Something has changed in America, and pretending otherwise is no longer safe. If a sitting president can deny, delay, or obfuscate the outcome of an election, then democracy itself is in jeopardy. And if one political team claims the right to question or refuse legitimate election results, then the opposing side logically inherits the same right. That is not a threat —it is a consequence. Just like in a football game, there has to be an level playing field with the same rules for both teams in order for the true winner to gain the moral highground to take the reigns of government in a democracy.
If Team Trump were to deny, delay, or obfuscate the procedures or results of the 2026 midterm elections, then Team Democracy would face a choice: accept a broken democracy, or prepare a constitutional, collective response. The publishing of said constitutional, collective response should be created now, well ahead of the midterms, so there is no chance of getting caught flat-footed in November.
One possibility is for the Democratic Governors Association — or a similar alliance of state leaders — to announce today that they are standing together to defend free and fair American elections. An Article Five–style pledge — “you come for one, you come for all” — would signal unity and strength. The purpose would be to prevent foul play and its resulting mayhem in November.
Let me lay out the logic plainly. Many Americans believe the country is already in a political war — a conflict not of weapons but of institutions, trust, and power. Democracy, once a radical idea, depends on citizens choosing representatives who argue and negotiate within agreed rules. Authoritarian systems do not operate that way.
The Founders wrote about “self-evident truths” for a reason. Evidence literally means from what is seen; video hides in the word evidence. And today’s polls reveal most Americans feel they have seen enough. With the midterms approaching, the question is not whether citizens should reject results they don’t like; they should not, of course. Elections carried out by longstanding rules, with broad participation and lawful procedures, must be accepted regardless of outcome. Americans have done this before. Many disliked prior results, but the system held because people respected the process.
The fear today is totally different: that elections may be contested not through law but through power. If attempts are made to delay or undermine the midterms, states should be prepared to respond lawfully and collectively. Governors could announce that, in the event of clear election interference, they would enact their emergency powers to protect their citizens and institutions — including reconsidering how and to whom federal tax dollars are paid and managed until constitutional order is restored.
This would not be a declaration of separation, nor the creation of a new country. It would be a conditional safeguard ; a contingency plan meant to preserve constitutional norms if they are threatened.
Such a stance might resonate with many Americans across the political spectrum. Distrust of federal power is not new; it has appeared in movements from the Tea Party to modern progressive coalitions. The idea of states asserting greater autonomy has deep roots in American history.
And here is the strategic point: if citizens know there is a peaceful, organized, constitutional backup plan, attempts to manipulate elections lose much of their power. Deterrence works when the consequences are clear and there is a feeling of reassurance. History shows that would-be strongmen respect strength. Institutions survive only when people are willing to defend them collectively.
This is not a call for chaos or refusal to accept legitimate outcomes. It is a call to prepare calmly, lawfully, and transparently ,so that no leader, from any party, can undermine the rules that make democracy possible.
Because if a sitting president can deny or delay the outcome of an election, then democracy itself is already in checkmate; and Americans of every political belief should refuse to accept that future.
Joseph Aronesty (2026) Inspired by Thomas Paine’s Common Sense (1776)
Introduction
In January of 1776, a short pamphlet began circulating through the American colonies. It was written not for scholars or statesmen, but for ordinary citizens. Its purpose was simple and radical: to explain, in plain language, why submission to concentrated power was neither natural nor necessary.
The pamphlet was Common Sense, and its author, Thomas Paine, did not argue that King George III was uniquely wicked. Instead, he made a far more unsettling claim—that monarchy itself was a flawed system, and that placing excessive authority in any single individual inevitably corrupted both ruler and ruled.
Nearly two and a half centuries later, the outward forms of power have changed, but the underlying dynamics have not. Titles evolve. Justifications adapt. The language of authority modernizes. Yet the temptation toward autocratic rule—and the willingness of people to accept it—remains a constant of political life.
What follows is not a historical reenactment, nor an argument about personalities. It is a modern restatement of Paine’s central insight: that free societies do not lose their liberty all at once, but by failing to recognize familiar dangers in unfamiliar forms.
Paine wrote to awaken his contemporaries to patterns they were already living through. The purpose here is the same.
On the Nature of Concentrated Power
There is a persistent belief among free people that power, once granted, will restrain itself. Human history offers no support for this belief.
Power does not seek balance. It seeks continuance, expansion, and ultimately immunity from challenge. Democracy dies not because of a moral failing of individuals so much as a predictable feature of absolute authority once it is detached from regular accountability. The problem is not that one person becomes all-powerful, but that many people slowly grow accustomed to absolute power.
The defenders of concentrated power often argue that a strong executive is necessary to protect the nation. Yet history repeatedly shows the opposite: such power rarely protects a people from danger, but very often protects the autocrats from the people.
Personal rule—whether it wears a crown, a uniform, or the language of popular mandate—rests on a simple inversion of responsibility. Citizens are told that judgment is a burden best surrendered. Loyalty is redefined as obedience. Dissent is reframed as weakness, or worse, betrayal.
This is how liberty erodes without being formally abolished. No proclamation announces it. No constitution need be rewritten at first. The shift occurs in tone, in expectation, in what citizens come to tolerate in the name of order. A free people does not wake one morning to discover itself unfree; it arrives there by degrees, persuaded that exceptional power is both necessary and temporary.
At this stage, the question is no longer whether power has overreached, but whether the public has forgotten why limits existed in the first place.
Those who argue that “this time is different” must answer a hard question: different from what? From human nature? From history? From every prior instance in which concentrated power promised stability and delivered submission?
A government of laws depends on citizens who understand that strength lies not in domination, but in restraint. When restraint is abandoned—when power is admired for its force rather than its limits—the transition away from self-government has already begun, whether it is acknowledged or not.
On Why Free People Surrender Their Judgment
The loss of liberty rarely begins with force. It begins with a sense of relief.
Democratic self-government is demanding. It requires attention, disagreement, patience, and the humility to accept that no single voice—including one’s own—is sufficient. In uncertain times, this burden feels heavy. When a confident figure offers certainty in place of complexity, many experience not alarm, but comfort.
This is the first seduction of personal rule within a democracy. People do not abandon freedom because they despise it, but because they are persuaded that freedom has become impractical. They are told that debate is weakness, that disagreement is disorder, and that unity requires obedience. The promise is simple: trust me, and you may rest.
What is surrendered first is not rights, but personal judgment.
Fear plays a central role, but not always in obvious ways. It is not merely fear of enemies, foreign or domestic, but fear of instability, fear of social conflict, fear of economic uncertainty. A population anxious about its footing becomes willing to trade liberty for reassurance, even when said reassurance is largely performative and offers no real relief.
Those who resist this trade are often caricatured as dangerous, radical, unrealistic and disloyal the leader’s cause. In this way, caution and protest are recast as cowardice, and submission as strength.
The most effective autocrats do not demand admiration; they cultivate dependency. They position themselves as indispensable solutions to problems they continuously emphasize and rarely resolve. Each new crisis reinforces the narrative that only extraordinary authority can preserve order, and that ordinary checks are luxuries of a calmer time.
None of this requires the suspension of elections or the abandonment of constitutional language. The words remain. The habits change.
The final psychological shift occurs when people come to believe that resistance is futile—that the trajectory is inevitable, and that adapting is wiser than objecting. At that moment, power no longer needs to coerce. It is sustained by resignation.
And so, a free society depends not on perfect leaders, but on citizens who retain the nerve to think, to question, and to withstand the discomfort of disagreement. When that nerve is lost—when convenience replaces vigilance—no external enemy is required. The erosion is complete from within.
On How Institutions Are Emptied Without Being Overthrown
Free societies often imagine that tyranny arrives by spectacle—tanks in streets, constitutions burned, courts shuttered. In reality, institutions are more commonly hollowed than destroyed.
The outward forms remain. Elections are held. Legislatures convene. Courts issue opinions. Yet their authority is gradually diminished, not by decree, but by disregard. When power is personalized, institutions are tolerated only so long as they comply. When they resist, they are portrayed as illegitimate, corrupt, or obstructive.
Another method of hollowing out a democracy is selective obedience. Rules are praised when they benefit the powerful and dismissed when they restrain them. Enforcement becomes inconsistent. Precedent is ignored. Over time, citizens learn that law is not a standard, but a tool—applied unevenly and explained afterward.
Once this lesson is absorbed, trust in government collapses. Faith in institutions declines, while faith in the authoritarian rises. The public, weary of complexity, begins to see institutions as theater and the individual leader as the only “real” actor.
At this point, institutional failure is not an accident; it becomes evidence used to justify further consolidation of power. The damage itself becomes the argument.
On the Myth That This Is Inevitable
Perhaps the most paralyzing belief in any republic is the belief that decline is unavoidable.
When citizens are repeatedly told that norms are obsolete, that restraint is naïve, and that past standards cannot survive modern pressures, they may come to accept erosion as adaptation. What was once alarming becomes familiar. What was once resisted becomes expected.
Yet history shows that inevitability is often an illusion created by momentum and fatigue. Systems do not collapse because collapse is natural, but because enough people conclude that resistance is useless. The belief that “nothing can be done” becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Those who benefit from concentrated power rely on resignation. It discourages participation without provoking opposition. It replaces outrage with detachment, and engagement with cynicism. A disengaged citizenry is far easier to manage than an angry one.
The most dangerous phrase in a free society is not “this must be done,” but “this cannot be stopped.”
On the Duty of the Citizen in a Free Society
Thomas Paine understood that liberty is not sustained by declarations alone. It is sustained by citizens willing to accept the inconvenience of freedom.
Self-government demands more than periodic consent and voting, It requires continuous attention, the courage to dissent, and the refusal to confuse comfort with stability. It asks citizens to tolerate disagreement and to defend principles even when doing so is socially costly.
Liberty does not depend on optimism, but on memory—the memory that concentrated power has always justified itself as necessary, temporary, and benevolent. A government of the people is a historical exception, not the rule. It survives only so long as citizens remember that order imposed without consent is not democracy, but quiet submission.
A free people need not be perfect. But they must remain awake.
The moment citizens surrender their judgment in exchange for reassurances, they trade a difficult freedom for an easy dependence. History offers many names for this arrangement. None of them describe a democratic republic.
Something has changed in America, and pretending otherwise is no longer safe. If a sitting president can deny, delay, or obstruct the outcome of an election, then democracy itself is in jeopardy. And if one political team claims the right to question or refuse legitimate election results, then the opposing side logically inherits the same right. That is not a threat —it is a consequence.
If Team Trump were to deny, delay, or obfuscate the procedures or results of the 2026 midterm elections, then Team Democracy would face a choice: accept a broken system, or prepare a constitutional, collective response. The publishing of said conditional response should be made well ahead of the midterms.
One possibility is clear. The Democratic Governors Association — or a similar alliance of state leaders — could announce ahead of time that they will stand together to defend free and fair elections. An Article Five–style pledge — “you come for one, you come for all” — would signal unity and deterrence. The purpose would not be confrontation but prevention.
Let me lay out the logic plainly.
Many Americans believe the country is already in a political war — a conflict not of weapons but of institutions, trust, and power. Democracy, once a radical idea, depended on citizens choosing representatives who argued and negotiated within agreed rules. Authoritarian systems do not operate that way.
The Founders wrote about “self-evident truths” for a reason. Evidence comes from what we see. And many Americans feel they have seen enough. With the midterms approaching, the question is not whether citizens should reject legitimate results; they should not. Elections carried out by longstanding rules, with broad participation and lawful procedures, must be accepted regardless of outcome. Americans have done this before. Many disliked prior results, but the system held because people respected the process.
The fear today is different: that future elections may be contested not through law but through power. If attempts are made to delay or undermine the midterms, states should be prepared to respond lawfully and collectively. Governors could announce that, in the event of clear election interference, they would explore emergency powers to protect their citizens and institutions — including reconsidering how and to whom federal tax dollars are paid and managed until constitutional order is restored.
This would not be a declaration of separation, nor the creation of a new country. It would be a conditional safeguard ; a contingency plan meant to preserve constitutional norms if they are threatened.
Such a stance might resonate with many Americans across the political spectrum. Distrust of federal power is not new; it has appeared in movements from the Tea Party to modern progressive coalitions. The idea of states asserting greater autonomy has deep roots in American history.
And here is the strategic point: if citizens know there is a peaceful, organized, constitutional backup plan, attempts to manipulate elections lose much of their power. Deterrence works when the consequences are clear and there is a feeling of reassurance. History shows that would-be strongmen respect strength. Institutions survive only when people are willing to defend them collectively.
This is not a call for chaos or refusal to accept legitimate outcomes. It is a call to prepare calmly, lawfully, and transparently, so that no leader, from any party, can undermine the rules that make democracy possible.
Because if a sitting president can deny or delay the outcome of an election, then democracy itself is already in checkmate; and Americans of every political belief should refuse to accept that future.
A Call for a Union of Governors to Protect Citizens from Federal Overreach
And Continued Resistance
Across the country, people are watching federal power being used in ways that feel increasingly detached from constitutional limits: aggressive immigration enforcement without clear judicial oversight, sweeping tariffs imposed without Congressional approval, and rhetoric that treats political opposition not as fellow citizens, but as enemies.
When force replaces our Constitution, and subdues representation, democracy fails — not all at once, but quietly, via normalization, pressure and time.
This post is not about left versus right. We really are all in this together now. It is about whether our constitutional government will continue to function as it was originally crafted to do.
Waiting for elections may not be enough
Elections matter — but we are seeing blatant attempts to affect the midterms just like they do in Russia and other fascist countries around the world. We need to be fully prepared well ahead of the midterms to survive this. So all tools and strategies need to be on the table. Hoping for the best while preparing for the worst applies when all is at stake, and it is.
Further, elections are not the only safeguards the Constitution provides. The American system of governance was designed with the safeguard of shared sovereignty. States are not subsidiaries of the federal executive. Governors are not required to enforce federal actions that violate their citizens’ constitutional rights. In fact, they have a sworn duty to protect their citizens’ rights.
When executive power exceeds constitutional bounds, the states were meant to act as a stabilizing force, not as silent accomplices.
We have seen the Trump administration is willing to openly lie to the public. January 6th is being framed as a peaceful protest, and peaceful protestors are being called radicals and shot dead.
What will happen if the midterm results are framed as phony or rigged, and our purchased Supreme Court majority rules for the administration? We cannot wait for elections with this administration in power. Just as he has done all his life, Donald Trump cheats in public and buys off the heat. He shows no respect for our Constitution and is even on record saying he would like to end the Constitution.
Two peaceful, constitutional pressure points
There are two areas where unlawful federal overreach is very visible — and where lawful, non-violent resistance can restore balance quickly.
1. Immigration enforcement without warrants
Border security at the border is popular with most Americans. But federal agents do not have unlimited authority inside states. When arrests or detentions occur by masked men without proper judicial warrants, state governors are within their rights to refuse cooperation and even arrest said ICE agents. This is not obstruction of justice; it is constitutional compliance. Communities are safer when fear is not used as policy. Public safety improves when law enforcement operates transparently and lawfully. It is a governors sworn duty to protect his citizens.
2. Tariffs imposed without Congressional approval
The Constitution gives Congress — not the executive — the power to levy taxes and tariffs. When tariffs are imposed unilaterally, they function as a hidden national sales tax, raising prices for everyone while bypassing representation.
Sovereign state governors can decline to collect tariffs through their ports until Congress approves them as per the Constitution. Prices would fall on goods coming through their ports. One would think that could be good for those state’s citizens.
Citizens in these states would feel the difference with lower prices in real time, and red state citizens would get jealous very quickly. The tariff scam would be exposed in a way that Fox News can’t spin away. Note: As of February 21, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump’s tariffs were illegal, as if we needed a SCOTUS to decide that. It is clear in the Constitution. And this 150-day exception, we should have no respect for that. After 150 days, Trump can restart the 150 days again. Yep. And he will. So I give no respect for that workaround to tax the public, which is what tariffs are.
Refusing to collect tariffs is plan with teeth. It would get popular so quickly Trump couldn’t stop it and be the party pooper. Will he go to physical war about this money? I doubt it. But if he does, he won’t have public support and it would mean a physical war is happening at midterms anyway. So it’s better to initiate real resistance now. Talk in back rooms, but spring it suddenly.
And like Republicans, worry later about the legality of it all. The Constitution and the public are on our side on tariffs. If Supreme Court justices say no, we can say they are aiding an insurrectionist, hence disqualified to serve hence rule in our states; and it will be true. This is also pocketbook economics citizens in all states will appreciate. It’s populism in an FDR way; and he became a populist because he knew he was up against domestic enemies as well as foreign enemies, just as we are today.
Why this matters right now
Authoritarian systems thrive when people feel powerless and divided. Our enemies abroad has gotten influence here, and they want our population just as subdued as theirs are. Why? Because phones connect the world now, and people all over the world believe their eyes. The existence of well-functiong democracies, where people have a say in how they are governed, taxed and rewarded, makes it harder for autocrats to survive, as they want as little as possible to flow to the people; their prime goal being wealth for the ruling class.
Democracy survives this challenge only when its citizens insist — peacefully, lawfully, and in great numbers — that power flows from the Constitution, not from loyalty to any single leader.
Russia and Hungary do have elections, but their results do not matter. Democratic backsliding rarely ends at the ballot box. Democracy will prevail only when institutions and key agents in our government refuse to participate in illegal, unconstitutional actions. And that includes these tariffs which Trump has lied about. Citizens in all states know tariffs are a tax by now.
The goal is de-escalation, not conflict
This is a call for governors to reclaim their sworn duty to protect their citizens from federal overreach and create some constitutional equilibrium as the founders of our nation intended. This is not a call for violence. It is not a call for chaos. But if our enemies are going this route anyway, we need to prepare ahead of time.
If the unlawful ICE actions stop, street tensions will drop. After the unapproved tariffs stop and the savings passed on to consumers, prices will fall and financial anger will cool. When constitutional law replaces fear, democracy will begin to regain its footing.
America does not need a “strongman” or king. It was formed to get away from that way of governance. It just needs the Constitution to be enforced as written. State power to balance federal overreach is built in to the constitution to protect the consitution. So now, well before midterms, is the time for that governors union.
Why a union of aligned governors is critical right now
Imagine if Tim Walz announced he would no longer allow ICE agents to enter his state, nor be quartered in the state, if they came without warrants to arrest specific people. He would need the power to enforce said action if Trump sent ICE without warrants anyway. But Minnesota is just one state. They were over-powered and outnumbered. If the federal government knew 50% of the states, many of which surround Washington DC, were in a mutual self-defense union much like NATO, Trump would have cause to re-think military actions against Minnesota. There is real strength in unified numbers.
“We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.” Benjamin Franklin, 1776, as the Constitution was being crafted.
What governors can do today
Blue state governors and any others inclined to resist the debasement of our Constitutional can call each other and form a union. I like to call said union States United, dedicated to protect the member states from federal overreach. Announce said union. The announcement of its creation will be an instantaneous comfort to Americans in all states, blue and red. As we stand today, most US citizens feel there is no one in government to protect them from federal government overreach. Their plan is working because Democrats refuse to call this a war, and are going to gamble our entire existence on the results of an election run by a man who does not admit he lost 2020, which makes him a 3rd term president, looking for four, in his own fantasy. And that’s the only place this man lives folks.
What citizens can do today
Write your governor, online and on paper, and ask where they stand on warrantless federal enforcement. Ask them to form a union with other like minded governors, much like NATO, so that an attack on one is an attack on all.
Ask why your governor why he is collectingtariffs that Congress has not approved and if he will consider refusing to collect tariffs until they are approved by Congress as per the Constitution.
Ask your governor if he believes he has a duty to protect his state’s citizens from the dangers and costs of Trump’s unconstitutional executive actions
Make it clear you will not support your governor is he does nothing to stop tariffs and warrantless arrests.
Continue to protest peacefully.
Share this plea on social media. Get this plea to citizens and governors going viral.
About the author: Joseph Aronesty was a classmate to Donald Trump at Wharton in 1968 and worked in his orbit from 1986-99 in Atlantic City NJ. He has been warning Americans about the danger Trump poses for our country since 2016.
Why Trump was ideal to help Russia end American Democracy
Knowledge is power. I was blessed with a full scholarship to U of P in 1966 and studied there through 1971. My favorite two courses were Political Science taught by CJ Burnett, and Russian History taught by Alexander Riasanovsky, who was a political refugee from Russia and has written volumes on all things Russian. I got to thinking that had Trump, a fellow student at Penn in 1968, actually studied that Russian history course at Penn, he might not have sought election help from Putin in 2016, or at least, would have been more skeptical about trusting Putin.
This page is a synopsis what Riasanovsky taught. He was one who knew first-hand and explained things we all should understand these days in easy to understand and colorful ways.
Alexander Riasanovsky’s Core Lens on Russia
He taught that Russian history is driven by:
A chronic, urgent desire to “catch up” to a West they both admire and resent.
That creates a duality:
Admiration → desire for Western technology, industry, recognition
Resentment → anxiety, humiliation, jealousy and an imperial reflex to compensate for those inner feelings
He traced this Russian psychology back to Peter the Great:
Under Peter the Great, Russia forced itself into modernity to avoid becoming Europe’s “backward cousin”.
Successes fueled pride, but gaps fueled paranoia.
Putin plays this chord perfectly:
He needs the West as a foil
His legitimacy depends on portraying Russia as standing upto the West
Any Western advantage = personal insult = retaliation
That was the psychology behind the Russian 2016 election interference:
If Russia can’t rise by achievement, it will rise by sabotage.
Russia’s Identity Crisis He Taught Explicitly
He argued Russia has never resolved:
“Are we European?”
“Are we Asian?”
“Or are we a unique civilization destined to dominate both?”
That uncertainty produced nationalism with an inferiority complex. He told students: “Russia is too big to be ignored and too insecure to be trusted.”
If only a certain Penn undergrad had taken notes…
Someone who studied Riasanovsky would’ve learned:
1️⃣ Russia does not make alliances. It makes leverage. 2️⃣ Gratitude spells weakness in Russia — Putin only believes in debt and dominance. 3️⃣ Helping Trump wasn’t friendship — it was a hook. 4️⃣ Once you take the help they offer, you belong to them forever.
Putin doesn’t care who runs America. He cares that he has a hand on the wheel.
During the Cold War of the 50’s, Khrushchev went on record saying, “We will destroy America without firing a single bullet”. Putin 1s Khrushschev’s disciple.
Riasanovsky taught:
“Russia wants the West divided — and itself essential.”
Divide to defeat; 2016 was a masterclass in that Russian doctrine.
If only Trump had been the studying “type” at Penn, he may have thought more clearly about Putin’s real goals in offering him election help. Instead, he continues to serve as a useful idiot in the arsenal of Russia’s stance against America, the West and the East.
…..
After 30 years of the super powers, Russia, China and the USA not detonating nuclear weapons to “test” them, today, Donald Trump declared the USA will immediately resume nuclear testing. There is talk Russia and China will follow.
A Call for States to Unite Against Authoritarianism
Aug 29, 2025
Dear Reader. Trump’s tariff driven inflation is hitting Americans of all stripes right now and is about to escalate in the fall. Runaway inflation creates the perfect climate for expansion of fascism . A happy, secure, well-to-do citizenry has time, money, dreams and no good reasons to turn to fascism to upset their lives. When Hitler took over, Germany was experiencing hyper-inflation. Russia is a financial mess now. The people behind this unconstitutional insurrectionist coup, know these things. They have a big stake in things not going well for the middle class here.
What I worry about is democrats seem singularly focused on recapturing a majority in the House and Senate. I hope it happens, of course. But we’ve given this administration the guns and the purse strings. And I am 100% sure Trump will allowing cheating on the GOP side, and call the outcome a “steal” if he loses.
I spoke with Ted Lieu last night at the Kiwanas Club in Hermosa. He mentioned that the Trump administration is sensitive to public sentiment. They might be. But that won’t affect Trump’s resolve to stay in power. Trump cannot surrender. Putin will release what he has on him the day he is out of power, or betrays Putin. That’s also why he will never fully commit to Ukraine.
This plan to end Trumpism well before the elections is a two-step strategy. Step one is what Ted Lieu suggested: influence public sentiment. Just so you think about this properly, this is what Trump did in the weeks leading up to J6. J6 was Trump’s seminal event to return to power.
Step two is create our seminal event to rally all Americans to take up the cause to end tarifflation. The Boston Tea Party was the seminal event that led to the creation of the United States. A union of thirteen colonies was created based on a written set of rules called the Constitution, which literally means “stand together”. We need an event we can all stand together on. Ending tarifflation is the best candidate for that unity.
All Americans, left and right, can sense this now. And I hope media starts saying “end tarifflation“, because no one can credibly blame tarifflation on Biden. Trump fully owns that meme. That’s the big idea. We brand the financial stress of inflation in such a way that Trump personally owns it all. We sell it, the way Trump sold Build That Wall. But this meme actually helps Americans.
Once the meme spreads, – and these days that does not take but a few days, the governors of blue states with ports should announce they will stop collecting tariffs until such time Trump’s tariffs are voted on by and approved by Congress as it is written in the Constitution.
I have sent this plan to Newsom, Pritzker and Hochul – and now you have it too.
Gavin Newsom,
The U.S. Constitution grants the power to impose and regulate tariffs to the U.S. Congress, not individual states or the President. Trump has violated that law.
States are sovereign powers. State governors can declare emergencies. They can declare that ports of their states will revert to pre-Trump tariff status until such time that Congress votes to approve the tariffs as the constitution says. What can Trump do about that? Send in his goons to collect unlawful taxes, which is what tariffs are? No American will support that spectre.
Tariffs are very unpopular – both sides. The law suit versus tariffs route is way too long a process. The courts are too easily influenced. Tarifflation is a unique meme four our unique times. The idea to stop collecting tariffs until Congress votes on it has not been floated or tested. Its time for fiscal resistance. Its time for blue state governors to put our money where their mouths are.
Red states may even go along. Their citizens don’t like tariffs either and are beginning to feel the pinch. You end Trumpism quickest by ending his popularity with his own voters.
Tarifflation is a meme that can do this. It’s a cyber war. Words are the weapons.
By ending the collection of Trump’s tariffs and declaring them unconstitutional and illegal until Congress votes on them, you also force the GOP in Congress to cast votes against their own people.
Governors can cease collecting tariffs tomorrow, stating when Congress approves tariffs, they will abide with the all tariffs they approve. That’s a meme that can help in the battle to end Trumpism and save our democracy.
………. end letter to Newsom
There are smarter ways to end Trumpism than waiting for elections that may not be fair or accepted. Key Governors must now step up financially and be willing to organize for financial resistance. They’ll need to form a union, and have one message:
We will not fund democracy’s demise one more day!
……….end tarifflation post
Rejecting ICE without warrants
This masked version of ICE is not popular on either side. They don’t have warrants. They work for an insurrectionist comforter, which Trump became the moment he pardoned convicted insurrectionsists. You dont have to be in the insurrection, to be barred from holding offices in these united states. See Constitution, 14th amendment sec.3 . Many in media know about that, and don’t talk enough about it enough. But democracy’s enemies get it. That’s why Trump is going after Obama. They know this is the legal tree they may likely die on. It’s also why they ban books and want kids to be blind to history. But it all adds to:it’s easier to start the resistance vs Trump as a resistance to ICE.
The justices that ruled J6 was not an insurrection, or that Congress had to vote on the 14th the amendment to enforce it, are also insurrection aiders. The rulings of at least two of nine can be ignored. And their seats should, by rights, be taken from them. Perhaps in due time.
A STATE OF EMERGENCY MUST BE DECLARED IN AUGUST BY GOVERNORS
We need blue state governors to step up now, during summer, when more people are off, and state there is an emergency in their states, and declare they will use all the powers given to state governors to protect their citizens.
With the intention of protecting the peace, and their citizens, and using the 14th sec 3 and emergency power executive orders as legal backup, ICE agents can be met with physical resistance if they come without warrants.
And further, whatever the percentage of the federal budget that ICE is costing the citizens of the dissenting blue states, that same percent the governors can declare to be paid to the states and withheld from the federal government to be used to amp up the state’s defenses and police forces. And they must defend their citizens should the federal government sue. That’s just numbers, – dollars. Not an act of war. But it feels as different was what we are feeling right now about fasicm rising. It feels like democracy fighting back, at last. It should have starfted at “Russia, if you’re listening”. That meant he knew they were.
Ending warrantless ICE can be our seminal political event to end fascism, the way January 6th was to initiute it, and our Boston Tea Party was to end it, or the burning of the German capitol for Hitler, to kick off WW2. Big cycles.
Lesson: New political movements need seminal events.
What’s Trump really going to do if we stop paying for ICE ? Did he worry about what dems would do if he asked people to attack police on J6? He can’t win if he sends the army in vs the police forces of NY, IL, CA, CO, VT, NJ, and any other states that want to start ending this fascist takeover of our country. He can’t win if he actually sends the army in vs the police forces of NY, IL, CA, CO, VT, NJ, and any other states that want to start ending the political cancer that is Trumpism. He loses that game of chicken and Trumpism dies by the dawn’s early light, imo.
And it’s going to get physical anyway, in time. This resistance will not be bloodless. If we are afraid to get hurt, they will find out and use force.
I know Donny. Neither he nor his sons will be there in any conflict zone,so its all good for the Trumps if others end up dead via his orders. And when people see that he is not moved, that becomes his Joey vs Johnny Friendly moment in On the Waterfront. Rachel said to think cinematically. Better now while the people are largely behind ending fascism and many have the summer off.
I would like to see this sort of thing happen this Labor Day weekend too. Filled with speakers and entertainers. At state capitols and online.
Yes. Use the word Liberation. They always use the meme they want the people not to use against them. Citizens United, would be a great name for a new political party right now, but its taken by those who dont want citizens to unite.
A CALL FOR STATE GOVERNORS TO UNITE TO DEFEAT AN AUTHORITARIAN TAKEOVER OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA | MAY 2025
The attack on American democracy, initiated in 2016 with foreign enemy assistance, has metastasized into a widespread, coordinated effort to undermine America’s 250-year-old constitutional order. Donald Trump and his allies in the Republican Party continue to push this agenda, and waiting until 2026 or 2028 is no longer a viable option.
The 14th Amendment, Section 3, explicitly bars insurrectionists—and those who aid or comfort them—from holding public office. Yet many current Republican officials in Congress have supported or defended the January 6 insurrection, violating this clause. If we truly value the rule of law, this must be acknowledged and acted upon.
Trump and the GOP have created a machine that cannot afford to lose power; doing so would expose them to legal accountability. Their current strategy involves gutting federal institutions, rigging elections, and ensuring permanent one-party control. This is not speculative—it is unfolding before our eyes.
A Blueprint for Peaceful Resistance
Blue state governors must act now. The path forward doesn’t require civil war, but it does require coordinated and assertive legal and financial resistance.
Step 1: Form a Governors’ Pact States like California, New York, and Illinois should form a constitutional alliance—“States United”—to protect democratic governance, federal workers, and core public institutions.
Step 2: Redirect Taxation with Representation Governors should allow their citizens to redirect financially justified portions of their federal tax contributions to fund state-controlled versions of federal agencies being dismantled or decimated by Trump. This is not tax evasion—it’s a constitutional stand against illegitimate federal authority. If they are concerned about the legality of such a move, they should be reminded that Trump routinely calls certain situations “emergencies” when they are not, and then uses his power to “protect” the people, to do things that harm and will harm US citizens. further, states are also sovereign seats of powers, like the federal government, and their governors swear oaths to protect state citizens.
Step 3: Rehire Fired Federal Agents Create state-based equivalents of agencies like the FBI, DOJ, USAID, and the Department of Education. These agencies can be staffed by professionals purged by the Trump administration. States have the right to protect their citizens and enforce their laws.
Step 4: Limit Federal Overreach Refuse cooperation with ICE and other federal forces acting without court orders or violating constitutional rights. If the federal government attempts to intervene, states must stand united, even if physically, and defend their citizens and sovereignty under the Constitution.
Why Now?
Trumpism thrives on fear and misinformation. Its leaders will not stop until all opposition is silenced. The GOP knows they cannot win fairly, so they are rewriting the rules. We must meet this moment with decisive action—not symbolic gestures and discussions. Waiting for midterms is not a game plan.
This is not about secession. It’s about using the state’s sovereign power to preserve constitutional governance and provide a legal, moral, and operational alternative to authoritarian rule. No one voted for fascism, but that’s what we are getting if we just wait and see. The elections of 2026 will either be rigged, Gerrymandered, or its results simply ignored by this power-crazed Republican party.
Precedent and Urgency
Just as the Boston Tea Party protested taxation without representation, Americans today must oppose being governed by those who have violated the Constitution. January 6 was not just a riot—it was a fascist assault on our republic. The Supreme Court’s refusal to act on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment further erodes its legitimacy. Supreme Court justices are also not exempt from the provisions of the 14th Amendment. Their anti-democratic rulings can be ignored by states on that basis.
Blue states have the people, the economy, and the moral authority. By forming a union of democratic governance, we can create a peaceful but powerful resistance that weakens Trumpism at its core.
Final Thoughts
Trump’s efforts have created a national emergency. It is the largest emergency we have faced since WW2. The longer we wait, the more power Trump’s anti-democratic armed assault gains power. Let red state politicians embrace Trump if they so choose—but blue state governors and congressmen should protect their citizens by respecting and enforcing the constitution as it is written.
The majority of citizens within red states are no longer supportive of Trump’s agenda. If we lead with courage and clarity, the people will demand that their interests, not the interests of billionaires and corporations, be supported with their tax dollars. That’s the populist movement that can turn this around so democracy prevails in America.
Joseph Aronesty is an ecom pioneer who shared a class with Donald Trump at Wharton in 1968 and worked in his orbit from 1986-99 in Atlantic City NJ. He has been writing about the danger Trump poses since 1996.
The Dictator Map. A dictator map was first posted at this blog in 2017, when Trump was in Helsinki. It was then I was 100% sure Trump was compromised and who did it. And this is why Trump will never cross Putin and never should have been given a chance to hold any office in the USA.
The majority of Americans want common sense gun reforms. The majority favors taking military style assault weapons out of the hands of the public. Americans also want a woman’s right to choose to be a decision made between her, her family and doctor. Very few Americans think it’s okay to have the state literally monitoring private bedroom and family decisions.
But nothing gets done and it seems like since forever. Why is that? It’s easy to blame mental health for gun violence and not the guns. Honestly I get that, though I don’t interpret the constitution as saying Americans inherit a right to own assault weapons due to the 2nd amendment. The 2nd specifically mentions a need a need for guns related to war with other countries, because we had no army back then, so we conscripted citizens with theor own guns to fight wars.
What is supposed to happen in representative government is: people tell their reps what they want to do about an issue, and the representatives re-present the ideas of the majority of their constituents during Congressional voting sessions. That is why they are called re-presentatives. We the people present, they represent. And these days, with social media and polling, it’s very easy to find out what people want. “The majority of Americans want common sense gun reforms” is a fact.
However,what happens in reality is that too many representatives ( aka lawmakers, because they make the laws we have to live by ) don’t vote for the things their constituents want; they vote for the laws that favor people who pay them to vote the way the bribers want. Lobbying is just a euphimism for bribing in a world where our supreme court had ruled ( because they had to ) that corporations are people and money can legally remain “dark”. With respect to gun laws, the NRA has a stake in arming the USA to the nines, so they lobby ( bribe ) mostly GOP congresspeople to vote for thier business to stay alive, as they see in many countries the guns per capita rate is much lower than in the USA. The whole thing adds up to America becoming a place where innocent people, are mowed down at one of the highest rates on the planet. And that is sad, scary and fixable, – but only one way on the fixing. ( More on that later . )
The same can be said about a woman’s right to choose. Almost no young woman wants to be forced to carry a child that she does not want to love and raise. But “lawmakers” in many states and in Congress are being paid to vote against the wishes of the majority of American citizens.
When questioned about this, Lauren Bobert, representative from Colorado, said the quiet part out loud: Boebert: “We’re not a democracy. So quit with that. Maybe that’s where you’re getting it wrong is saying we’re a democracy. We’re a constitutional republic.”
She is right about that. But what is a constitutional republic? It implies adherence to a constitution, regardless to what the majority of people want. There is nothing in the constituon about abortion.
In reality, the key difference between a democracy and a republic lies in the limits placed on government by the law. Both forms of government use the representational system. Citizens vote to elect politicians to represent their interests and pass laws that reflect their wishes. In a “pure democracy,” the majority imposes its will on the minority. In a republic, a constitution protects certain inalienable rights that cannot be taken away by the government, even if it is wanted by a majority of voters.
Right now, women have a right to have an abortion in the USA as per Roe v Wade. But many Republicans in Congress want to take that away.
So that line about the USA not being a “pure” democracy is correct. But Bobert and many lawmakers use that line to defend their right to vote against the collective will of their constituency and vote for what is good for their own pocketbooks. Selling your vote to the highest bidder is not any part of a constitutional republic. It’s congressional corruption. That’s why I often refer to Congress as Coingress. We end up with the best government money can buy.
This will not change until we change the qualitfications for holding office in the USA change. And no one is talking about that on either side of the divide. To be president you just have to be thirty-five and a citizen born here. Donald Trump can run from jail if he so chooses. We vet our babysitters better than our presidents and representatives. Prior public service is not required. It should be. As a result of this low bar for qualification, many in Congress are there for self service, not public service.
It takes millions to win office these days. As long as the uber rich are paying for political campaigns, the uber rich will choose representatives that promise to vote their way when the chips are down.
And then there is the 14th Amendment which clearly says no person who have taken part in an insurrection, aided an insurrection, or even “comforted” those who have taken part in an insurrection can be in office, state or federal. The entire GOP has at least comforted insurrectionists. One judge on the Supreme Court is married to an insurrectionist caught in the act. But we do nothing about this as well. Democrats know all this and do nothing. It must be because they have some dark sold out secrets in their closets and are afraid to shun 50% of the Congress.
People are the same over time. Their toys and environments change, but being a human is pretty much the same as it was since forever. We are born. We rely of help from adults to become an adult. We procreate ( or not ) and then, we move out of the way as all living things do. That’s what one has to navigate as a living human. We all prey on each other in one way or another during our journey through life. Some fare better than others. Some are larger predators than others. Some find ways to help others as they serve them. Live and let live seems to be the best philosophy.
It seems to me humans are not the right beings to be trusted to care for the masses when their instinct will almost always be to put themselves first.
I wondered if AI would do a better job of government, so I asked it “what are the best ways to curb gun violence in the USA?”. This is what I got in a few seconds.
Here are some of the best ways to reduce gun violence:
Universal background checks: Implementing universal background checks can help ensure that firearms are not sold to individuals who are prohibited from owning them, such as those with criminal records or mental health issues.
Red flag laws: Red flag laws allow law enforcement to temporarily confiscate firearms from individuals who are deemed to be a threat to themselves or others.
Stricter gun control laws: Implementing stricter gun control laws, such as bans on assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and bump stocks, can help reduce the number of mass shootings and gun-related deaths.
Education and awareness: Educating the public about responsible gun ownership and safe storage practices can help prevent accidental shootings and reduce the number of firearms stolen and used in crimes.
Mental health support: Providing accessible and affordable mental health services can help individuals with mental health issues get the help they need and reduce the risk of gun violence.
Community-based violence prevention: Investing in community-based violence prevention programs can help address the root causes of gun violence and provide support to those who are at risk of being involved in gun violence.
It’s important to note that there is no single solution that can completely eliminate gun violence in the USA, and addressing this issue will require a multifaceted approach that takes into account the complex social, cultural, and political factors that contribute to gun violence. End AI report.
It all makes perfect sense to me but almost none of this will get done because unvetted humans, many of whom can be tossed out tomorrow by the DOJ via the 14th, still have their seats and their secret bank accounts.
It seems to me that the two warring party system will eventually, and perhaps soon, bring the USA to its knees or into a state of live civil war. ( We are already in a cool cyber civil war – a war of words. )
All I can fathom as a solution, one party needs to get complete control of the government and clean house. If it happens at the ballot box in 2024 that would be great. But I don’t think the uber rich are going to let that happen. They killed two Kennedy’s to stop the people from having a real champion for justice in office. And now, another Kennedy, RFK Jr., is getting ready to run.
Dems have shown they are willing to eat their own. I did not agree with ousting Al Franken but at least dems have shown they have standards. This GOP has shown they are okay with criminals, rapists and traitors to the constitution in high office. They seem to prefer it. Romney is shunned. And that’s because a good boy scout will rat on the sold out in Congress so it’s better if they are all sold out. Thick as thieves is the GOP’s secret mantra. And I am sure there is a percentage of Democracts that are okay with protectting lawmakers right to stuff their pockets and work against the people they are supposed to represent.
The USA’s greatest threat to survival come from the sold out in Congress and two men named Vladimir and Rupert. The majority of Americans know which of our warring two parties is the lesser of two evils. It is the party that gave tax breaks to bilionaires, is okay with 18-year olds owning assault weapons and wants to end Social Security, Medicare and a woman’s right to choose.
The only solution left is for one party needs to get complete control of all three chambers of government and clean house. 2024 is closer than we think. The vast majority of Americans will fare better if the crazy party that is aligned with billionaires, Qanon and the NRA is put out to pasture. A split Congress will not police itself nor advance any meaningful reforms to better life for working Americans and thier children.
Speaking of children, the active shooter drill generation is being groomed right now. When they come to power in 20 years, well – you tell me what you think they will do. I think they will reject both parties – if these parties still exist. The will reject the GOP for letting so many kids die, and the Dems for being too scared to take the steps to even try to end the madness. And I will be with them, if I am still around.
Photo from the NRA Convention 2023. Grooming much?
In 1971, President Nixon declared a war on drugs. It was a racist-oriented policy decision, but indeed he enrolled the FBI, DOJ and police departments to act on his declaration of war. Reagan declared a war on drugs again in 1982. Presidents have the power to declare war on something other than another country.
It is a well-known fact that war is not defined in the US Constitution. This makes some sense because what constitues war changes over time as technology evolve. So President Biden, using his war powers as Commander-in-Chief can declare was on “attacks to our democracy”, just as Reagan and Nixon declared on “drugs”. He can also enroll the FBI DOJ and police departments to seek out those who would undo our democracy by force or any other means.
Democracy is America’s Founding Principle
What would America be without democracy? Can you even imagine a formally fascist or oligarchal United States? The 911 attacks took the World Trade Towers and 3000 lives, but democracy was very strong that year. The danger Isis posed seemed dangerous back then, but that danger pales in comparison to the dangers we face today with the attacks on democracy that are being attempted here by sitting members of Congress.
The Effort to End Democracy Is Not Confined to the USA
Most of the people on the planet live under the thumb of autocrats. Autocracy goes back to the city-states of Babylon 8000 years ago. Democracy in 250 years old. I have colored countries whose democracies are under attack orange, which is half yellow and half red. Hungary, Ukraine, Brazil and sadly the United States are experiencing serious attacks to their democracies right now.
Now look at the red countries to think on who might want these attacks on democracies to succeed. There are two very large autocracies. China and Russia. But China has experienced tremendous growth over the last 50 years by making products the sell in the well-to-do democratic countries and especially the USA. That leaves Russia and Putin as the person with the largest stake and motive to end democracy on the planet.
Evidence of Partnership Between Putin and the Republican Party
Putin cheered the night Trump won the election in 2016. He aided Trump tremendously by using a new type of warfare – cyber war. Instead of bombs, or airplanes flown into buildings, he used Facebook, Twitter, Trump and the GOP to get a partner into our White House. This was the single most successful attack on the USA in its history. Those who cared about democracy could feel that on Nov 9th 2016, but too many were afraid to say it – including our then president Barack Obama, who permitted a man who invited Russia to leak information on his opponent in the election to continue on as a candidate. Yes, “everyone” thought Trump would lose, but that was not a proper consideration. Principles matter and we paid the highest price ever for that cowardice or smugness. We still are paying and wil continue to pay until we out the offenders from our government.
We must also not forget that Putin was present at the GOP Convention in 2016. He sent his men there and indeed Trump directed a change to the GOP party platform on Ukraine support. There was and still is an unwritten partnership between the Republican Party, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. I call it the Russo-Republican Agreement. This is how the Russian mob always operated even back in the 80s. Now they’ve graduated to using cyber technology and have infiltrated our Congress. There is no other thing more dangerous to our survival as country than allowing partners of Vladimir Putin to have power in our Congress.
There are Two Tools to Undo the Malice in Our Congress
The 14th Amendment which says no one who took part in an insurrection, or aided or comforted those that did, can have any office in the USA. Why Biden has not used this tool yet is beyond me, but I can only think he is afraid of something. To that, I quote FDR. There is nothing to fear but fear itself. True then, True now. The circumstances are amazingly similar. New enemies. New weapons. But the desire of our enemies is the same: ending democracy.
Why is China okay with our democracy, but not Putin? It can only be that Vladimir is just a crook at heart. Stealing is what he knows best and it has worked for him. His country sells very little to the rest of the world and he’s not trying to change that. It’s all about him. Sound familiar? It should. Trump once said on the campaign trail in Iowa in 2016 “Of course they love me, they love money”. Putin and Trump share an inferiority complex that makes them seek money so furiously that nothing else matters to them.
The other tool is actually our presidnet declaring war on those who would end democracy in the United States. That effort would involve asking members of Congress if they believe the 2020 was stolen and publicly declare that they do not ( or present evidence for their beliefs to the contrary in real time. ) Anyone who won’t make that declaration is fostering anti-democractic sentiments in their constituency, and hence are on our enemies’ side in this war. Do we really want Congressmen who state our president stole the election – hence demoting his power in the eyes of many Americans to serve? The effect of that aired sentiment, and the cries that can be heard on Fox News is that sixty percent of Repubican voters still think Trump won the 2020 election. Fox can be asked to stop spreading election lies as part of this war to preserve democracy. This proposed war to preserve dmeocracy effort can be tied to the 14th Amendment as well because the rallying cry of the insurrection was “stop the steal”. Congressmen who say the election was stolen are comforting insurrectionists.
By using the 14th and declaring that we at war to defend democracy in the USA we can clean house of the insurrectionists in our midst. They intend to do us no good. And they are still getting help and support from the man who started this war on democracy, Donald Trump’s mentor, Vladimir Putin.
I will leave you to ponder ask your representative to use the 14th to unseat the insurrectionist supporters in Congress and with this image. Fill in the thoughts that are in their heads at this precise moment.
We have been attacked, with far more consequences than 911.
The GOP in the House have begun holding the USA hostage. It is part of their agenda, which includes ending Social Security and Medicare. They will use the House power of the purse to threaten the functionality of the US Government.
However, most of the GOP in Congress comforted insurrectionists and supported the chief insurrectionist, Donald J Trump. The DOJ can enforce the 14th and unseat them tomorrow using evidence from video tapes. No trial need happen. Just new special elections. Then dems have the majority at least until the special elections, and hello Jeffries. Solves all.
Time to be creative. Time to be serious. Some say the 14th has no teeth. But it’s there for exactly this situation – and it can grow teeth! It must before 2024. We are one more Gerrymandered election away from losing what our forefathers fought and died to protect. And all of this is stemming from what I call The Russo-Republican Alliance of 2016. Never forget Putin had Russians present at the 2016 GOP Convention. Obama’s DOJ should have dissolved the GOP over that. We are not seriously addressing the new way of warring – cyber war – and democracy’s enemies know it.
Remember: House Speaker is Third in Line for POTUS
Take note that Speaker McCarthy is 3rd in line for POTUS and he too should be removed via the 14th. Biden is eighty and Kamala is an easy target for MAGA nutballs and potential lone wolves who would gladly do something to be remembered like Lee Harvey Oswald. I believe this is why the GOP “Freedom Caucus” did not want McCarthy. I also think Trump secretly wanted someone who was not McCarthy, in spite of his words. Ask Michael Cohen if I don’t have the cred.
If the Biden’s DOJ and Dems won’t use the 14th and unseat insurrection comforters – which solves much, the right thing to do is to declare war vs election deniers and ask all in Congress to openly say Biden is their duly elected commander -in-chief. Anyone in Congress who won’t say this and who was also involved in planning or supporting the Jan 6th affair or offered words of comfort to those who did, can be removed from office by the US military as part of this war effort. Can you be an autocrat for democracy? I think so. FDR was sort of like that.
Dems consistently show they are not willing to bend rules in a war that threatens our democracy. The generation that goes through active shooter drills in K-12 will end both parties when they come to power. They will dis the GOP for thier malice, and the Dems for their cowardice. And they will be right.
Domestic terror has risen dramatically since 2016 in the USA. Victims of all incidents in recent years represent a broad cross-section of American society, including blacks, Jews, immigrants, LGBTQ individuals, Asians and other people of color who have been attacked by right-wing extremists wielding vehicles, guns, knives, hateful words and fists. I doubt Trump will ever be president of the United States again, but simply allowing him to run for the presidency poses a severe danger not only to the democracy but to the citizens of the United States as well. It says its okay to be a traitor and be in government. And that let’s the GOP traitors to democracy in Congress off the hook.
Allowing Trump to run implies this violence has all been okay with the DOJ. The Jan 6th insurrectionists said, “we were summoned by our president to stop the steal“. The “steal” and the Big Lie were the rallying cries of the Jan 6th insurrection. Allowing Trump to run negates the very basis of prosecuting him for just causes. On one hand the DOJ is saying Trump deserves to be jailed and on the other it is saying it’s okay for Trump to be commander-in-chief. It is a mockery of justice we all understand in our bones.
Trump is not in office now; his Congressional allies in the insurrection are. They now pose a larger danger to our democracy than Trump precisely because they now have the power of a majority in the House – something that can and should have be undone by Biden and Garland before January 3rd – but they refused to do so. History will judge the GOP as a party bent on malice, but it will judge the Democratic party as one stymied by a cowardice that permitted a corrupt party to seize power after a majority of its members were either involved in, or were okay with an attempted coup.
Recently Trump said he wanted to suspend the Constitution. Merrick Garland is already suspending the Constitution by refusing to enforce one of its most important amendments, the 14th Amendment. They say “there is no enforcement mechanism”. I say “Who cares? Invent one!”. This was and still is an attack on our democracy – and that is an act of war. War is not defined in the Constutution, but war is always an attempt to take something away from a sovereign country. The players in this war – this cyber war which uses words not bombs – are being rewarded with immense government power.
Ratified in the aftermath of the Civil War, Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment explicitly disqualifies any person from public office who, having previously taken an oath as a federal or state office holder, engaged in insurrection or rebellion or gave aid or comfort to insurrectionists. Donald Trump has done both things that disqualifies anyone for holding office – any office state or federal. But the aid and comfort part applies to all the GOP expect those like Cheney, Kinzinger and Romney.
We have rewarded insurectionists in Congress by allowing them to hold the majority in the House even though a substantial percentage of those House candidates “comforted” insurrectionists. We have video tape documenting such comforting. It’s up to the DOJ Biden and our DOD to stop Trump and the complicit GOP in Congress who are aligned with the Jan 6 movement. Our DOD is sworn to protect us. Where are they? We are being attacked. The GOP’s divisive hate speech blasted daily on Fox News and right wing media, filibustering, obstruction of government processes, phony investigations that waste our tax dollars, and the classroom shootings, will not stop by itself.
We are witnessing a war vs the USA – an attack on our most sacred institution – voting – carried out by members of Congress. This coup was and is more of an attack on the USA than the Isis attack on 911, which had no chance of long term success. All this GOP have to do is win one trifecta election, House ( which they just did via Gerrymandering ) Senate and President – and we will have lost the democracy that we fought to preserve for 250 years. There will never be another fair election to undo this – not without massive blood being spilt.
Imagine if on 911 we caught Osama Bin Laden but then allowed the Isis party to organize and take the House. Imagine if after World War II we allowed the US Nazi parti to take the House. After all, they were not the same people as in the German Nazi party. This is what we did on January 3rd. We allowed known allies of the man who organized an insurrection vs the institutions of free and fair elections and peaceful transfer of power to take power. We are not even demanding they publicly rejecting the Big Lie. This is pure stupidity.
Read what Hitler’s communications general, Joseph Goebbels, said of a democracy that allows its enemies to take power: “‘This will always remain one of the best jokes of democracy—that it gave its deadly enemies the means by which it was destroyed.’” – We are doing this right now. Now read the US Constitution’s clause to protect us from attacks from within.
Merrick Garland knows all this. But still his DOJ is letting Trump run for office, and he is allowing at least some insurrectionists ( Josh Hawley was there but, Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), and Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.). were involved in the planning. ( link to article ,if you doubt that). And 90% of the rest of the GOP offered comforting words to those involved.
Contrary to the oaths sworn to uphold the Constitution and defend its principles, Merrick Garland, Joe Biden and our Department of Defense are not using the one constitutional tool we have to protect our democracy from internal rot. They allowed criminals, traitors and the enemies of democracy to ascend to power. If they only blocked those who were there and those who were involved in its planning, from holding office – the GOP would not have even the majority of the House. But – for poltical reasons – the Dems seem to want to not have that majority right now. We can only guess why. Perhaps the GOP has dirt on them as well.
With the GOP in control of the House, Dems feel they will share some of the public ire that will continue in 2023. What a sad state of affairs. It’s basically the same reason they let Trump run in 2016. They thought he would lose. What they are underestimaing is the damage the GOP House can do to America and Americans in two years. Dems too are therefore just strategizing for power like the GOP – not thinking of what is best for us all.
Understand that Donald Trump had, probably still has, and likely has already shared top secret documents with Vladimir Putin. There is a war in Ukraine and the GOP in power might be able to stop the USA from offering aid to Ukraine. Putin does not like Biden. He did not like HRC. He had opearatives at the GOP Convention in 2016. Connect the dots. This is how Putin operates. Foul play is being invited. The 14th is the only way to stop this.
Trump was the leader of an insurrection or coup attempt. Kind or supportive words about Trump after the Jan 6th event – perhaps without a large public apology – is all it takes to be disqualified to hold any government office.
We have a covenant with our government. It goes something like this. We agree to pay taxes to our government and they agree to use their offices and our tax dollars protect us and try to make out lives better. Without that payback, what are we paying taxes for? MAGA people have long had this gripe. They think the US Government “abandoned them”. I can only speak for myself. But right now, I feel just as abandoned as the MAGA people say they feel.
If Merrick Garland will not stop Donald Trump from running for office, he is shirking his duty and oath to uphold the Constitution. He has allowed a party that is infested with insurrectionists a majority in the House. And if this ends badly, which it ceratinly can, I will blame Garland and Biden for their cowardice and lack of historical perpective in their refusal to indict Trump and bar those who sided with the Big Lie – which was and still is the rallying cry of the insurrection.
I am not asking Garland to suspend the Constitution; I am asking him to enforce the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
Stop Trump from running for office now.
Insist the GOP who were part of the insurrection or its planning be stripped of their seats and new special elections be held – just as if they had died.
Insist that all Congresspeople who have offered words of comfort to insurrectionists publicly rescind their words on national TV or surrender their seats. All in Congress, must also state publicly and loudly that Joe Biden is their duly elected commander-in-chief in this cyber war.
These two images explain the Worldwide Cyber War of 2016-2022.
The SCOTUS is aligned with the GOP which is aligned with Putin. Hence SCOTUS is aligned with Putin. Putin schooled Trump in Helsinki. We saw that when Trump walked out on stagewith a seeming sub-serviance hait to the dictator in chief. A subserviance to anyone or anything is something we never saw in Trump, going back to the 70s. Connect the dots.
The violent attack on the Pelosi’s has made a declaration from our president an immediate necessity. Joe Biden must make a speech about the attack on Paul Pelosi and segway towards the voices that are instigating these attacks on politcians. He should make sure that Fox carries this “important speech” and hide his true intent ahead of the speech.
Biden can use his presidential war powers to declare war on hateful rhetoric and say these memes are radicalizing and harming Americans. Joe Biden is not only authorized to defend our democracy, he has a duty to do so. The legal precedent goes back to 1863, during the during the Civil War. https://www.fcnl.org/warpowers
The Supreme Court confirmed this executive war power in the Prize Cases of 1863. The Court held that President Lincoln’s establishment of a blockade following the attack on Fort Sumter, without prior congressional authorization, was a lawful exercise of his Commander in Chief power.
According to Justice Grier, speaking for the majority: “If a war be made by invasion of a foreign nation, the President is not only authorized but bound to resist force by force. He does not initiate the war, but is bound to accept the challenge without waiting for any special legislative (Congressional ) authority. And whether the hostile party be a foreign invader, or States organized in rebellion, it is none the less a war ….”
We are seeing our states organized in a rebellion every day now through the words and actions of the Republican representatives in Congress, the former president and his allies. They’ve even called for fake electors and it was quite an organized effort. A war on our elections must be declared as tantamount to a war on our founding institutions and those involved must have their words and actions arrested.
If those that spread these messages in government or media will not immediately cease using hate of Democrats as a meme, and also publicly reverse their statements as an attempt to undo the damage they have already done, then their bodies must be arrested as well. I believe house arrest and the monitoring of communciations is warranted at a time of war. We are in a war – a cyber war – and have been since 2016. Putin was the leader of this war vs democracy in 2016. He still is the man with the most power in the autocracy game, and that is the logical reason Trump never said a bad word about him.
Ads, posts, and words spoken must stop charaterizing people in government service as political enemies worthy of being attacked or as enemies of Americans. If politicians continue to incite such hate, they must be deemed as attempting to radicalize Americans. Such memes have consistently shown they result in people acting out violently.
Hateful and/or violent ads (like the above), posts or words spoken by elected official must result in the instant loss of their seats. If they continue after they are out of office, it must result in jailing or house arrest with communications monitored. It is the communications of these traitors to democracy that are most dangerous. If Tucker Carlson continues he too must be arrested.
People have freedom of speech, but during a war, those siding with enemy forces that want to end democracy can be silenced via statutes that say you cannot yell fire in a theater. The danger to the public overrules freedom of speech and the largeness of the microphone weighs in on the danger level of words and images. We are all in that theater now through our social media. So yes, media must be constrained so that hateful violent memes are considered terrorist propaganda. The violence will trend worse unless and until the voices and images that spark such violence are silenced.
How to Save American Democracy
If we do want to reach the undecided, there is one last easy way. It works for people who don’t read and even those who might not like the sound of your voice. We must learn to use fear to motivate Fox’s viewers and respect that Fox uses fear because they know 100% how it works on their listeners.
The only way to stop the hate speaking versus public servants – which includes poll workers – is for our president to loudly declare: that such hateful words, images and posts are hateful propaganda that have been shown time and time again to be harmful to the good people of these United States.
STEP 1. Joe Biden needs to declare war on anyone in government or media that posts threats to members of Congress, their staff and family members. The attack on the Pelosi’s makes this an immediate necessity.
We all know about freedom of speech, but we can’t allow people to yell fire in a theater knowing it is not true because of the danger it poses to people. The entire idea of government is to protect people from danger and make life better for them. Right now, the we are not doing neither of those two things very well.
The airwaves and internet highway belong to the commonwealth of the United States. They are leased to corporations but they cannot use their structures to harm the citizens of the United States. We should not tolerate one more threat to congressmembers, judges, poll workers, government executives and their staff and family members. A hot line for such threats needs to be announced stat and all media instructed to post said hot line or lose their licenses to broadcast.
We would do this if it were Bin Laden. When the words of hate come from the GOP it is much worse because 70 million people are listening. And like a cancer, it won’t stop by itself, even if Dems win both houses, which is a long shot. It must be forcibly stopped. Such memes must be defined as a crime versus the common good with fast penalties enforced as if at war. That is why Biden needs to declare war on this sort of thing right away.
This will not work if Biden is scared and waits until after midterms. It will look too obvious and weak. It needs to be said loudly and right away or people will think it is still okay.
The New York Times , Chicago Tribune, LA Times , all major stations need to show this map, or one like it, for the next few days and up until election day.
Do you remember the first time you saw a RISK board? You got the idea of a global struggle without reading about history. You just got it. We need people who can’t or don’t read to get this right now. Fear of our true enemies, those that have a stake in ending democracy, is the motivator that will work best in these last days to reach undecided voters.
No one here wants what is coming. GOP voters don’t want it either, but I’ve heard the joke many MAGA people think autocracy means cars rule. They will get the above image which can be made into an interactive map like Steve Kornacki does. Truth is, if we lose democracy here, democracy is done for the planet. That is easy to conclude by obserbing this map. One does not need words to get it. And if that happens, climate change will take care of humanity soon enough. The earth has patience.
In a world with social media, dictators and democracies are like cats and dogs. Because dictators can no longer hide all the truth from their citizens with social media so readilt available, dictators cannot just coexist with free states so easily any more. This war was destined just as it was eighty years ago. But the autocrats know it is their destiny and are being pro-active. Democracies must be pro-active too or we are doomed to be reactive. It’s that simple.
And never forget, above and beyond all else, Putin and Trump are simply financial criminals – gangsters that have ascended to the top of the chain in their governments. And they can’t get caught because of their past crimes. So they cannot quit and must be forcibly stopped.
They must be stopped, which is what arrested means. The 14th amendment allows us to deny to seat insurrection supporters to any government post. Use it or lose it. Joe Biden – arrest Trump please. Think of arrest in its classical meaning: to stop the progress of something. You know. Like ” The doctor arrested the metastasis by using chemotherapy. “
Thank you for doing something today, before it is too late.
How to Save Democracy in 8 days. Post the attack on Paul #Pelosi the violence will get worse … unless . STEP 1. Joe #Biden needs to declare war on anyone in government or media that posts threats to members of #Congress. THIS NEEDS TO HAPPEN MONDAY. Delay is normalization. pic.twitter.com/bu6cR5CgGt
What We Can Do in the Closing Days Before Midterms to Save Democracy
Every 80 years since 1776, the United States has experienced a severe crisis. We are in such a crisis now. Midterm voting has begun. Our votes and the words we speak now will decide our country’s fate.
The GOP have already said if they regain power, they intend to end Social Security, make abortion nationally illegal and use the House’s power of the purse to roll back public perks like lower drug prices. They are trying to harm the middle class because fascist rule cannot survive with a strong middle class. Why do you think so many Russian businessmen mysteriously jumped out of windows this year? They stood up to Putin vs his war on Ukraine. No Americans want to get to that point. But we are dangerously close now.
Democracy Must Prevail
The entire concept of this party or that party winning and losing is not appropriate for the 2022 midterms. If pushed to amplify a victorious meme, “Democracy must prevail” is the proper meme, not “party D or R must win”. It’s not about the parties winning. It’s about something we have shared in common since 1776 – democracy. My father fought in WW2 to defend democracy. It would be the supreme tragedy to turn our democracy over to the same spirits that started WW2 at the ballot box.
Democracy mustprevail implies that democracy is under attack without saying it. It’s also the lesson of the Star-Spangled Banner: our flag was still there. America prevailed.
A sense of American community pride must be restored, subliminally. Don’t get involved in the “we win, you lose” meme. That’s for sports, not politics. Let the election deniers own that antagonistic meme. People know it’s wrong to be divided within a country, and that it’s hurting us all Americans on many levels.
Speak to Centrist Voters Last Two Weeks
There is still a large group of undecided voters, and they will decide if democracy prevails. This group includes people who may not vote during the midterms. Reach out to people in your circle of friends and family who are not politically motivated to vote in midterm elections. This is up to each and every one of us—not only the candidates. Tell them how important it is to you that democracy prevails. There’s not much sense preaching to the choir. If you have political differences, teell them they can be ironed out over time, but once autocracy sets in, there is no path back to democracy.
Nearly All Americans Have Relatives that Fought in WW II
My father was a PFC in World War II. My sister voted for Trump, probably owing to peer pressure in her social circle. After this article is published, I will call her and talk about what our father fought for. I’ll make a point to say, “What a shame it would be to give away what many fought and died for in WW2 at the ballot box.
Try and convince a few voters you know to vote for democracy to prevail, especially in battleground states like Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, and Michigan – though they are all very important states this time.
Women and Young Voters Will Decide the Fate of Democracy
If you’ve got voting-age kids, make sure they are motivated to vote. Most young voters know that the world is stacked against them these days. But sadly, too many believe there is nothing they can do about it. When you convince a young voter to register his vote for democracy to prevail, they may also get some of their friends to join in that effort. They are natural-born experts in social media. Remind them to use social media to spread the meme “Democracy Must Prevail” for us to have a chance at the classic American Dream that their parents got as a birthright and their grandfathers fought and died for in WW2.
American women have no good reason for voting for GOP candidates. With Roe overturned, the GOP is running its own version of Muslim Sharia law here in the USA. Republican states have removed the freedom to plan a family as American women and men have seen fit since the 1970s. Sharia law is used to restrict women’s freedom in countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran. It is shameful to resort to such tactics here in the USA. Government does not belong in our bedrooms. Health issues are personal and should only be between a woman and their doctors. There is nothing in Christ’s teachings that refers to abortion.
Many are convinced that life comes down to gas prices and the cost of food. Fascists like their subjects living week to week so they have no time to focus on what’s really going on in their government. Google the cost of gas in Europe before you talk with the people you want to convince to get in this fight. Rising gas prices and supply chain issues are global issues and direct consequences of the pandemic and Putin’s war. It’s not Biden’s fault, nor was it Trump’s. Inflation in Europe is 25% higher than in the USA. In Argentina, the inflation rate is not 8%, it’s 80%. We can get through this together, not divided.
What Joe Biden and Democrats in Office Can Do
The messages outlined above will also be effective for congressional Democrats and our president to use during these last two weeks. I have asked myself why Joe Biden does not open up a channel or email address just for GOP and centrist voters and ask them what they want from their government and what they think it can do better. Amplify the best questions in posts and in media and remind them that these things can all be achieved but only in a democracy, never in an autocracy. Remind voters the refusal to accept the results of a proper election is what autocracies do-and ask how’s that working out for the people in Russia?
Thanks in advance to all US citizens for their service when they vote for democracy to prevail over autocracy in November, and for using their influence to remind those they know who have not quite made up their minds of the importance of this particular midterm election.
THE ENGLISH CODE 