One of the easiest ways to destroy a democracy is to make it too expensive to operate efficiently. Campaigning every two years coupled with the endless infighting are the GOP and Trump’s brand, and they have resulted in a bitterly divided democracy that is no longer a smooth-running machine. It’s no wonder we rank so poorly in handling the deadly pandemic. Democracy, the way the USA is doing it today, is a model that is destined to fail, especially in hard times. Inefficiency is what drives out the old and invites in the new. Survival of the fittest is real for governing too.
The winners of this long 2016-2020 election cycle were Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, the Jeff Bezos’s of the world, the enemies of democracy and bitcoin. With the results in the Georgia runoffs handing the Senate over to the Dems, the Trump years are effectively over as of today. If we want to make sure Trumpism never happens here again, we’ve got more work to do. We should collectively think hard on why Donald Trump was allowed to perform as a Putin sycophant in the office of the presidency. I have always felt “Russia, if you’re listening” was a disqualifying statement. We let that statement slip by and the result was we lost 300,000 extra American souls. Connect those dots.
It’s January 5th 2020. I really hope the Dems sweep the three branches of government tonight. ( They did!) The actual people of this country are not as far apart on what they want and need as Trump and the GOP instigators in Congress would have us believe. When we compete with nations that don’t have this divisive infighting, we will always come up short, just like we have done with the pandemic. The difficult days ahead will demand the focus that only a unified government can provide. Did you know China, with its unified communist government enjoyed a great economic 2020 while we were busy bickering about nonsense, masks and conspiracy theories? We used to be better than this. I remember.
The only people that like this American divisiveness are the authoritarians and the super greedy in business. Those two forces realized they had common goals and unified behind Donald Trump at the 2016 GOP Convention. I see that as an act of treason in a cyber war. These crimes must be prosecuted or they will happen again. Looking the other way enables cops to keep needlessly killing young black men. It’s the same way for corruption and abuse of power. Criminals are criminals. If there is no deterrence, they try again.
Calls for treason charges are just warming up. That’s how we roll here when we align and get focused. We’ve been here before. Watch this space.
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The map on the page below explains the personal motive behind Trump’s rise to power .Donald sure seems to have been working for his own and Putin’s interests and not the American people. Anyway, it’s over. January 6th, 2020. Mark the date. But we’ve got to make sure this never happens again. They only need to succeed once to end the American democracy.
From “Russia, if you’re listening” in 2016 to “the election was a fraud” in 2020, Donald Trump incessantly lied to the American people, aligned with its enemies and abused the powers the framers gave to the US president. And we permitted all this to go on, as if it were all fine and dandy.
But the attack on the Capitol on Jan 6th showed all Americans there was a dangerous cliff we were headed for. In many ways, the visible ugliness of the insurrection was a blessing. The allegory of catching a cancer before its too late to cure comes to mind.
How Do We End The Cyber Civil War?
Fellow Americans on both sides of whatever divide you think exists: the cyber civil war we have been engaged in for forty years cannot continue if this country is to survive as a democracy.
The John Lewis Voting Act
The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act establishes a targeted process for reviewing voting changes in jurisdictions nationwide, focused on measures that have historically been used to discriminate against voters.
Less than a month into Joe Biden’s administration, it’s still clear that no matter how well Biden does vs. Covid and in matters of international relations, the GOP will not magically become a caring patriotic party. The new proposed voting restrictions in Georgia, coupled with 150 more such new anti-democratic voting laws that target people of color, reveals the GOP’s true heart. The 14th Amendment makes it clear that elected official who took part in or supported the insurrection, should not be allowed to run for office nor be a part of Congress. That’s the same basic mistake we made when we let Trump say grab ’em by the p*ssy – and still run for office. It’s terrible judgment folks.
We Need a Trump Ex-President’s Law 2021
Let me propose that a president who loses an election may ask courts to verify the accuracy of the election or contest it. However, once the vote is certified and his legal efforts have been exhausted, we need a law that a losing president can no longer decry or vocalize on the air or in media that the election was stolen, or otherwise rigged. We must draw the line on free speech, when that free speech creates a threat to the safety of commonwealth. We must treat such rhetoric the same way we would if it had come from a Taliban recruiter. It is actually much more dangerous than Taliban lies, because lies are more contagious when they come from an American. Yes, it’s sort of like a virus. The conatagion rate is a huge factor.
Refusing to surrender a verified, court challenged and settled election must be deemed an attack on our democratic process. Incendiary speech from an ex-president will also do much more damage than the same rhetoric coming from an average US citizen. The size of an ex-presidents audience means the punishment for incitement should be greater (not less) for an ex-president than for a person without said large base. As we are a nation of laws, incitement must be forbidden by laws with steep penalties for violation. Frankly it is treason, and treason laws and penalties should apply.
We have seen what words can do to motivate a mob, and we cannot trust that others will not do the same. Indeed, without a law to forbid incitement, it may become the norm for losing presidents.
We have for too long permitted the letter of our laws to violate the spirit and proper functions of our laws and institutions. This is exactly what Russia and other foes of democracy want. . Listen to Putin’s revealing Sochi interview with CBS (YouTube).
Goebbels said: The biggest joke of democracy is that it lets its enemies gain access to the power needed to destroy it.This is not new . This is what Putin spoke of in that interview – “using our laws to defeat us”. These are the real enemies of democracy – not the liberal left or the MAGA right – not any regular American people. The divide was created by democracies enemies, foreign and domestic.
Big business and despotic autocrats both want democracy to fail for their own separate reasons. Big business doesn’t want their workers to be able to be paid too well. They want to keep them needy. Sad, but true! Autocracies want their people to think no one does better anywhere in the world. So they certainly don’t want Americans focused and prepared to take on the challenges of modern life, as their people will see that and want the same.
In 2016, those two anti-democratic forces -big business and foreign autocrats – discovered they had similar goals and aligned behind candidate Trump at the GOP convention. The union of a known enemy like Putin’s Russia and an American political party must be viewed by the new administration both as an act of cyber war by Russia and an act of treason by the GOP players involved, including Donald Trump. The GOP could have stopped all this at “Russia, if you’re listening” but indeed they were in the game. It’s the only thing that makes sense.
Our Constitution and the laws of business and civil engagement recognize that criminal acts that masquerade as legal acts, are still crimes. A contract to commit a crime is not even valid. It must be this way or we lose the rule of law that supports all democracies. This is poli-sci 101. It’s not complicated.
Pardons granted for silence, favors or money are all forms of bribery are also crimes. Such pardons therefore cannot be valid. It is crucial to highlight that money is not the only way to pay for a bribe. Lying under oath to protect the pardoner is a form of payment and therefore a bribe. Both the briber and the bribee are guilty.
If we allow these crimes to go unpunished, lightly punished or forgiven the enemies of democracy will have no reason to stay away next election cycle. They only need to succeed once to end democracy. And Trump won’t even wait 24 hours to start campaigning and dividing us again.
Trump has already allowed the Russians to hack our defenses and pay bounties to kill our sons. A majority of Americans now believe Trump has been working against American interests. And even if it is just his own ego that’s driving him, his ego is our enemy because it does not actually revere the oath of office a POTUS takes to faithfully uphold and execute the laws and Constitution of the United States.
If it were not for the cover of his title, Donald Trump would not only be Individual #1 , he would be Public Enemy #1. Trump’s uncaring incompetence has already killed 1000x more Americans than Bin Laden’s airplane bombs.
You don’t beat a cancer by getting rid of most of it. Right now, there are reasons to lay low about what we will do to investigate and charge Donald Trump and others for crimes vs our commonwealth, at least until the Democrats and Joe Biden ascend to power on Jan 20th. The USA is a tinderbox and needs a cooling off period. It’s fortunate the transfer of power occurs in the dead of winter.
But I hope right now our new administrators recognize the real and pressing need to see to it that criminals no longer view the US government as fertile ground for profiting from power and then hiding their financial crimes. And I hope they are secretly and quietly planning how they will exact justice for the criminals that occupy the Washington DC swamp. More than anything single task, we need to get the crooks our of government.
One thing we can start talking about right now is up-to-date federal presidential candidate vetting requirements, which should include mandated financial disclosures to qualify to even campaign for POTUS. It was the campaigning and MAGA rallies that were the root source of Trump’s power. Trump will not willingly show his taxes. Had we demanded his taxes in 2016, he never would have run. We have paid a high price for our collective stupidity. We cannot afford to be stupid anymore.
The GOP should be okay with mandated tax disclosures. They should soon be looking for an easy way to say goodbye to Donald Trump. Yes, we see many have not figured this out yet. But they will. The insurrectionist route is untenable.
We need to make New Year’s resolutions for our government. Democracy’s enemies are counting on us letting them exploit the gaps in the letter of our laws. These are four 2021 resolutions I would like to see our government make and keep.
Financial disclosures mandated for all candidates for federal office. 2. Outlaw Gerrymandering. It runs counter to the democratic principles of equal representation and one person, one vote. 3. Electoral college reform. Some sort of population-driven compromise between the electoral college system and simply counting every vote to choose our POTUS should be agreed upon. If it can’t be agreed upon, do away with the electoral college. It was rooted in racism anyway. 4. Court reform to unpack or rebalance the judicial branch to be more representative of the attitudes and wishes of the majority of Americans.
The list could be much longer. But if we start by focusing on getting rid of the crooks and cracks in our government, better days will follow soon after.
America invented modern democracy when it through off the yoke of authoritarianism in 1776. The human species is in trouble now and the best hope for long time survival is collective effort. The PERSEVERANCE MARS PROBE is a great example of the potential of collective effort.
But authoritarians are in politics for themselves and they don’t want the majority in charge. They want to be in charge – usually for self-serving reasons. There is a global struggle for which system of government -democracy or autocracy – will persevere. Right now, there is more land ruled by dictators than democracies. If the USA swings to the right, undoing its democracy, the world’s governing balance will be critically wounded, the dictators will be able to seize the remaining democracies by military means and the species’ fate will be doomed.
An incumbent presidential candidate has the right to stoke hatred and divide the people of the United States if he deems it’s his best path to win an election. We even permit candidates lie to the public. And an acting president is protected by the “president cannot be arrested for anything” guideline even though that was certainly not the founders’ intention. Remember, they were throwing off the yoke of a dictator king.
However, anything action, speech or plan that our FBI would deem to be grounds for arrest if done by a domestic or foreign terrorist should be handled the same way if done by an ex-president. No man is above the law must rule.
Donald Trump said he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose any support. He’s done 300,000 times worse than shooting a person of Fifth Avenue. And I guess he was right. He didn’t lose that much support. Forty days after the election, 75% of his voters still think he won.
But after January 20th, will we still allow Citizen Trump to break the law? If he continues to stoke hatred and radicalize American citizens, putting us all in danger, should not those actions be prosecuted just as if they were done by Bin Laden? Remember, Bin Laden did not fly a plane into the World Trade Center; he masterminded it.
Trump’s radicalized base members planned to kill Michigan Governor, Gretchen Whitmer. It was a direct consequence of Trump’s words. We arrest and jail people when they pose an ongoing danger. If Trump continues to divide Americans after January 21st, why would we treat him differently than anyone else who put our citizens in danger?
I went to school with Donald Trump and knew him from Atlantic City for 14 years. Early in his presidency, I rooted for him to evolve. But it was not in his nature. Now, I wish Trump would wise up and get out of politics. He’s got plenty to do with hoteling and branding. He should count his blessings and turn over a new leaf. But as of today, it looks like he is intent on trying to hold on to his base. He’s found a way to monetizing grievance politics. Trump’s not going to give that up. Money is too important to him. Shame.
It’s easy to estimate the size of Trump’s support base. Trump’s base is the 75% of Republican voters who still believe him when he says he won the election. He won about 48% of the popular vote, so 36% of the voting public is still behind Donald Trump. It’s not enough to win a mandate, but it’s still a daunting majority of Republican voters. That’s going to be a problem for the GOP in 2021.
If the GOP is to survive, a different person must emerge as its leader. Who in the GOP is poised to take those those 36% of voters away from Donald Trump? The sycophants that could not stand up to Trump for four years will rightly remain cowards in the eyes of all Americans. Americans have often voted for inept presidents, but they have never once knowingly voted for a coward.
Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Mike Pence, Marco Rubio can all forget being then new GOP leader. Mitt Romney has lost once too often. Liz Cheney currently has the best chance to redefine and unify the GOP, but that would only be after Trump announces he is retiring from politics, the way all our ex-presidents have done. So if Trump does not get out of the way, he’ll be a threat to the survival of the Republican Party as well as to our national security.
If Donald Trump does not announce he is retiring from politics by January 20th, it’s critical that the Biden AG immediately start prosecuting him for as much as we legally can. We only allow one person to act as president at a time in America. We can and should arrest him at the first post-presidential divisive tweet or rally and charge him with the same crimes we charge terrorists who attempt to radicalize Americans. Liz Cheney should be fine with that too.
We put people behind bars because they are a danger to the public. If Donald Trump does not retire from politics on January 20th, tell me who will not be better off with Citizen Trump behind bars – except Donald Trump?
It’s December 12th, 2020, near the end of one of the strangest and saddest years in American history. There’s an ungodly number of virus casualties and it feels more and more like too many of them are casualties of the war of words Americans have been waging on each other. It has to stop! Our government was created to make our lives better for us. But what we’ve experienced for the last forty years is the rich getting richer and the poor getting more desperate. And we all know this is not a coincidence. So I don’t want to talk about Trump or Biden or any one man. This is about us.
We’ve allowed our government to become a business and that business is destroying us all. The business model goes something like this. The American government is split into two parts that stay at war with each other. The “two sides” get fed separate and different information media so each “side” thinks the other side is out to get them. Words have become weapons. Warring words become an industry. People are glued to their TVs for news. The stations profit via advertisements. The news media is part of this war. I am not saying the institution of news is evil. But the war they perpetuate is killing us now.
The wealth gap keeps expanding while we quibble, expending our energies that could be used in more fruitful ways. Behind the widening wealth gap is a global pandemic and a uniquely incoherent American response that seemed to aim for more deaths, not less. It’s become a viscous cycle.
Chanted by MAGA Crowd at DC Rally 12/12/30
So when MAGA people chant “Destroy the GOP”, let’s see this as an opportunity -perhaps our last opportunity to bridge the divide before we crash and burn.
Yes, my MAGA brothers. I am writing this for you too. If we can have achieve unity in our government, we can both get what we want. But first we have to know what we want from our government, not who we want in government. Perhaps that’s always been our problem. But these days we have social media technology. We can bridge the divide as long as we cut the blockades out of the way and discuss what we want from our government with each other.
So I am going to ask you this: what do you want from your government? Email me at josepharonesty@gmail.com and tell me. The only thing I ask is that you discuss or request things or actions you want or need to make your personal life life better.
I am going gather up all your requests and post them by category and update this page. Then I am going to promise MAGA people that if they do vote Purdue and Loeffler out of Georgia, and we get a unified government, we’re all going to join and demand that our reps give us what the majority of us want. And when we truly unite that way, the reps and senators in Congress, many of whom are up for election in two years, are going to have to do what we want or they will lose their jobs as representatives. This is how democracy works. We just forgot.
Of course, all sides get to make requests. I am not sure what the other side is because as long as we are not talking about who is in office, and focus on the things we need and want, it’s likely we will find out we all pretty much want the same things.
Below is a list of eleven subjects our country has to deal stat. You can also add a topic and relay your ideas or needs. Write whatever you want on whatever you want from your government. The results will be listed at this page, and with a unified government we can and will get what the majority wants or those people in Washington DC are going to be re-cycled in 2 years. All of them.
This is not about what Donald Trump wants or needs. That man has so much money that if you took away everything you could find, he’d still live fine on what he has stashed in China. This is only about what you want from government to make your life, your family member’s lives or your neighborhood, better.
Covid Relief – Income and Wages – Personally Held Weapons – Healthcare – Policing – Tax Policies – Public School – College – Infrastructure – Climate Response – Crime and Punishment – Submit a Category
Email your requests, suggestions or proposed solutions for things that fall in any of those categories – or start your own category. Then let’s unify our government and get what we want from it.
I know many of you are chanting “End the GOP” because some Republicans are letting democracy work. And I guess some of you think there the Democrats fixed the election. You should know many Dems thought Jeb Bush in Florida fixed 2020 for his brother George. We just bit the bullet for eight years while all of our needs were ignored under the guise of an unnecessary war in Iraq.
And that’s also the point. None of us get what we want if we are divided. That’s exactly what big business and our foreign adversaries want. Those two forces found each other and unified at the GOP convention in 2016. That’s how a government that primarily functions like a business stays in business. And we have to end it now because we just can’t afford to fight with each other any more. Things are bad all over. But they can get much worse.
So yes. We must destroy the GOP by voting out Purdue and Loeffler. But demand that our voices be heard in the new unified America. Maybe we can start a new party. The Unified Party. Whatever ideas carry the day, those will be the foundation of this unified America. First things first.
Destroy the GOP. Unify the government. Decide what we want from our new unified government. Demand what the majority wants, not who the majority wants. See to it we get what we want or vote them out again. We’ll get it right in a few cycles.
Send your requests or ideas of things you want from your government to: josepharonesty@gmail.com
I hope this email makes some impression and can lead to acts of protection for our democracy, which is under attack. It’s cyber war so far. No bombs. But we can lose as much as in a war with conventional weapons – and we already have. I’ve known Donny Trump since U of P in 67. Worked close to him in AC for 12 years. There should have been no doubt he has sold out to Vlad Putin since“Russia if you’re listening” and in Helsinki “Putin told me very powerfully”. He is suborned and only he and Kushner fully know how traitorous their plans are. The kneecapping of the Pentagon should teach us we have given the office of the President way too much power. IT IS NOT BEING DONE FOR SPITE ROR VENGEANCE.I wish people would stop saying that. It was deemed a needed safeguard in some plan in his mind. But safeguard versus what? A peaceful transition of power? He is doing this for one of four reasons – or a little bit of all.
Trump is following orders and weakening the USA to lower his debt to Putin, who has the real dirt on him and can leak it a la Wikileaks tomorrow. ( treason)
Trump intends to force Biden to call the Pentagon to get him out of office, and there won’t be anyone there to take presidential orders on January 20th. (sedition)
Trump has coordinated with Putin to stage or be part of some sort of violent world crisis, likely to launch between Xmas and New Year’s, when people’s guards are down a bit. (treason and sedition )
Trump will increase his instigation for civil war and wants to get the USA to martial law after the certification December 14th. (domestic terror threat)
NONE OF THESE REASON ARE ANYTHING SHORT OF TREASON AND SEDITION. The way to catch him plotting this insurrection is simple. TAP JARED KUSHNER’S PHONE! I know this family. Jared has always been the go-between Putin and Trump. Trump’s not using emails. No one else can be trusted. Frankly, Putin considers Trump to be his patsy and has little respect for him. Putin respects Donny like a drug dealer respects of his addict. Not. Jared at least speaks several languages. These international criminal types respect multi-linguicism like a list of college degrees. You probably know that. Putin would rather talk with I know it’s not legalto tap a citizen’s phone without a long process that would likely be noticed by the stooges Trump has installed everywhere. But he has a phone company. They are media. Media suffers in all autocracies. It’s the first thing they seize when they can. So his phone company can be enrolled by the right small group of people to break a law, and if nothing is heard – no one ever has to know. And then, if this effort were to bear fruit, who do we warn? People at the Pentagon? Ahha! That’s why he is putting his stooges in there. Right? It’s like who are we going to call, GhostBusters? Trump has nothing to do all day but plan his escape from justice, which he knows, if caught, would be way worse treason than the Rosenbergs were executed for. He plans ahead and this Pentagon move is part of his plan. Trump will have effectively killed an extra 400,000 US citizens by his uncaring ignorance and treasonous alliances. That’s more Americans than all the German soldiers in WW2. He is public enemy #1 now – not a president. We all know it. I frankly take his leak of ” Someone said, ride this pandemic out like a cowboy” as a tell. Who said that? I think it’s most likely a foreign dictator, as they know a weakened people are easier to succumb. In WW2 we broke some rules along the path to victory. No one has to die in this effort to tap an enemy line. That’s what Kusher’s phone is. It’s worth the risk in spades. If Kushner’s phone is tapped, any plot vs the USA ( which I am sure is going on – and we can see you are suspicious of as well ) – will be caught quickly. It can save what all those soldiers died for in WW2. We should not be afraid of breaking some laws to save our democracy. All the wasted money and efforts, the Mueller investigation, the lives lost in the pandemic can be trumped by the simple tapping of one phone. I’ve been writing for four yearsabout Trump’s suborned status. Trump also has dirt on many of the players this treacherous game. So, others are suborned as well. But Kushner’s cell phone company is not in that loop. You recall Jared trying to set up a back-channel to Putin during Obama’s lame duck time. That is cause. The kneecapping of our defense department is cause. We have cause. sincerely,Joseph AronestyCEO – WigSalon.com , online since 1996 Yes. I got away from these criminals. The internet saved my life. But I know how the Trumps’ roll. I worked around them in the 80s. My father knew Fred too from NYC. We all saw the tax evasion in NJ – and money going out of country a la Crazy Eddie.No way he lost money in AC. He has been borrowing vs. his stolen money, stashed overseas, for a long time. I like to show people who care this youtube CBS Sochi videoof an interview with Putin.I’m sure you saw it. It’s another tell that Putin has been schooling Trump on how to take over a democracy all along. And this is all a thrill ride for Trump. You should think of him more like Lex Luthor than a president. This is all a game in his sick mind. And people are dying. Those deaths are part of the plan – not coincidental. Lastly. Donald Trump is ignorant of world history. He did not study at Penn. Studying is for suckers too in his mind. The one mistake he may have made is trusting that what worked for Putin in Russia, will work here in the USA. We have a 250-year-old tradition of democracy. Russia has a few years of democracy – so it was much easier to topple. But it’s going to take people to speak up. It’s a cyber war. Words are the weapons. Thank Youno need to reply ..just see if there is a path to tap Kusher’s phoneall will be revealed in the first days right now tooit’s treason season
As vaccines deploy, we can look forward to 2021 with some hope. But if the United States – and the planet – is content with just beating coronavirus, we will end up being no better than a little behind where we were when all this started. We will have learned how to beat coronavirus, but nothing more. And there are so many more challenges that humanity faces that are not going away.
This post is a plea for unity during a crisis that is larger than the pandemic. The issues of income inequality and climate change were here before the virus, and if we remain divided, they will only get worse. So why is America so divided? Could it be we have fallen prey to the forces that want us divided? Let’s analyze.
Corporations do better when we are divided. They prefer workers be constrained in their efforts to unionize for higher wages. Big business is mostly about bottom lines. Pursuant to the Trump tax breaks, corporations find themselves knee-deep in cash which they use to bribe/lobby mostly GOP members of Congress so they make laws that advance their bottom lines. it’s a viscous cycle. Working class citizens cannot match the financial power of these corporations. All they have is their votes. And big business has done its best to devalue those votes. It’s not a fair fight. But if we unite, there is nothing they can do to beat us. And they know that and seek to keep us divided.
Our foreign authoritarian enemies also prefer we stay divided. Those two forces, big business and foreign dictators, discovered hey had common goals in back rooms during the runup to the 2016 election. The Russian infiltrated the NRA for gods sake. They united behind Donald Trump. It’s not been a pretty world for most Americans.
Trump’s now on his way out. But the two forces, corporations and dictatorships are still very much alive. Now, the USA must cure its divided nation problem or the standard of living for the majority of Americans will continue to suffer. And we can’t afford to sink any lower on this slippery slope.
Authoritarian governments do not have the problem of divided government. They usually suffer from another problem. If the autocrat in charge is not benign, and they rarely are, the people in autocracies suffer from the oppressive oligarchies that inevitably evolve in these countries.
However, communist China’s president, Xi Jinping, is now very popular and deemed benign by the vast majority of Chinese. It’s known that some minorities are oppressed in China, but beyond that, China’s government has enjoyed popularity, especially after a quick unified pandemic response. It’s economy is growing again, and Xi has no rival. If we remain divided, while China is not, with it’s huge population, China will dominate the 21st century the way the USA dominated the 20th century. That’s the price we pay for not unifying.
There are strategic advantages to a unified government when a country is under attack. The USA prevailed in WW2 only because we chose to unite behind FDR. Overcoming the challenges of pandemics, climate change and income inequality will require focus and unity.
Even though 75% of GOP constituents want and need healthcare that does not exclude pre-existing conditions, the GOP just tried again to end affordable healthcare in the Supreme Court. It should be clear to Georgians that the GOP party and its members, vote for their own interests and not the needs of Georgians. America can’t afford four more years of gridlock. And miraculously, we have a chance to achieve the unity we need on January 5th. The Georgia runoffs decide the balance of power in the US Senate. Does anyone see a real reason to give the GOP another chance?
United we stand, divided we fall. That was a unifying meme for the Revolutionists that fought and died to free us from authoritarianism in 1776. They even had a song they used to sing about it. But it’s a meme that’s been around since the Ancient Greeks. Google it. There’s a whole history on that meme.
No one is asking anyone to put their lives on the line to defend democracy in 2020. Not yet anyway. We all want and need the same things on both sides now. The virus is a great equalizer. So we need to unify. We can quibble about petty details later, but if Trump has his way nothing either if us want will ever happen again. It will all be what Trump and the corporations want. Not even his base. And he’ll be fine with that.
If you are on the Trump train it’s time to get off. Maybe that’s why Trump says he’s running in 2024 again. He wants to keep his Trump train running. But we only allow one president at a time. Trump’s divisive rallies should be dealt with as dangerous violations of that rule. Trump will be a public enemy tantamount to a terrorist cell if he continues to to peddle hate and division as a citizen.
The GOP base have something to do as well. They must actively push their GOP senators stop coddling the reality TV president in the White House who is actively promoting division and tell them to state Biden will be the president for all Americans on January 20th. We need to see that from the MAGA people. It’s in their best interests and I think most of them know it.
Thousands of Americans die every day. It did not have to be this bad. And the GOP does nothing because Trump wants us to be at odds with each other. It’s disgraceful. How can we ask our soldiers to die for freedom if we are willing to let our senators sell freedom out?
If we don’t hear the GOP senators welcome Joe Biden on December 15th, the day after Biden is certified, I don’t see how one Georgian votes GOP. A GOP vote is a vote for the gang that was okay with ending democracy as long as they kept their jobs.
Joe Biden just said he won’t demand that his DA prosecute the Trumps for federal crimes. However, he left an out for prosecution. He’s on record saying his DA will have free reign to pursue justice. Eventually, his DA will have to decide whether the evidence against the Trumps demands the pursuit of justice. Let’s get a head start on wrapping our heads around this enigma.
Right now, we can all feel Donald Trump easing up a tad on his assault on democracy. He’s talking to himself, the way he does, and some meme has begun to whisper in his ear: “maybe I can get away with this, after all”. Frankly, a lot of Trump’s desire to stay on as POTUS for life was based on his fear of what life for post-presidential citizen Trump would be like. So, as he sees a path forward, he reasons he can afford to ease up on his fight to be an autocrat. That’s a plus.
Forgiving the sins of a post-presidential citizen is a US tradition, not a law. Another tradition goes along with forgiving-the-ex. For the good of the country,ex-presidents stay out of politics, totally. That’s the unspoken bargain that’s been made between all American ex-presidents and our active presidents.
The Bidens should communicate this fully to the Trumps. The Clintons and Bushes should weigh in too. Back room communication is fine. The Trumps don’t like playing by traditions. But if the Trumps play by this one tradition, and just go back to hotels and branding, there is at least some reason for a DA to look the other way on what may have been colluding with the enemy in the 2016 campaign by the Trump Organization.
If Donald or his children keep up the divisive political rhetoric while another president is trying to unify the country, that should undo the post-presidential peace treaty between the presidents. But it’s more than that.
Divisive rhetoric is a threat to our country’s security. Cyber has become the new way to war, and words are the weapons. We have statistics that show that people act out when leaders cast others as the enemy. Racially charged rhetoric and the categorization of groups of people as enemies, so normalized in the Trump presidency, must end on January 20th for the good of the country. If it doesn’t, we’ll have one more reason to prosecute the Trumps – national security.
Past presidents have chosen to lay low for the public good. Once that tradition is ignored by an ex-president who is also simultaneously inciting division, it rekindles our need to find the motive for any citizen actively dividing Americans. It then becomes logical to probe into the inciter’s past activity and see if there is a personal motive or pattern of behavior inspired by a foreign or domestic cult or cell that is intent on dividing or harming America.
The option to prosecute for unresolved past crimes must remain open in any proper justice department because we are creatures of habit. Past activity becomes future activity. If prosecuting the Trumps for past crimes becomes necessary to protect America, we will likely know shortly after January 20th. But Donald Trump should think very hard about pretending he is still president, even to his base, after January 2oth.
Questions remain. Will Trump give up his love affair with his own self and the show he puts on for his base and fully retire from politics? It would be good for America. It would also be for his own good. Prosecutors will have a harder time going after citizen Trump if his behavior becomes benign.
Donald has a good time at hoteling and is pretty good at it too. The vaccine should rescue travel and hotel businesses. Once people can travel safely, they’ll want to let go. The Roaring 20’s followed the pandemic of 2018-19. He’s got plenty to look forward to without playing politics. We will see – soon.
America can’t afford four more years of gridlock. The GOP just tried again to end Healthcare in America. Fortunately, the courts rejected them for now, but who needs this stress and corporatism during a pandemic? Trump’s GOP has revealed its uncaring dark heart. Everything is at stake in the Georgia runoffs.
Early voting begins on December 14. Stacy Abrams has proven she is a competent professional at getting voter enthusiasm up. So Georgians, you hold the key to a new future in America. Imagine a government that works for everyday folks not billionaires. We are so close now. Below are strategies to insure this happens.
Vote before Christmas! After voting, voters wanting better than what their government has been offering should “talk to their neighbors”. “Vote Early. Talk to Your Neighbor” is the main meme.Talk about issues like healthcare in a pandemic. This cycle, a GOP vote is not in Georgians’ best interest.
There are so many reasons for voters to vote early for this runoff . The pandemic’s danger will not miraculously improve between Dec 14 and Jan 5. It’s more likely it will be more dangerous after Christmas, with the inevitable holiday gatherings.
A Dem vote this cycle is five things at once:
A rejection of the Trump/GOP inept pandemic response that resulted in more deaths in the USA than anywhere, crippling the economy for most Americans.
A rejection of Senate gridlock. We need to move forward in 2021 and help everyday Americans in the struggles largely due to the inept virus response.
A rejection of the uncaring selfishness of both GOP candidates evidenced by their stock dealings after they knew about the serious virus threat.
An affirmation for unity among Georgians to Build Back Better together.
The need for Georgians to identify the policies that are in their own best interests and stand up to the corporations that want the country divided.
This runoff election is not so much about the virtues of Ossoff and Warnock as the need for unity and the rejection of Trumpism.
Please promote early voting dates with enthusiasm, almost as if its a deadline. Voting early precludes a change of heart or a vote forgotten due to Holiday fatigue and increased virus fears that may set in after holiday gatherings. It also frees voters’ energy and spirits giving them the time to work to convince neighbors to vote in their best interests. Voting early and talking with neighbors combine to form a win win strategy that the GOP has no defense against. Georgians all know and work with people who traditionally vote on the other side of their aisles.
The GOP will continue to push the meme that the media cannot be trusted. They know it is somewhat effective. However, when the talking points are coming from neighbors, PTA, church and community watch members, ride share buddies and co-workers, that’s way different. Georgians trust their neighbors. Georgians love to talk. This will not fail. This will save the USA which will set the example that saves the planet.
As of November 12, 2020, Donald Trump is still clinging to the hope that he can overturn the will of the people in court. In theory, he still has a very slim hope. But the firing of Esper was not the act of a man who had internalized the yielding of power to another. Nor is it an act of vengeance, as is often touted.
Donald has to know there will be people coming for him after he leaves office and they will be inclined to go easier on him if he is seen to make a visible, audible and actual effort to do help people suffering in the pandemic. And knowing that, he still has done nothing for the American people since the election ended. Why is he making things harder for himself?
Maybe Trump does not trust that goodwill for good behavior exists in others. Donald would certainly not go easy on his own self in he was inheriting an administration from a man with his entanglements. Maybe he figures everyone else is crooked the way he is. He’s surrounded himself with crooks, grifters and opportunists all his life, so it’s logical that’s what he sees in people. Still, he must know the damage he has done to America will be one measure the new administration will use to determine the degree of retribution they will seek. But he keeps on pushing. So he has not given up.
Trump seems to be using the interregnum time to gather power, cover his tracks, and gain access to top secrets so that he can use what he knows as a bargaining chip once out of office. And it would not surprise many if, after getting a pardon from Pence in January, he manages to pressure the states not to prosecute him because of the secrets he will leave the office with.
Many Americans believe its important to make an example of Trump so that this never happens in our country again. What was considered traditional presidential behavior may have to be codified. Presidential powers may need to be redefined.
But if there is a deal to be made with citizen Donald Trump, there is one thing we should insist upon with absolutely zero tolerance. Whatever he is offered, Donald Trump must agree to completely retire permanently from politics. That means no appearances on Fox, no tweeting, no rallies, no demonizing democrats and no talk of 2024. Trump can go back to being a hotelier and landlord. There was a time he was pretty good at creating hotels that were fun to play in. Those were his good old days. He might even like going back to those days. This “no politics” stipulation would not be for vengeance reasons. It’s so America can focus on healing for the next four years.
We also now know Trump is a cultist with many followers. And he is already inciting his followers to believe those that are coming into power are the enemy. Trump is still dividing this nation. Who wants this division really? Certainly not everyday Americans. We need a unified America now. A “divided America” has long been sought by international dictators and by certain US corporations that profit by trampling on our divided citizenry with actions like unbridled pollution, high drug prices and not paying their fair share via tax shelters. Divided we fall. We can see that now with the pandemic, can’t we?
Those internal allies are not going away or changing their ways. So whatever deal might be made with Donald Trump, I implore those bargaining to include a non-disclosure clause that prohibits Donald from being in politics ever again. We can’t afford four more years of a divided nation. That’s why Joe Biden won more than anything.
The cowards in the GOP will be fine with trying to keep us downtrodden and divided. They are not aligned with the dictators per se, but their goals are often the same. They are sold out to big business or sold out for greed. And that is the same with dictators.
And if Trump doesn’t go for the no-politics stipulation, throw the book at him. That will work too.
PS. There are many rightfully worried about the national security challenges this slow-walked transition poses. I would like to add this. The historically classic time to do a surprise attack has always been between Christmas and New Years.
Donald Trump’s first foreign trip as POTUS was to MBS, not Macron or Merkel. That was because Trump had more in common with Putin and other dictators than democratic leaders. And that’s because Trump, first and foremost, is a financial criminal, as are most dictators. Now that Trump is voted out, people assume he is leaving office on Jan 20th. However, as long as Trump is in the White House we should be very suspect of Trump’s moves.
Trump’s not given up yet, and neither have his allies. Who are Trump’s allies? Besides many of our US corporations and the uber-rich, they are the authoritarians in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and South America, his cowardly sycophants in Congress and the gullible in his MAGA base, who support him even though they get shafted by GOP financial policies. That’s a lot of allies for a man whose uncaring incompetence led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans. So how did Donald Trump, a spoiled NYC business man get involved with dictators? Spoiler alert. This did not start in 2016.
When leaders steal from their own governments, they need a foreign safe-place to hide and protect the money they have stolen. There is a sort of dictator’s fraternity on planet earth, and they all meet up where their money meets up, in the banks that protect the identity of their foreign clients and in real estate assets than generate income, like condos and golf clubs.
I knew Donny Trump first from Wharton School and then more substantially from Atlantic City. The AC culture really served as the business school for both of us. Our targets were tourists – not people our kids played with at school. Veritable others. The goal was to get their money and go back to our families and feel good about being providers. I was a jeweler in that scene. I tried not to be a scam artist, but I surely knew a lot of them and how they rolled. AC was had a “carney” ethic going back to prohibition and the Nucky Johnson days. The AC 80’s was like Boardwalk Empire II.
Trump’s casinos made one million dollars a day and he had three of them. This is easy to prove. Gambling profits are a function of volume. His casinos enjoyed the same volumes that Caesar’s and Resorts had in AC. Caesar’s didn’t declare bankruptcy. Their profits mirrored Trump’s profits. but Trump declared bankruptcy.
Trump’s declaration of bankruptcy in Atlantic City, made it clear that Trump was moving major profits out of country to skirt taxes. Trump always enjoyed scamming people. It makes him feel smart without having to be good at anything except selling and stealing. And scamming the US government was a Trump family tradition for two generations.
This is why Trump invests heavily overseas and won’t reveal his taxes. Donald Trump made the choice to be a criminal in the 1980’s. That’s when he met Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, and a host of Russian mob players who were also okay with money laundering. Those 80’s connections ultimately led him to Russia, the Miss Universe Pageants and Vladimir Putin. Financial crime is why he is aligned with Putin, Kim Jong-un and MBS and not Macron and Merkel.
There are two kinds of dictators. Some are royal. Their fathers were dictators and they inherited their station. Royals are so powerful that they don’t need to hide their funds overseas. MBS and Kim are in the category. Then there are the new dictators that gain power in a democracy and find a way to subvert their democracy so they can stay in power. Putin, Erdogan, Bolsonaro, Castro and Hitler are examples of that kind of dictator. That’s the kind of dictator Trump is trying to become. If successful, the children of these non-royal dictators become royalty. That’s how it has worked throughout human human history.
The European democracies rejoiced when Trump lost the election, but the dictators on planet earth are still rooting for him because if Trump does not stay on as president past January 20th, it bodes poorly for them. Their people are watching all this play out online. They would love to see democracy fail.
Donald Trump needed dictator schooling as he was totally ignorant of world history. So, Putin has been schooling Trump via back-channeling through Kushner throughout his presidency. Jared is the only man Trump trusts enough to be the connection between himself and Putin. Trump uses a go-between because the go-between can be pardoned, if caught. Presidential pardons must be redefined to eliminate pardons for activities that tangentially involve the pardoner. It’s a form of self pardoning.
Putin leaked his tutorial relation with Trump in gangster code in a Sochi CBS interview when playing hockey. Listen to the YouTube video if you missed it. Ask yourself why Putin would say what he did, if not to brag to the world about his knowledge of and influence over Donald Trump? Nothing else makes sense.
Trump should have known that getting into government could expose his life of financial crimes. His father warned him to stay out of politics because there was a family tradition of cheating on taxes. But the greed bug hit him just like it hit the gamblers who went broke in his casinos. Trump used the greed trap to make a fortune and ironically fell in the same trap himself. Trump now has too much to lose to stop fighting. Losing the election is not going to stop him.
These post election firings in key positions are not in the country’s best interest. But rest assured, the country’s best interest is the last thing on Trump’s mind. If he can fire enough people in key positions, and get the USA into a state of war or martial law before January 20th, he just may be able to stay on in the story he is telling himself in his mind. And Trump has always lived 100% entirely within his own mind.
I do wish someone with a large mic in media would show the dictator map. This has always been all that’s been going on since “Russia, if you’re listening.” It’s not about “politics”. It’s about thieves keeping their financial crimes hidden. If being in politics helps that goal for the criminals, they go that way. It’s up to decent people to put an end to all of this. The fate of our country and the planet is at stake. Most Americans are like Trump with regard to world politics. Ignorant. They need to see what’s going on with a picture. No one reads much any more. Georgians need to see this image. The GOP is aligned with big business and they are aligned with dictators via their worship of money.
Tap Jared Kushner’s phone. So what if it’s illegal? It’s jaywalking compared to what the Trumps are doing and people are dying while we watch and wait. Right now, Kushner is getting daily updates and schooling from Putin. Release what you hear like it’s in some spy movie. Reminds me of the film No Way Out. This is a movie in Trump’s mind. He is the villain. Who will be the hero in this film?
America is stronger than Russia was when Putin took over. But be aware: no country in all of history has been impervious to demise.
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relevant prior post: The decision to subvert democracy was made in 2019.
Joseph Aronesty is an e-commerce pioneer, songwriter, author, linguist, father of five and staunch activist for every day people. He was in a class with Trump at Wharton in 1967 and worked near him in AC in the 80’s. josepharonesty@gmail.com
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