, one in Mexico, one in Ecuador, and one in Eastern Kentucky. It was an educational moment for me for sure. What is the point to all this and politics? What the Democratic party needs to do to win all the next upcoming elections in this country is to locate, educate, register, and guarantee the turnout to vote of the great majority of the pinto bean cultures in America. If we do that we will be back in control of our country, our Democracy, and our future. We will no longer be facing the horrible situation in which we finid ourselves today. We can begin the next 25 to 50 years of necessary work in order to save our country after all the political, moral, and ethical damage which has been done over the last ten years by TRAITOR Trump and the other TRAITORS who facilitate most of his crimes against the government, the country, the world, and the planet. The answer is all about pinto beans.

When Impeachment Happens, It Must Be Multiple And Simultaneous!

During the so-called "Alaska Summit" between Russian President Vladimir Putin and TRAITOR Trump, it should have become apparent to most rational Americans that TRAITOR Trump is owned and controlled by Putin, cannot take any definitive action on any subject which remotely involves Russia without the approval of Putin, and will do literally anything and commit any crime in order to appease Putin and attempt to legitimize a man who has open arrest warrants from the World Criminal Court as a result of his war crimes in Ukraine. Actually Putin is the second person TRAITOR Trump has held "summits" with who has open arrest warrants from the World Criminal Court also. Various journalists from every legitimate American media company have stated clearly after that so-called summit that the event was a disaster for both Ukraine and for TRAITOR Trump. It was immediately referred to by several journalists who are experts on war journalism as a "nothing burger", an old expression from the world of Hollywood gossip columnists in the 1950's to describe an event which has no worth, no significant importance, and is of little consequence to anyone. But it also signaled once again that TRAITOR Trump will do anything to appease and legitimize Putin, will do literally anything to harm Ukraine, and will stoop to any crime which will, in his twisted brain, give him some kind of advantage over anyone alive. Sooner or later, TRAITOR Trump must be impeached, removed from the White House by military force if necessary, indicted in federal criminal courts of at least part of his recent crimes, arrested, tried, convicted, sentenced, incarcerated, and left in federal prison until the day he dies before being buried beside Osama Bin Laden. But this blog post is really intended to impress on the world that simply removing TRAITOR Trump from the White House is not sufficient and could actually endanger the country and the world even more. He is surrounded and supported by a hand picked conglomearation of criminals, TRAITORS, and Russian Agents who are all equally as dangerous. There is no one in the current line of succession who is fit to serve in any position of public trust at any level all the way down to potentially becoming a local magistrate or constable. Several of them have already been convicted of crimes or accused of serous crimes including TRAITOR Trump himself who has been convicted of 34 of the 82 felonies for which he was indicted; held legally responsible for the rape of E. Jean Carroll in a monetary sense; held responsible for stealing money from a New York based "charity" and barred from being an officer of any corporation licensed in New York. For those 92 felony indictments, he was indiced in fur jurisdictions by five seperate grand juries. Charles Kushner, Jared Kushner's father, who is now the Ambassador to France has previously pled guilty to several counts of tax crimes. Peter Navarro who is not in the direct line of succession in a position which doesn't require senate confirmation was found guilty of contempt of a congressional sub poena. Kristi Noem has admitted in her autobiography to killing at least two animals, her hunting dog, and a goat which had done nothing at time she chose to shoot it after killing the dog did not fully satisfy her rage. She is in the line of succession. admittedly, Noem is in last place in the line of succession;but if everyone who is disqualified for legal, moral, or ethical reasons from succeeding an impeached TRAITOR Trump, she could be the last dog standing, if you will excuse that turn of phrase. The one person in the line of succession who is not directly under the thumb of TRAITOR Trump is Chuck Grasley who is President Pro Tempore of the Senate but also already 91 years old. If he is the only rational replacement for TRAITOR Trump, God Help Us All! Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has been proven to have disclosed highly classified information to an unsuspecting journalist who had the patriotism and moral conviction to report the offense. First in the line of succession is J. D. Vance who has proven time after time that his entire life and career are built on lies, yet, if TRAITOR Trump should be impeacheed and removed after the 2026 congressional election theoretically gives the Democratic party a majority in both houses of congress, Vance would suddenly find himself in the position of power which he lusts after and proves on a daily basis he is tragically unfit to ever hold. Several years ago, he was summarily removed from the board of AppHarvest which has since failed, gone bankrupt, and been sold. There is only one remotely viable choice to succeed to the office TRAITOR Trump now holds, and that person is 91 year old Chuck Grasley. If and when the day comes, as it must, and TRAITOR Trump is impeached, removed, and criminally charged for at least part of his crimes, Grasley, must be the successor. To ensure that succession, Vance must also be impeached simultaneously with TRAITOR Trump. The Senate will find it necessary to hold the impeachment vote of Vance first, refuse to consider the possibility that the vice presidency could be filled instantly with another unfit subject, and vote to convict and remove TRAITOR Trump immediately after removing Vance. After the impeachment by a new House of Representatives majority in 2027, convicted by a new Senate majority, and removed from the White House which, based on the TREASON of January 6, will most likely require military intervention, we would be faced with the need to pray constantly that President Grasley be allowed to live and remain rational until January 20, 2029, when the new Democratic President, whomever that might be, could be sworn in.

Mass Population Movements And William Faulkner

I am in the process of reading "The Unvanquised" by William Faulkner. As I sometimes do, I found a quotation in the middle of the book which I am compelled to write about today. This is that quotation below:

"...he nor they could not have known what it was yet it was there--one of those impulses inexplicable yet invincible which appear among races of people at intervals and drive them to pick up and leave all security and familiarty of earth and home and start out, they don't know where, empty handed, blind to everything but a hope and a doom."

"The Unvanquised" the book from which I drew that quotation is a fairly well known book by William Faulkner which was published in 1934, minety-one years ago, long before anyone on earth imagined that Russia and Ukraine would now be more than three years engaged in a war of aggression which was started, perpetrated, and perpetuated by Vladimir Putin and Russia, no one else. As a result of that war, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian citizens have been forced to feel one of "those impules inexplicable yet invincible which appear among races of people". As a result, just as Faulkner in his book was describing the mass exodus of African American slaves from the defeated south after the Civil War had ended. But Ukraine is not now, and has never been defeated in the last three plus years of this war. Yes, many of their people have become refugess for a variety of reasons within the greater reason of having been faced with the possibility of death if they remained in Ukraine. They have picked up and left all security and familiarity they have ever known, started out empty handed and blind to everything except a hope of a safe future in some other peaceful country and the overwhelming and inexplicable doom they have known quite well ever since the day Putin declared his war of aggression and invaded their country. They have traveled to dozens of other countries around the globe, some simply to cross the borders of Ukraine into Poland or another much safer European nation. Others have traveled across the planet and hundreds of thousands of them have come to America over the years of war chasing that hope. From January 20, 2021, until January 20, 2025, those people who came to America had that hope while living in a country which was compassionate, welcoming, and rational in its approch to them and their forced exodus from home. Now, from January 20, 2025, their hope has been destroyed and, once again, all they can see is that doom which they fear so justifiably. America is now in the hands of the worst TRAITOR in the history of the world, TRAITOR Trump who is working daily to attempt to force Ukraine and its democratic government to surrender to their attacker and surrender much of their country, their land, and their hope to that attacker, that dictator Vladimir Putin and to his Russian Agent, the TRAITOR Trump.

I was stunned as I read that quotation above from William Faulkner and realized just how applicable it is to the treachery of TRAITOR Trump who has abandoned ever promise the United States made to the Ukrainian people and their democracy in order to support his Russian master. Just a few days ago in Alaska, the world watched as TRAITOR Trump kowtowed to Vladimir Putin and his design to destroy Ukraine and its democracy. We watched the world's worst dictator being welcomed to American soil by the world's worst TRAITOR and would be dictator, TRAITOR Trump. We watched as the two of them attempted to decide the fate of a sovereign nation and its people without a single representative of their interests in the room. We watched the attempted murder of the nation of Ukraine in order for TRAITOR Trump to appease and attempt to legitimize his Russian owner. Just yesterday, we watched the President of Ukraine being ignored by TRAITOR Trump as he disembarked from his plane at the airport in Washington, DC, after TRAITOR Trump had rolled out a red carpet for their would be destroyer and dictator in Alaska. But Ukraine does have allies across Europe in several countries, the European Union, and NATO. But can Ukraine and their supporters actually win this conference room war against them? We don't know. But what we do know that they cannot win it if the American people also surrender to Putin and TRAITOR Trump. We must not do that. We must support Ukraine and their fledgling democracy. We must be the nation our Founding Fathers intended us to be.

Let's Hold A Nationwide One Day Strike To Oppose TRAITOR Trump!

Ever since August 5, 1981, the date when Ronald Reagan was allowed by the AFL-CIO and the American people to fire 11,359 professional air traffic controllers, I have said the same thing when that subject comes up. What I said was this: "If the AFL-CIO and all the other components of the organized labor movement in America had stood up to Reagan, refused to allow the air traffic controllers to be fired, and staged a one day nationwide strike, he would have had no choice except to back down, reverse those firings, and negotiate with the air traffic controllers. His War Against The Working Class would have been dead in the water, and today America would be a very different and more successful nation. The same holds true for TRAITOR Trump and every crime he and the Criminal Syndicate which poses as a "cabinet" in support of his TREASON have committed and will commit in the future if they are not held responsible for their crimes. If they are not held responsible for those crimes, you can bet your sweet ass that worse is on the way, already being plotted, perpetrated, and dreamed of by the worst TRAITOR The world has ever seen and the other lesser TRAITORS who support him. On No Kings Day, June 14, 2025, roughly 5million people participated in more than 2,100 hundred separate protests from sea to shining sea. But what would it have looked like if, instead of peacefully standing out in public holding protest signs and chanting slogans, those 5million of us had just waited until the following week during regular working hours from 8am to 5pm from sea to shining sea for one day and stopped working. If 5million of us had gone on strike for one 8 hour day, stopped driving trucks, delivering products, making those products, mining or manufacturing the individual components of those products, never unloaded a single ship at a single of our international ports, stopped teaching in the nation's classrooms, stopped nursing patients in our hospitals, and stopped doing whatever it is that each of us does for a living. That would change the face of the battle against TRAITOR Trump, his Russian Owner Vladmir Putin, and their ultimate goal of destroying the United States. What we need to do now is to call that one day nationwide strike, carry it out on a weekday, preferably a Wednesday so the work week is clearly broken into two disparate halves,and the general public is clearly told that it is purely and solely in protest of the crime spree being perpetrated by TRAITOR Trump and his supporters. And it should also be made clear that unless he and his entire Criminal Syndicate are removed from the halls of government that such a strike will occur at least once a month until they are gone. If one day strikes don't work, then expand them to two days, three, four, or five until the truth is realized all over the world. I am not in a position to organize and coordinate such a strike. But I will always be in a position to support such a strike by doing everything I can to promote and defend it. This is just one grandiose, but realistic, idea for saving the America most of us love. This ideas is free for the taking by anyone with a network of support large enough to bring this strike to fruition. Let's schedule it! Let's make it happen! Let's make it absolutely clear that we are tired of TRAITOR Trump, his Fascism, his TREASON, and all his crimes against this country. Please share this post with everyone you know until someone steps up to take the ball in hand and carry out the planning, scheduling, and organization to make this Strike In Defense Of Democracy a reality!

TRAITOR Trump's Attempted Appeasement And Attempted Legitimation Of An International Terrorist And War Criminal

This meeting in Alaska is all about APPEASING and ATTEMPTING to legitimize an INTERNATIONAL TERRORIST and WAR CRIMINAL who has an arrest warrant from the World Criminal Court at The Hague. It is also phase two of the TREASON which occurred when TRAITOR Trump in 2017 brought a Russian ambassador and a purely Russian film crew not just into the White House but into the Oval Office. There were no American media crews at that meeting. There are at this meeting, but just think for a minute that this is the military base where Russian flights into US territory are monitored and intercepted. Putin is being accorded full treatment as a foreign leader on a diplomatic mission which means he will have a full detail of Russia's finest with him. You can bet every one of them is an expert on Russian intelligence gathering practices, probably all are FSB officers. The big Q is just what will they know about that military base which they have been unable to learn from satellites and communication monitoring. He's being set up to commit further spying just as he was when the ambassador and his crew were allowed into the Oval Office.

An Aphorism For Today's Times!

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A USELESS PIECE OF INFORMATION! THERE IS ONLY INFORMATION FOR WHICH YOU DO NOT CURRENTLY HAVE A USE!

So far as I know, I actually invented that two sentence aphorism. At least, I am the first person I ever heard use it in public. I have always loved information and I actually grew up reading nearly all of a set of World Book Encyclopedias which my parents bought for me. Before they bought that particular set, I read an earlier, less complex set of encyclopedias which they had bought for my sister who was eight years older. I have no idea when the first occurence was in which that phrase popped into my head. It must have been some situation in which a previously obscure bit of trivia had been floating in my brain without a purpose and suddenly a situation arose when I could drag it out of the dark and dusty synapses and foist it upon someone else. But the situation in which I was reminded just last night of that wonderful aphorism occurred during a conversation by phone with a relative in which we were discussing the terrible political disaster in which the United States now finds itself with TRAITOR Trump and his Criminal Syndicate which poses as a "cabinet". The person with whom I was talking brought up the name of the Right Wing Radical Repugnican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky. I brought up the fact that Congressman Massie, one of the most extreme Right Wing Radical Repugnicans in congress in a time when the Repugnican delegation is the most extreme in the history of the nation, is currently in agreement with Congresswoman Axexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the most liberal members of congress, that the attack which TRAITOR Trump ordered against nuclear sites in Iran is unconstitutional. My relative then stated that they think Massie has ulterior motives to which I agreed but stated that in my opinion he is seeking an opportunity to try to get himself into the White House and is actually intelligent enough to pull off that crime. I then asked my relative if they knew where Congressman Massie's college degree was achieved. My relative, who had no idea where Massie got his degree, stated that they just want to "ignore Massie" which I consider one of the most asinine statements I ever heard. I made an honest attempt to make the point that Massie and his wife both hold degrees from MIT, which proves they are both smart enough to pull off a robbery of an American election, especially if we consider that TRAITOR Trump, one of the stupidest people alive, can pull it off. My relative still insisted that they just want to "ignore Massie" and that it doesn't matter where he got his degree. At this point, I insist that the aphorism above is definitely applicable in such a situation especially when we combine it with another from Sun-Tzu whcih states that If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” Both I and my relative consider Congressman Massie to be an enemy of both Democracy and the United States. Yet my relative is willing to state that they are willing to ignore that enemy and to disregard a very pertinent piece of information about him, the fact that he holds a degree from one of the most prestigious universities in the nation. That degree, that piece of information, makes Congressman Massie more dangerous than if he had just barely skated through a university studies degree at Podunk Community College. I am perpetually baffled in today's world to see fairly well educated people such as my relative who are willing to attempt to disregard any piece of information about the key people who pose the greatest danger to our country since World War II. GOD HELP US ALL!

"No Kings Day" Protest, Morehead, Kentucky, June 14, 2025

Yesterday, my wife and I attended the "No Kings Day" protest in Morehead, Kentucky, along with somewhere in excess of 200 other people who are all committed to seeing the end of the occupation of the White House by TRAITOR Trump and his Criminal Syndicate which poses as a "cabinet". It was a very successful and fulfilling event. It never stopped raining the entire time we were there. We arrived at almost exactly the scheduled start time of noon and had to leave at about 1:30pm to meet an old friend of mine at Cracker Barrel whom we hadn't seen in about 25 years. I wish we could have stayed longer. I dropped my wife off around the corner from the little city park at the junction of KY 32 and Main Street, and then drove down the street about three blocks to find a safe parking spot at a business which was closed for the day. When I returned to the protest, my wife had been invited under a tent which the organizers had set up, actually one several such tents. We had not thought about making protest signs and took none which is a shame. But the street side of the park was lined shoulder to shoulder and about three rows deep with people who were holding a wide variety of signs some of which were homemade and some which were commercial products. My favorite sign of the day is the one in the picture above. But during the time we stayed, one man who told me he is 80 was sitting down to take a break and agreed to loan my wife his sign which she held while he rested and managed to situate herself in her power wheelchair on the street edge with the sign. There was a lot of traffic for a Saturday in Morehead and most of the cars driving by were blowing their horns in support, waving in agreement, sometimes shouting encouragement to us, and in the spirit of honesty, some few would give us the finger or shout an obscenity. But the majority seemed to be supporting us. I talked to numerous people during the time I was there including a photographer for the local Morehead newspaper. Our conversation was about the difficulty which small town newspapers and radio stations are facing with the movement of most advertising money to the internet. We specifically discussed one of the Morehead stations which some people I know used to own as one in a small chain of small town Eastern Kentucky stations. That station, and all their others, have recently been sold to a Right Wing Radical Repugnican who has actually served prison time for vote buying when he was an elected public official. The Morehead newspaper has actually been sold a couple of times since the inception of the internet as have at least two other papers in Eastern Kentucky. None of those sold seem to have been bought by people with liberal leanings. Yes, it is possible for a newpaper editor, publisher, owner, and staff to promote rational liberal ideas which still providing accurate honest reporting. In fact, one small town newspaper on the Virginia border has, in the last couple of years, won a major award from the Kenucky Press Association for reporting it did on the 2022 floods in several Eastern Kentucky counties, and it is quite liberal in its leaninings. It's a shame in these times that more small town newspapers and radio stations were being bought up by Right Wing Radicals and being turned into megaphones of the Radical Right. I stayed at the protest as long as my other appointment would allow and both of us really enjoyed our time. We both feel a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment for having taken time out of our lives, as we always do, and as you should also be doing, to support the steadily growing public opposition to the TREASON of TRAITOR Trump and his Criminal Syndicate. Always Stand Up, Speak Up, and Speak Out!

I wish I could have personally thanked every one of those American Patriots who stood up in Morehead and every other town and city in the country on No Kings Day. That is impossible. But each of you should know just how proud of you I am and how grateful I am for your courage and commitment to our country and our democracy! Always Stand Up, Speak Up, and Speak Out!

Scott Pelly Gave The Most Important Speech I Have Ever Seen

On May 19, 2025, at the 2025 Commencement of Wake Forest University, CBS 60 Minutes Correspondent Scott Pelley gave one of the most important speeches I have ever seen, read, or heard described in my entire life. I first heard about the speech when Pelley was inteviewed by Anderson Cooper on CNN after their live screening of "Good Night And Good Luck", the first Broadway play to ever be televised live in its entirety in the entire life of television. The full text of Pelley's speech is found at this link. My impressions of watching the play on CNN are found at this link. I will not append the full text of the speech here but I will discuss my impressions of the most important points in it below. Pelley began with the usual trite recognitions of the higher ranking persons in the audience, a comment about the weather, a small attempt at a joke, and then gave one of the finest speeches since Socrates first mesmerized a crowd of his peers. I have attended, read, or watched thousands of speeches in documentaries and on television. I have seen four presidents of the United States speak publicly plus numerous governors, senators, and lesser elected officials. I have never seen a speech in any form or format which affected me more or made me more proud of the speaker. As Pelley reached the outset of the meat of the speech he began this way:

You know, if we were in London, we might be walking past Portman Square on a beautiful spring day. We would encounter the headquarters of the British Broadcasting Corporation, a nearly 100-year-old building from which Edward R. Murrow, the original CBS News correspondent, stood on the roof and broadcast back to America word of the falling bombs of fascism that fell on that free city month after month. If we walk a little bit further past the BBC, we will encounter another hero in the fight against fascism, George Orwell. He’d be standing there, frozen in bronze with his words carved in the side of a building: “If liberty means anything at all, it means something worth saying that some people don’t want to hear.” I fear there are some people in the audience who don’t want to hear what I have to say today. But I appreciate your forbearance in this small act of liberty.

I am certain that as soon as the words "...the falling bombs of fascism that fell on that free city..." emerged from the speakers around them many in the audience realized they were in for a large dose of truth. For some of them, it was a dose of truth they did not want to hear. Hopefully, for others, actually most of the others, I hope they quickly realized that the dose of truth which was coming was not only needed by the entire audience but also needed by the world at large. Pelley then went on to begin the very necesssary truths he had come to deliver:

"...this morning – our sacred rule of law is under attack. Journalism is under attack. Universities are under attack. Freedom of speech is under attack. An insidious fear is reaching through our schools, our businesses, our homes and into our private thoughts. The fear to speak. In America? If our government is – in Lincoln’s words – “of the people, by the people and for the people” – then why are we afraid to speak? The Wake Forest Class of 1861 did not choose their time of calling. The Class of 1941 did not choose. The Class of 1968 did not choose. History chose them. And now history is calling you, the Class of 2025. You may not feel prepared, but you are. You are not descended of fearful people. You brought your values to school with you and now Wake Forest has trained you to seek the truth, to find the meaning of life."

When he clearly and most publicly stated that our rule of law, journalism, universities, and freedom of speech are under attack, Scott Pelley was saying exactly what needs to be said to the face and into the ears of every living American today. We are under attack by a committed Criminal Syndicate under the control of a committed TRAITOR and they all want to destroy everything about America which is good, noteworthy, vibrant, democratic, and worth preserving. That attack is headquarted at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and the attackers are all posing as legitimate officials of the federal government. They are all unqualifed to be in the positions in which they have found themselves. They are all unfit to lead a one car funeral. They are all committed to their cause, and many of them are agents of our worst enemies as a nation. Their ostensible leader, TRAITOR Trump, is, as are most of them, under the control and supervision of Vladimir Putin and Russia. Just as Scott Pelley told the Wake Forest University graduating class of 2025 that they have been chosen by history, the remainder of us loyal citizens of the United States have also been chosen by history. We are literally a nation of people who are being required, if we truly love our nation and our democracy, to become, both individually and collectively, the boy with his/our finger in the dyke in our joint effort to stem the flow of this TREASONUS effort by TRAITOR Trump and his Criminal Syndicate which poses as a "cabinet". Scott Pelley, after telling the crowd that they have been chosen by history just as others long before now were chosen by history that he has known three people, Volodomyr Zelensky, Dr. Samer Attar, and Nadia Marad who were also chosen by history to defend great things. He told the story of how a CBS 60 Minutes film crew found Nadia Marad in "a refugee camp and a few years later she won the Nobel Peace Prize". Yes, my fellow Americans, history works that way and often chooses those who appear to be "the least among us" to become the heroes and heroines of our times. History has chosen a Ukrainian comedian, a simple nun in Calcutta, a log splitting lawyer in 19the century Illinois, and others such as each of us today to Stand Up, Speak Up, and Speak Out, to do the work which our times and the evil operators around us require us to do. Each of us must take on the duty which history and the evil which history and democracy oppose has thrust upon us as our country and our democracy are under attack, as fascism posing as a legitimate government leads that attack, and as many of our peers seek to deny the truths before us about this attack. We must not bow down. We must not surrender. We must not retreat. We must fight to preserve American Democracy in the face of this attack from the worst TRAITOR in the history of the world, TRAITOR Trump.

America's Worst Case Scenario Could Be About To Happen!

Many Americans are jumping up and down with glee because the short, destructive, TREASONOUS honeymoon between TRAITOR Trump and Elon Musk has come to an end. But I would not go so far as to say that this is a good thing. In fact, it could be the first public evidence that the situation could very likely get worse in the near future. Yes, I know that many of you are asking "how do you think it could get any worse than it is already". Humor me here, sit down, be quiet, and listen to what I am saying. In the bizarre public course of the breakup between the worst TRAITOR in history and the first immigrant who should be deported from America to the Salvadoran prison, we could be seeing the beginning of what is likely to turn out to be the worst deterioration of a full blown crisis in the history of the world. The full blown crisis the fact that TRAITOR Trump and his Criminal Syndicate which poses as a "cabinet" have been working daily to destroy America and American Democracy at least since November 5, 2024. So how could it get worse? In the rapidly flowing public insanity of the breakup many of you have probably either ignored or cheered the fact that Elon Musk publicly called for the impeachment of TRAITOR Trump and his replacement in the White House by J. D. Vance. In my analysis of that possibility, the situation for all Americans and the world at large would actually be made far worse instantly if that happened. J. D. Vance is just like every other member of TRAITOR Trump's Criminal Syndicate. He had to swear fealty to both TRAITOR Trump and Project 2025 in order to be chosen to be in the position he is in. He had to be willing to commit any crime up to and including TREASON in order to be where he is. He is just as amoral, criminal, and evil as TRAITOR Trump...and he is just a bit smarter. If he were in the White House, whether it was by hook or crook, he would be less likely to attract the kind of public venom which TRAITOR Trump does because he is smart enough to keep his mouth shut about what he is doing, who he is doing it to, and what his criminal objectives are in doing it. J. D. Vance's entire life and career have been built on lies, deception, deceit, and depravity. But he has generally managed to not become the kind of public recognized public enemy that Musk or TRAITOR Trump are publicly recognized. Vance would, to a degree, be able to fly below the radar as he worked feverishly with his version of the Criminal Syndicate to destroy America, American Democracy, and world peace. Vance, if TRAITOR Trump was impeached, might remove some of the members of the Criminal Syndicate in cooperation with Musk. But he would replace them with even more evil, more dangerous, and more deceptive minions such as the young criminals he placed in DOGE. The world would instantly become a far more dangerous place. America would be destroyed more quickly, more thoroughly, and silently while our collective backs are turned. If what we are seeing is a marriage between Musk and Vance, rest assured that it is a marriage made in Hell...or Moscow! DON'T BE SURPISED IF YOU SEEN MUSK AND VANCE LEAD A JOINT EFFORT TO EITHER HAVE TRAITOR TRUMP IMPEACHED OR REMOVED FROM THE WHITE HOUSE UNDER THE 25TH AMENDMENT. PUT MORE WATER IN THE SOUP WORSE TIMES ARE VERY LIKELY COMING!

American Democracy Is In Grave Danger!

"Democracy is a poor system of government at best; the only thing that can honestly be said in its favor is that it is about eight times as good as any other method the human race has ever tried. Democracy's worst fault is that its leaders are likely to reflect the faults and virtues of their constituents--a depressingly low level. But what else can you expect? (Robert A. Heinlein, "Stranger In A Strange Land", Unabridged Edition, page 232.)

"On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by an downright moron." (H. L. Mencken)

Those two quotations above tell us all we need to know about the present incredibly dangerous and destructive events which are being perpetrated by the current occupant of the White House, TRAITOR Trump, who literally personifies all that H. L. Mencken and Robert A. Heinlein had to say in those two quotes. While Democracy is the greatest form of government ever created by the human race, it is a system whose very nature causes it to fall prey to dangers which lie within the system of electoral politics which is inherent in a democratic government. For the simple minded, I find it necessary to say that the word "democratic" in the preceding sentence is used in its most generic form. While I am a proud and dedicated lifelong member of the Democratic party, I do admit that there have been times when elected representatives of the Republican party have provided the country with a democratic government which usually functioned in the best interest of the country, the human race, and the world at large. But today, since January 20, 2025, TRAITOR Trump and the Criminal Syndicate which he has managed to install in power after the tragedy of the 2024 election have been working daily, hourly to destroy America, American Democracy, Ukraine, Iceland, Greenland, the Panama Canal, NATO, and literally all forms of democracy in the world today. We have seen a Criminal Syndicate placed in positions of power while posing as a "cabinet". Literally none of these so-called cabinet officers is worthy to hold any position of public trust at any level. This Criminal Syndicate is composed of a Convicted Felon, TRAITOR, Russian Agent, Serial Rapist, Career Criminal, Tax Cheat, and Idiot at its head, one former heroine addict, another accused sex offender or two, a woman who shot her hunting dog because she didn't like the way it hunted, a wife beater whose own mother called him the same to his face, and a motley collection of other miscreants, misanthropes, and idiots. We are seeing thousands of dedicated career employees of the United States government being fired without cause, and many of those firings are coming in departments where the absence of qualified professionals literally creates untold danger to our very nation. Homeland Security has lost at least 400 employees and many of them are intelligence analysts, translators, and undercover agents whose work is necessary to defend our democracy from any future attacks such as September 11, the USS Kohl attack, and January 6, all of which were grave assaults on democracy. Others of the 17 total US intelligence agencies are also losing hundreds of professionals whose lives and careers are dedicated to preserving democracy itself. The Pentagon is also losing hundreds of civilian workers who do the same kinds of work in support of US military forces. We have seen five seperate plane crashes in this country in the last month and the worst of those was apparently in part because air traffic controllers were being fired and one person was attempting to do the job of two when that plane crash happened. The NIH, CDC, and othe agencies working in the area of public health are losing hundreds of workers.The US Department of Health and Human Services has been placed under incredible risky by having a former heroine addict and the world's worst anti-vaccine idiot in charge after his entire extended family stood up in public to tell the entire world that he is incompetent to be in the position he has been given. The FBI is in the hands of a man who has said publicly many times that he wants to destroy the agency. The ambassador to France is the convicted felon father of TRAITOR Trump's son-in-law who is apparently on a mission to attack France because the government of that ally is being run by the man who helped President Biden expand NATO and support Ukraine in their war against the aggression of Vladimir Putin and Russia. A group of young highly questionable computer hackers are now, under the disguise of being government employees, attacking the computer security systems of literally every government agency in the country. And they are being directed and controlled by Elon Musk who is holding billions of dollars of questionable NASA contracts where the lifelong employee at the head of that incredibly important agency was immediately removed becasue he was actually doing the same high quality job he had for his entire career. Just as the two quote above say, democracy's leaders now "reflect the faults and virtues of their constituents--a depressingly low level" and the "White House is adorned by a downright moron who is attempting to destroy our most important strategic alliances in support of his Russian owner Vladimir Putin. NATO, our most important strategic alliance, is under attack by TRAITOR Trump and his Criminal Syndicate which places both Ukraine and all of Western Europe in danger. Literally the world is falling apart due to TRAITOR Trump and his Criminal Syndicate and nearly half the country don't understand the nature of the danger and cheer him on. GOD HELP US ALL!

The Minimization, Normalization, and Endorsement Of TREASON!

On Janaury 20, 2025, TRAITOR Trump signed a blanket pardon form for somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,600 individuals who had all been charged in the worst insurrection ever perpetrated against the government of the United States since the Civil War. Not only was it the worst insurrection of modern history against the USA, it was perpetrated by the very TRAITOR who was pardoning those other TRAITORS, Insurrectionists, and enemies of the legally constituted government of the United States. The text of that pardon statement only names 14 of the TRAITORS but attempts to also provide "a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021". The language in that pardon statement is highly suspect from a legal standpoint. It attempts to provide that "full, complete and unconditional pardon" to some uncounted number of unknown and unnamed criminals whose crimes are not even known and can have been perpetrated at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021". The geographic area is not remotely delineated and could even be construed to cover the crimes of the still unknown TRAITOR who placed two bombs near the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican parties. I sincerely doubt that this "pardon" document would be held to be legal if reviewed by an unbiased court of law. Would the horribly dangerous Right Wing Radical Repugnican majority on the US Supreme Court uphold that document? I honestly don't know the answer to that question. But you can bet your ass that some prosecutor in the general area at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021" should file an appeal and take the case all the way to the US Supreme Court to find out what they would do. But with the US Department of Justice now being in the control of TRAITOR Trump and whatever nominee for US Attorney General he can manage to get approved by the US Senate, you can bet that no appeal of the order will come from any US Attorney under that jurisdiction. But it is my impression that the City Attorney For The District Of Columbia should file that appeal before the Supreme Court and force them to take some position or other on this release of at least 1,600 TRAITORS and the possible intervention into the cases of any future TRAITORS the law enforcement community can manage to charge for crimes such as the attempted bombing of those two political party headquarters. This attempted pardon is also already placing the United States government and its citizens under a great deal of danger because those 1,600 TRAITORS have already been released from the US Bureau of Prisons and are walking free in our country just as their TREASONOUS supporter, TRAITOR Trump. This attempted pardon is just as criminal, just as TREASONOUS as the crimes of January 6, 2021, by both those named and unnamed in the document. It is just the first of what are certain to be other crimes by TRAITOR Trump, the Criminal Syndicate which is now being composed in the US Senate to pose as a "cabinet". God Help Us All!

The Blackest Day In American History Since April 12, 1861!

On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina which was the beginning of the Civil War. For many years, it could be considered the blackest day in American History. That is no longer necessarily true. Today, January 20, 2025, at noon has become the blackest day in American History at least since the firing on Fort Sumter. There is a perfectly rational argument that it is actually the blackest day in all American History. Today, for all time, will surpass other dates such as December 7, 1941, the date Pearl Harbor was attacked; September 11, 2001, the date of the attack on the World Trade Center; April 14, 1865, the day President Lincoln was assassinated; and October 24, 1929, the date of the stock market crash which preciptated the Great Depression. This date, January 20, 2025, the date TRAITOR Trump has managed to slink inside the White House again accompanied by the worst Criminal Syndicate ever assembled in American History, a criminal syndicate which is far more dangerous than any of the Five Families of Cosa Nostra due to the fact that this Criminal Syndicate and TRAITOR Trump have every intention of destroying the United States, American Democracy, and the entire federal government. TRAITOR Trump and his TREASON are, without a doubt, the worst case of TREASON ever documented in this country or the entire world. After having been impeached twice during his original illegal occupation of the White House, having been indicted for 94 felonies for stealing government documents and lying to the FBI about those thefts, being found judicially responsible for the rape and defamation of woman whose reputation every day of her life has been far better than his on the best day of his life, after having been the perpetrator of the worst insurrection against the US government since the Civil War, and after having been the leader of a previous lesser Criminal Syndicate whose members collectively were indicted in at least 215 cases, this worst of all TRAITORS in all of history has managed to construct the worst conspiracy against the United States in more than 275 years of lesser history. He is a far worse TRAITOR than Aaron Burr, Sacco, Vanzetti, or Aldrich Ames. He is literally the most dangerous man in the world with the single exception of Vladimir Putin, the man who actually has owned and controlled TRAITOR Trump ever since the day Russian money saved him from his casino bankruptcy. God Help Us All!

The Truth About Greenland, Iceland, Panama, and TRAITOR Trump's TREASON!

In recent days, TRAITOR Trump made numerous asinine and inflammatory statements about wanting the US to own Greenland, Iceland, the Panama Canal, and even Canada. He also suggested that he would like to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America despite the fact that it has been known as the Gulf of Mexico since 1607. I have seen at least one of his minions, who have all be chosen for the lack of credentials and willingess to commit any crime including TREASON for TRAITOR Trump, attempt to support his claims that the US should own and control all those countries, islands, and bodies of water. Others have reacted in extreme fear of the possibility that he might actually carry out his despotic threats to use military force to achieve these goals. So what we have to ask ourselves is why did TRAITOR Trump prove to such an overwhelming extent to prove once again in public that he is an idiot and a would be despot. There are several reasons he did those things besides the widespread and fully justified belief that he is an idiot.

First and foremost, these kinds of statements from TRAITOR Trump are a diversionary tactic. They are used to divert attention from other crimes he and his co-conspirators are committing at the time. They are, in this case, also an attempt to divert attention from President Joe Biden, a person upon whose ass TRAITOR Trump is not fit to be a pimple. As the Biden administration is coming to an end far too soon despite his having saved the country and world from TRAITOR Trump and his co-conspirators, TRAITOR Trump wants to divert attention from all the good to great things which have been accomplished by President Biden both over the last four years and over the fifty years of his life in nonstop public service. These asinine statements from TRAITOR TRump divert attention from the fact that President Biden was recently voted our 14th president of all time while TRAITOR Trump was voted as the worst all time occupant of the White House. Keep in mind that I have never and will never use the word "president" to describe TRAITOR Trump, and use the word in this context only to report that the organization American Political Science Association polled its membership and those were the results they delivered. This asinine attempt by TRAITOR Trump is also intended to divert attention from the upcoming confirmation hearings for his nominees to various cabinet level positions by the US Senate. None of these nominees are remotely qualifed to hold the jobs for which they are nominated. They are simply willing to become members of what is actually TRAITOR Trump's Criminal Syndicate and to commit any crime up to and including TREASON at his behest.

Secondly, TRAITOR Trump loves chaos, especially chaos he has created. He receives both simple psychological pleasure from chaos and outright masturbatory glee from chaos, especially if it is chaos of his own creation. He is a relatively simple minded excuse for a man whose simpleton ways include a perverse and widespread sexual depravity. He receives gratification not just from the physical act of sex, if he is actually still able to perform sexually, but he also receives sexual gratification from any means by which he is able to exert control over others which is also the basis of at least 26 accusations of rape against him.

Thirdly, TRAITOR Trump is a megalomaniac. He wants to control everything and everyone he can. He actually believes the US military would obey commands from him to invade Canada, Mexico, Panama, Iceland, and Greenland which is actually a territory of Denmark which he no doubt believes he could also successfully invade. You should never doubt that he would do that if he thought he could get away with it as easily as he has previously gotten away with TREASON, Rape, Business Crimes, and thousands of other assaults, injuries, and injustices against both the nation and the world.

Somebody Is Murdering Democracy!

Nobody sees their crimes on Pennsylvania Avenue We don’t have fingerprints or the weapons Putin used But they’re murdering democracy, cutting out its heart and soul They’re getting away with murder on Embassy Row The almighty dollar and the lust for worldwide fame Are killing democracy and for that someone should hang They all say not guilty but the evidence will show That murder was committed on Embassy Row Unfed children cry and the who country prays Treason and Russian hackers are right up in our face Hillary & Kamala didn’t have a chance against criminal politics Trump has murdered democracy and it makes me mighty sick Trump thought no one would miss it once it was dead and gone Putin told him no one will ever know just keep up the treason and sing a pretty song Well there ain't no justice in it and the hard facts are cold Murder's been committed down on Embassy row. Unfed children cry and the whole country prays Treason and Russian hackers are right up in our face Thomas Paine wouldn’t have a chance in today’s politics Trump has murdered democracy and it makes me mighty sick They’d even tell George Washington to pack up and go back home Since Trump murdered democracy on Embassy Row. Copyright 2018 by Roger D. Hicks with consideration to Larry Cordle and “Murder On Music Row”. I have a major problem with the computer language on this blogspot website and I can't seem to get it corrected. My last few posts have had major errors in them which I can't seem to edit away. I apologize and I am working to correct it. When the problem has been addressed, I will re-edit the previous several posts. Keep coming back and thanks for reading my blog!

"How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them" by Jason Stanley and What You Can Do To Prevent Fascism In America!

 

 

 

 

 

 

On November 3, 2024, just two days before our recent disastrous national election, I wrote an earlier blog post about this book, "How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them" by Jason Stanley.  In the last few weeks preceding that election, I was posting as much as I could write on this blog about the imminent danger that TRAITOR Trump and his Criminal Syndicate present to America.  I was working on reading, and still am today, a large shelf of "To Be Read" books about Fascism, Threats To Democracy, and the current politics of the United States.  In most of those blog posts, I also stated that I was writing about a book or books which I had not fully read at that time.  I was skimming the books for quotes which were applicable to the danger we were in. I would search the indices of the those books for the appropriate words, read those brief sections, and, if they were worthy of repeating, I would write a blog post about that books brief sections which I had read.   While I might have hoped, or fantasized, that the American electorate would do the right thing and elect Kamala Harris as president, I was also aware that just as he had in 2021, TRAITOR Trump would wage a war against America and American Democracy if he was once again defeated as he always had been before.  I knew that if Kamala Harris was elected TRAITOR Trump would stage another insurrection just as he had on January 6.  In fact, one of my blog posts before the election was written on September 23, 2024, and entitled "The Upcoming Second Insurrection".  Sadly, that insurrection will now be conducted from the White House.  So, the most important question for all of us to answer in our heart of hearts is "What am I going to do to help prevent the death of American Democracy?  The first thing you can and should do is to educate yourself on a daily basis about the danger to America and American Democracy which TRAITOR Trump represents.  One of the best ways to begin that self-education is to read this book "How Fascism Works..." by Jason Stanley.  Learn how Fascism works, how Fascism creeps into a country and destroys its political soul.  Most importantly learn what you as one individual can do to help prevent Fascism, the Fascism of TRAITOR Trump can and should be resisted, defeated, and wiped out of the  blood stream of American Democracy.  Then, secondly, become involved on a personal, face to face level with other dedicated citizens who are involved in the fight against TRAITOR Trump and his Fascism.  Don't con yourself into believing that sitting at home reading the news on the internet and engaging in social media is enough.  Develop personal friendships with others who are involved in the fight. Join the politically focused organizations that are in the fight such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood  and others.  Don't just join them and read their literature.  Support their work to the degree that you can based on your income, free time, and personal commitments. Read every book you can find about the danger to America and how to prevent the loss of American Democracy.  So now let's get to the point of this blog post and discuss the book, "How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them" by Jason Stanley. 

Throughout the book, Stanley, who is a professor of philosophy at Yale University in an endowed chair, documents and discusses actions, speeches, and threats by TRAITOR Trump which are clearly Fascist in nature.  While this book was reissued in 2020, recent statements by several American generals who have worked closely with TRAITOR Trump about his fascist tendencies fully support what Stanley has to say about him and his danger to the country.  In Bob Woodward's new book, "War",which I will discuss fully as soon as I can finish it, he tells a story of meeting General Mark Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at a party:

“We have got to stop him!” Milley said. “You have got to stop him!” By “you” he meant the press broadly. “He is the most dangerous person ever. I had suspicions when I talked to you about his mental decline and so forth, but now I realize he’s a total fascist. He is the most dangerous person to this country.” His eyes darted around the room filled with 200 guests of the Cohen Group, a global business consulting firm headed by former defense secretary William Cohen. Cohen and former defense secretary James Mattis spoke at the reception.  “A fascist to the core!” Milley repeated to me.  I will never forget the intensity of his worry."  (The Atlantic, October 16, 2024, "The General's Warning".  https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2024/10/the-generals-warning/680279/ ) 

In the book, Stanley writes in chapters which are descriptive of the key elements of fascist thinking and acts and labels those elements of Fascism as The Mythic Past, Propaganda, Anti-intellectual, Unreality, Hierarchy, Victimhood, Law and Order, Sexual Anxiety, Sodom and Gomorrah, and Arbeit Macht Frei which is translated as "Work Sets You Free" and was utilized by the Nazis in concentration camps to help them control the prisoners.  In the 2003 issue of "Free Inquiry Magazine, Lawrence Britt discussed key elements of fascism under slightly different titles and I have written about that examination of fascism at this link six years ago.  The fascism of TRAITOR Trump is not a new thing just because several American generals and other staff members who worked under him have suddenly begun to use the word "Fascist" about him in public. It has been existent many years and many of us who have been aware of it have also been making frequent studious attempts to educate the rest of the world about his fascism.  Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright actually published a book "Fascism A Warning" in 2018 and I wrote about her book that same year.   Television personality Rachel Maddow, who also happens to be Dr. Rachel Maddow since she holds  a Ph. D. in Political Science from the University of Oxford wrote a book in 2023 entitled "Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism" which I have written about at this link. It is also worthwhile to find Maddow's interview with Stormy Daniels on Youtube and watch the entiree interview. In that interview, the two women actually read Stormy Daniels' testimony in her civil trial against TRAITOR Trump with Daniels playing herself and Maddow reading the parts of the several attorneys.  It is an enlightening show and was the first opportunity the general public had to actually see the testimony from the "Hush Money Trial" since it was held without television cameras present.  Let me suggest that you watch that interview after you have learned at least the basics of fascism which will make TRAITOR Trump's actions toward Daniels much more clearly understood for what they are: Fascism In Action.  I have made reference to all these discussions of Fascism to help the reader understand that TRAITOR Trump's devotion to and practice of Fascism is nothing new. Jason Stanley and I are not the only people working diligently to make all of America aware of the problem it presents on a daily basis to the country and the world.   

In the epilogue to his book, Jason Stanley refers to the work of Yale professors Joshua Knobe and Adam Bear by saying that in a New York Times article they have found that "...Trump's continuing behavior-- actions and speech that used to be considered remarkable--have real and disturbing consequences:  "These actions are not simply coming to be regarded as more typical; they are coming to be seen as more normal.  As a result, they will come to be seen as less bad and hence less worthy of outrage."  (Jason Stanley, "How Fascism Works...", Page188.)

Read This Book!  Get Involved In The Fight!  Do Your Part To Help Save America And American Democracy!