Sunday, September 14, 2025

They



You can't accuse the widow of Charlie Kirk, Erika Kirk, of cowardice. She had laid down the gauntlet and is eager to get it on.

Mrs. Kirk states "They killed Charlie because he preached a message of patriotism, faith, and of God's merciful love."  

Racial bias as the hallmark of patriotism and faith. And nothing spells "love" like describing Ketanji Brown Jackson as "an ideological, unintelligent, yet confident fanatic," Kamala Harris as "the jive speaking spokesperson of equity," and Mehdi Hasan as "a prostitute with a British accent" (for his alleged support of pharmaceutical companies) who should be "(sent) back to the country he came from. Revoke his visa."

Nonetheless, he shouldn't have been murdered. His angry widow continued

They should all know this: if you thought that my husband's mission was powerful before, you have no idea. You have no idea what you have just unleased across this country, in this road, you have no idea. You have no idea the fire that you have unleased that's in this wife. The cries of this widow will echo around the world like a battle cry.

Were I to honor Charlie Kirk, doing as he was wont to do, I'd quote Scripture, here Paul in Romans 12:19 (repeated in Hebrews 10:30): "Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord." However, Erika Kirk has reason, even justification, for bitterness.  She can be forgiven her spitefulness and animosity.

But toward whom? In the news conference announcing the arrest of  Tyler Robinson, Utah governor Spencer Cox explained

.... Violence is violence, and there is one person responsible for what happened here, and that person is now in custody and will be charged soon and will be held accountable. And yet, all of us have an opportunity right now to do something different.

There is one person responsible for what happened here.

Cox notwithstanding, the right is typically blaming unnamed persons of the left.  Elon Musk remarked "the Left is the party of murder." Laura Loomer charged "They sent a trained sniper to assassinate Charlie Kirk while he was sitting next to a table of hats that said 47. You could be next.... The Left are terrorists."

Failed Arizona congressional candidate Blake Masters tweeted "This: A thousand times this. Left-wing violence is out of control, and it's not random."  Oath Keeper founder and January 6 criminal Stewart Rhodes asked the President to "declare the left in this country is in obvius open rebellion against th law of the United States. They're committing insurrection, they're aiding and abetting an invasion, and they're blocking the execution of federal law" (hypocrisy, anyone?) Stephen Miller wife Katie Miller wrote on Musk's platform "It's a real treat to see all these Liberals condemn political violence now. You called us Hitler. You called us Nazis. You called us Racists. You have blood on your hands."

There have been many others who blame unnamed "liberals" or the "left-wing" or "they." Some of them are prominent, and some unknowns on X twitter. And of course, Donald Trump, who on the ironically named Truth Social slammed the "radical left" and claimed "this kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we're seeing in the country today."

No, it's not. If Donald wants to find someone who has been "directly responsible" for what he irresponsibly alleges is "terrorism," he need only look in the mirror. However, even he is not directly responsible for any of it. It is the perpetrator himself who carried out these murderers- and was able to do so only with a firearm.

The Apostle Paul, understandably, will not be heeded. Mrs. Kirk appears to be very articulate and a skilled speaker. In GOP world,  her statement will be seen as an eloquent expression of macho vengeance and sense of victimhood, embodied so effectively in Donald Trump. Thus- other than "something" rather than "someone-" J.D. Vance would be wise to take heed of the famous quote of legendary black pitcher Satchel Paige: "Don't look back; something might be gaining on you."



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Friday, September 12, 2025

The Backlash Will Not Be Peaceful


(Note: this post was composed shortly before the arrest of Tyler Robinson for the murder of Charlie Kirk. The apprehension, though relevant to this issue, changes little.) 

Even before FBI director Kash Patel, in the interests of transparency, came out and lied to the American people about the apprehension of the murderer of Charlie Kirk, it had begun. The allies of President Trump swung into action. TIME reports

Katie Miller, the wife of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, posted on X, “It’s a real treat to see all these Liberals condemn political violence now. You called us Hitler. You called us Nazis. You called us Racists. You have blood on your hands.”

“The Left is the party of murder,” Elon Musk, the billionaire tech mogul who has frequently espoused right-wing views, posted on his social media platform X.

Musk shared his comment alongside a post by venture capitalist and political activist Shaun Maguire, who said: “The Left lectured us for the last decade about the dangers of violence from the Right … The danger was actually on the Left.”

“The Left are terrorists,” posted far-right political activist and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer. Loomer added that Kirk’s death only portends “more targeted” assassinations. “You could be next,” she warned. “We must shut these lunatic leftists down. Once and for all. The Left is a national security threat,” she said in another post.

With few clues as to the assassin's identity, their minds already had been made up. So had the mind of the Capitol's leading bathroom obsessive:

 More calmly, yet more ridiculously, we hear from a Senator from Oklahoma:

Referring to Democrats, Mullin claims "we're not the ones out there who are trying to silence them." 

Evidently, someone forgot to tell President Trump because

Sitting behind the Resolute desk on Wednesday, Trump nonetheless said: “Those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals. This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.

“It’s long past time for all Americans and the media to confront the fact that violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagree day after day, year after year, in the most hateful and despicable way possible,” Trump added.

That runs contrary to the bulk of the president’s rhetoric over the past several years. On the campaign trail, Trump said that it was impossible to get along with political rivals.

“These are horrible people. Oops, we should get along with everybody. They’re horrible people. Some people you just can’t get along with,” he said in the final days of the 2024 presidential campaign.

The guy who calls the press "the fake news" and "enemy of the people," called Kamala Harris "mentally impaired" and "mentally disabled," and declared former President Obama "guilty of treason," pardoned armed and unarmed terrorists on 1/6/21 rioters while calling them "hostages," now accuses the "radical left" of being "directly responsible for the terrorism that we're seeing in our country today." 

But Trump knows what he's doing. According to TIME, Supreme MAGAt and unofficial, influential Trump adviser Laura Loomer responded to the assassination with "We must shut these lunatic leftists down. Once and for all. The Left is a national security threat." Conservative political strategist Joey Mannarino posted "The Democrat Party must be classified as a domestic terror organization and their members & leaders treated accordingly. Enough is enough."

Sean Davis, the CEO and co-founder of right-wing media outlet the Federalist, called the Democratic Party "a domestic terrorist organization whose most fanatics will not hesitate to murder their political opponents."

Other remarks were even more dangerous. Ian Miles Cheong, a well-known conservative commentator from Malaysia, referred to the right-wing cause celebre Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian woman murdered in a stabbing in North Carolina on August 22. Cheong posted "Charlie Kirk wasn't the first victim in this war. He was the second. The first victim was Iryna Zarutska. This is war."

Ian Miles Cheong, a conservative commentator from Malaysia, posted, “Charlie Kirk wasn’t the first victim in this war. He was the second. The first victim was Iryna Zarutska,” referring to a Ukrainian woman who was killed in a stabbing in North Carolina on Aug. 22 and has become the face of anti-crime rhetoric largely from the right. “This is war,” he added.

In one post, Wisconsin Representative Derrick Van Orden wrote "May the mighty wrath of vengeance fall upon the Brown Shirts who are responsible for this" and in another "The democratic Party has been fostering, a 21st century Civil War. I would encourage them if you look at the results of the last one that they started." 

My personal "favorite" is from the President of Students for Life, an organization which proclaims in all caps on its website "ABOLISH ABORTION:"


No better way to restore a "culture of life" than to start a civil war, apparently.  Yet, because of his prominence- a little in Hollywood and a little on social media- an even more dangerous reaction(s) came from James Woods:



Worse yet, he followed it up with

 

 

There are far more examples TIME lays out more right-wing rhetoric about "the party of murder;" "this is war;" and "the left must pay."  As a whole, they paint the picture of a GOP base which agrees with President Trump that "these are horrible people" whose "kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we're seeing in our country today and it must stop now."

It probably was not "terrorism."  (Nor everything violent which we disapprove of is terrorism.) However, that's an issue for another day.  Donald is right that "it must stop now." But there will be no effort to enact gun safety legislation and little, if any, funding for mental health services cut by recent passage of the President's budget and spending megabill.

No, the hard core Trump supporters know what their god meant when he said the rhetoric "must stop now." Woods, Hawkins, Cheong, and the other prominent and relatively unknown individuals who have called for cracking down on their political opponents understand Donald Trump, as do the millions of individuals who hear and read their words. So did the violent right when President Trump in debate in 2020 recommended "Proud Boys, stand back and stand by," which was followed by the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

At that confrontation with fellow candidate Joe Biden, Trump added "But I'll tell you what, I'll tell you what, somebody's got to do something about antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem." Aided by the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the Democratic Party- which is the (somewhat) "left" party of American politics is being substituted for Antifa. . And when the individual who said five years ago "somebody's got to do something," now says "it must stop now," he's hoping that his more ardent supporters translate that to "civil war."


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Wednesday, September 10, 2025

All In Jest


Donald Trump is always joking. Or at least, he didn't really mean what he said.

Even as early as April 2019, when Trump had been a national political figure for fewer than five years, there were several such incidents. In October of 2016, he minimized the Access Hollywood tape as "locker room talk." A few months earlier, in July, he had said at a press conference "I will tell you this: Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press." The Mueller report noted "within five hours of Trump's remark, a Russian intelligence service began targeting email accounts associated with Hillary Clinton for possible hacks." Yet, Trump told special prosecutors that he "made (the statement) in jest and sarcastically, as was apparent to any objective observer."

In a speech to police officers on Long Island in July of 2017, Donald advised "when you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just seen them thrown in rough. I said "please don't be too nice.'"  After considerable criticism, including from law enforcement, Presidential press secretary Sarah Sanders responded "They took it as a joke. And so did I." It was only the President "trying to get a laugh."

Like a zebra which doesn't change its spots, Donald periodically returns to this modus operandi. And so it was that on September 6

President Donald Trump posted a meme on social media Saturday saying that Chicago “will find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” as the city’s officials brace for an immigration crackdown.

“I love the smell of deportations in the morning … Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” the post reads. Trump signed an executive order Friday to rebrand the Pentagon as the “Department of War.”

The post includes what appears to be an artificially generated image of the president wearing a hat and sunglasses, with the Chicago skyline in the background, accompanied by text reading “Chipocalypse Now.”

Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker were not assumed. So after they slammed him for threatening to make war against an American city

President Donald Trump was adamant with reporters on Sunday that "we're not going to war" with Chicago, after he shared a post on Saturday with a caption that reads, "Chicago about to find out why it's called the Department of WAR."

"We're not going to war. We're going to clean up our cities," Trump said. "We're going to clear them up so they don't kill every five people every weekend. That's not war. That's common sense."

"This is not a joke," Pritzker had noted. Ironically, his critics- Trump supporters- agreed with him that it wasn't a joke.  X twitter was X as expected, and the messages directed at the governor included:

-Gov. Pritzker considers suing the Trump Administration to preserve lawlessness in Chicago, the murder capital of America.

-Why won't he work with the Trump Administration to reduce crime in their cities?

-The Democrats have normalized CRIME in cities like Chicago, and law-abiding citizens have had enough and are desperate for help.

-What should be normalized is SAFE STREETS and Donald Trump will achieve this for the people of Chicago, that you have failed so miserably.

-We want more crime?

-A racist governor that simply OK with black children being murdered every week!!

-I will fight to keep us less safe" isn't the win he thinks it is.

-When did he send in the military? He's so damn fat he can't see the horse or the cart.

"We're not going to war," claims the guy who the day before made it clear that he has declared a war on Chicago and has threatened to send soldiers also to Baltimore, New Orleans, and Seattle.  "That's not war. That's common sense," says the man who has acted under a declaration of emergency to address a problem in decline.  

When Trump walks back dangerous accusations and threats, the media paints of him a portrait of a conflicted, if not even reasonable, individual who has not made his despotic intentions clear  Boasting "I have the right to do anything I want to do. I'm the president of the United States," he's not merely bragging. He means it and his supporters know that he's not joking. And they are hopeful that the President is going to go to war against Chicago, J.B. Pritzker, and anyone else standing in his way.



   



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Tuesday, September 09, 2025

Saved- Why?


"Deep feelings."


What may be most amazing about this is, despite tossing "God" and "religion" into some of his speeches now, Trump actually is done with the charade. CBS News reported

At his first inauguration in 2017, Mr. Trump did place his hand on the two Bibles — the family Bible and the Lincoln Bible — when he took the oath of office. Mr. Trump received the family Bible in 1955 to to mark his Sunday Church Primary School graduation at First Presbyterian Church, in Jamaica, Queens, according to Trump's inaugural committee

However, when Donald was inaugurated for his second term

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts directed Mr. Trump to raise his right hand and repeat after him as Mrs. Trump was still approaching with the Bibles. Mrs. Trump arrived next to her husband a moment later, before he began reciting the oath of office.

Mr. Trump's right hand was raised while his left arm stayed by his side as he was sworn in.

Mr. Trump did reference God during his first remarks as the 47th president. "I was saved by God to make America great again," he said in his inaugural address, referencing the assassination attempt on his life over the summer.

With much of the country watching, and many of the remainder certain to see the ceremony on video, Donald couldn't even be bothered to pretend that he believes in Christianity and the book which tells the story of God and the Trinity. He's telling Americans what he believes- or, more accurately, doesn't believe- but Ben Carson and others won't listen.

People laughed when on January 31, 2016, Donald Trump was thwarted only at the last second before he could place cash into the communion plate. 

Not so funny but condescending and more telling was his statement a few months earlier "when we go to church and I drink my little wine.... have my little cracker."  In both Catholic and Protestant traditions, that "little wine" carries major significance, as does that "little cracker," though arguably more in Catholicism. And when Trump added "that's a form of asking for forgiveness," one needn't have been a doctoral candidate in theology to know that the congregant is not requesting forgiveness. The words of Jesus "do this in remembrance of me" might have been a hint. 

Perhaps Donald has changed, chastened by the assassination attempt in June of last year in Butler Pennsylvania or as Carson puts it, "saved by God for a purpose." That purpose, however, was not in evidence on Easter Sunday when Trump tweeted

Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and...

A real journalist, not a Fox News mouthpiece for President Trump, would have asked Dr. Carson how sarcastically referring to  "radical left lunatics" and "the mentally insane" fits in with the the Apostle Paul's admonition that "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."

That isn't to suggest that Donald doesn't believe in a god of some sort. Unless he's pretending otherwise and putting on a great act, he obviously does not believe in the God of the Old and/or New Testament. He may believe in a supreme being, someone who recognizes Trump's greatness and indispensability.. That God is one whom, Trump has said, he never has asked for forgiveness, though the Apostle John wrote "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." Those are Trump's "deep feelings of Christian beliefs," choosing not to repent because he is perfect. Step aside, Jesus: Donald Trump is the "Chosen One."

Presumably, though, when Dr. Carson claims Trump was "saved by God for a purpose," he means a good and loving purpose. The pretext is that the USA is a great and virtuous country, upon which a loving and all-powerful God will shower with His favor. 

Carson always has been a fervent advocate of forced birth, an abortion opponent so extreme that, in contrast to Donald Trump, he has called for a national ban on abortion. Such an individual would assume that, with Trump having been saved from assassination, God's purpose would have been to raise the nation to the greatness it deserves.

Yet, while statistics vary from year to year and reporting quirks may yield difference numbers for any one year, it is clear that there consistently are over 600,000 elective abortions each year in this country. And God, we are to believe- especially from rabid opponents of the procedure- wants to reward the USA.

So perhaps God did save Trump, though serendipity or an inept gunman, is more likely. But if God did assert his country, to what purpose?  As reward or punishment? Ben Carson himself is yesterday's news. even last decade's news.  However, there are a lot of people who believe- or seem to believe- what he does and if they're never questioned, we won't know what "is wrong with these people"



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Saturday, September 06, 2025

If God Grants Rights, God Is Selective- and Weak



My late mother had a saying" "Is he for real?"  I'm wondering the same now, and not only about Republican Senator Mike Lee.


 

At 1:03, Bishop Robert Barron of Minnesota's Diocese of Winona-Rochester argues that Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, believed

Rights come first. They're not invented by the government. Rather, rights exist- remember this from the prologue of the Declaration- to secure these rights. It doesn't invent them. It doesn't ground them. It secures them. Recognize them objectively coming from God and thus its whole purpose is to secure them, to serve them. 

Barron's video was prompted by the response of Virginia senator Tim Kaine, who according to Fox News

was responding to the opening statement of Riley Barnes, who has been nominated to serve as assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor. Barnes noted in his statement that he agreed with Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s recent comments emphasizing the U.S. was founded on the principle "that all men are created equal because our rights come from God, our Creator; not from our laws, not from our governments."

Kaine argued

The notion that rights don’t come from laws and don’t come from the government, but come from the Creator — that’s what the Iranian government believes. It’s a theocratic regime that bases its rule on Shia law and targets Sunnis, Bahá’ís, Jews, Christians and other religious minorities

They do it because they believe that they understand what natural rights are from their Creator. So, the statement that our rights do not come from our laws or our governments is extremely troubling.

I'm a strong believer in natural rights, but I have a feeling if we were to have a debate about natural rights in the room and put people around the table with different religious traditions, there would be some significant differences in the definitions of those natural rights.

Those differences would be glaringly obvious, and it's highly unlikely that Muslim extremists, ultra-orthodox Jews, and far right Christian extremists,, sincere about their Christian faith or otherwise, would come to a meeting of the minds on anything significant.

God is all-powerful. If rights come from God, no man (or woman) could take them away. Evidently, someone forgot to inform Damascus or Pyongyang of the origin of rights. The US Department of State issues annual reports on human rights practices of some of the most repressive regimes in the world. From its 2023 report on Syria, we learned that

Regime-linked paramilitary groups reportedly engaged in frequent abuses, including massacres, indiscriminate killings, kidnapping of civilians, physical abuse, sexual violence, and unjust detentions. Regime-aligned militias reportedly launched numerous attacks that killed and injured civilians….

Elements of the Syrian Democratic Forces reportedly engaged in abuses, including abuses involving attacks striking residential areas, physical abuse, unjust detention, recruitment or use of child soldiers, restrictions on expression and assembly, and destruction and demolition of homes.

From its report the following year on North Korea, we read

Escapee, NGO, and media reports indicated those attempting to leave the country without permission could be killed on the spot or publicly executed.

 The government was known to be operating five kwanliso (“total control-zone” political prison camps where prisoners were not expected to survive): Camps 14, 16, 18, and 25, as well as the Choma-bong Restricted Area. Estimates of the nationwide kwanliso camp population varied, with some organizations placing the total as low as 80,000 and others as high as 200,000.

Defectors, media, NGOs, and UN officials reported many prisoners died from torture, disease, starvation, exposure to the elements, or a combination of these causes. Guards at political prison camps were under orders to shoot to kill those attempting to escape.

The state forced private citizens to attend public executions. Escapees reported attending public executions on school field trips. Some media sources claimed public executions decreased during COVID-19 but increased significantly with the reopening of the border with the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Rights come from government. So do the lack of rights. Perhaps the fiction Bishop Barron and Senator Lee claim to believe would be credible if human rights were as lacking in every country. However, we know that's not true. While Syria and North Korea generally are ranked as the least free societies, Switzerland was given the highest rating in the 2023 Human Freedom Index of the World Population Review. On its rating of civil rights and political liberties, Freedom House ranks Turkmenistan and South Sudan even lower than Syria, and at least six nations outrank Switzerland. (North Korea ranks nowhere on either list- is it possible to score a rating below zero?)

Whatever the criteria, regimes vary markedly in the degree of freedom they allow their citizens. Rankings will depend not only on the criteria, but also depending upon the year studied. And that is the point: the rights are not inherent in the human race nor even in the countries. They depend on the regime in power at any particular point. 

As Bishop Barron knows- but evidently does not understand, Jesus Christ- as the author of Hebrews (13:8) in the New Testament reminds us- "is the same yesterday and today and forever." If the Son, then the Father and if the Son is the same eternally, so is the Father. Thus, it would be strikingly odd if God were to determine that the people of some nations deserve freedom and the others, oppression. 

In 2006, Gazans voted Hamas into power in the hope of the latter forging a unity government with Fatah, the political arm of the Palestine Liberation movement. Instead, they've gotten a repressive, totalitarian regime entering the 21st year of its five year term. Surely, God has not decided to punish Gazans beyond even the oppression suffered in several Arab regimes.

As Donald Trump is busy demonstrating, the rights of people in even one country, as well as from nation to nation, can change dramatically. That is true even in the USA, regardless of the Declaration of Independence- which does not have legal standing. As the Bishop notes, its preamble declares "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Yet, "liberty" is an elusive concept. In 1857, one branch of the US government, the Supreme Court decided (in Dred Scott v. Sandford) decided that slavery was consistent with the US Constitution. Evidently, "liberty" was divisible. Alas, in 1865, a different branch (Congress) of the government decided that slavery was unacceptable and passed the 13th Amendment.

The Amendment modified the United States Constitution, an act of immense performance because (from Article VI)

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

This was not made subject to the Declaration of Independence, its preamble or anything in it; nor to the vagaries in interpretation of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."  A couple of questions for Bishop Barron, Senator Lee, and others who hold to the same view. Is not a right to marry someone of the same sex or gender as oneself a matter of liberty? How about a right to bear or not bear children, as in reproductive rights? And isn't using any drug of choice- well beyond marijuana- a right to liberty?

It's a matter of opinion; or rather of statute and interpretation of statues by one branch or another of the government. Rights can be granted by governments and taken away by governments. If rights come from God, government- and the individuals heading it- obviously are stronger and more powerful than God. And that's a strange position for the likes of Bishop Barron, Mike Lee, and their fellow travelers to take.



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Thursday, September 04, 2025

Projecting Strength Which Isn't There



Ironically, in a podcast episode posted to criticize Representative Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina) and President Donald Trump, Steve Schmidt illustrated the political brilliance of Donald Trump. At 3:59 of the video below, Trump at the presidential debate with Kamala Harris can be seen bragging

You need Trump back as resident. They were afraid of him. China was afraid. I don't like to use the word "afraid" but I'm just quoting him. China was afraid of him. North Korea was afraid of him Look at what's going on with North Korea, by the way. He said Russia was afraid of him.




If you're wondering who "he" is, the context of this quote makes it clear. Vice President Harris had noted, in part, "world leaders are laughing at Donald Trump. I have talked with military leaders, some of whom worked with you." And they say you're a disgrace.

Aside from the last five sentences (not pertinent here), Trump responded

Let me just tell you about world leaders. Viktor Orban, one of the most respected men -- they call him a strong man. He's a tough person. Smart. Prime Minister of Hungary. They said why is the whole world blowing up? Three years ago it wasn't. Why is it blowing up? He said because you need Trump back as president. They were afraid of him. China was afraid. And I don't like to use the word afraid but I'm just quoting him. China was afraid of him. North Korea was afraid of him. Look at what's going on with North Korea, by the way. He said Russia was afraid of him. I ended the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and Biden put it back on day one but he ended the XL pipeline. The XL pipeline in our country. He ended that. But he let the Russians build a pipeline going all over Europe and heading into Germany. The biggest pipeline in the world. Look, Viktor Orban said it. He said the most respected, most feared person is Donald Trump. We had no problems when Trump was president.

A mere fifty-one weeks later and less than eight months into the presidency, we find Donald Trump decisively refuting his campaign claim that China, North Korea, and maybe Russia were afraid of him. Of course, no one has pointed it out and if media or politicians did so, they'd be accused of fake new (or worse), especially because this undermines one of the major pillars of his support. This week

President Donald Trump took to his social media platform as Chinese President Xi Jinping, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared together in Beijing for China's largest-ever military parade on Wednesday.

Trump accused Xi of "conspiring against" the United States as they attended the parade, which marked the 80th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II.

"May President Xi and the wonderful people of China have a great and lasting day of celebration. Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against The United States of America," Trump wrote on social media as the parade was underway.

Who is afraid of who (whom) now?  Russia, Mainland China, and Korea are assembling in the open. They're not hiding from Donald Trump. If they fear Donald Trump, it's only persuading them to forge an alliance.

The loser is not Donald J. Trump. The loser is the United States of America, Europe, and our allies in Asia. But it doesn't hurt Trump because his image, as the bully on the block, is intact and no one- aside from the three aforementioned nations- is challenging it.

Far from it.  Mace, who has repeatedly claimed to be a victim of rape and is running for the GOP nomination for South Carolina governor, took to X before the Capitol Hill news conference held by United States Representatives Massie and Khanna with victims of Jeffrey Epstein:


Mace then signed the Massie-Khanna discharge petition calling on the House of Representatives to release the full Epstein files. However, Mace is saying whatever she can to get the President's endorsement for her candidacy for governor of South Carolina  So in the wake of the Massie/Khanna news conference, Mace tweeted (emphasis hers)

President Trump is the one who banned Jeffrey Epstein from Mar-a-Lago. President Trump is the one who cooperated with the feds to get this guy. President Trump is the one who is COMMITTED to protecting women and kids.

President Trump is the one committed to protecting women and kids. There is nothing this President would rather hear than that he is protecting women because that is one big hunk of an alpha male does- protect women. Not ensure their rights, secure their prosperity, nor enact good policy. He counts on them being afraid, just as he claimed during the presidential campaign that Russia, Mainland China, and North Korea are all afraid of him. Kellyanne Conway calls it swagger.

It now appears to be costing us a great deal internationally as the President poses as almost the reverse of what he actually is.  The President wrote that the three nations are "conspiring against" the USA because he consistently tries to portray himself as the victim

It's the Trump paradox (one of them). The guy who whines and cries, cries and whines postures as the strongman. Notwithstanding the disinterest of the Democrat Party in trying to undermine this image, it is still one of the wonders of the 21st century that Donald Trump is able to get away with it. And he's doing so even as he has successfully driven enemies, two of them economically and militarily powerful, of the USA into an apparent alliance with each other.


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Tuesday, September 02, 2025

Bluff Called; May Not Matter


If President Trump and his acolytes couldn't sow division in the nation, they would have no purpose in life.


The great dealmaker weeks earlier had had his bluff, ABC News on August 31 reported 

Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore defended his rhetoric against President Donald Trump over crime in his home city of Baltimore amid an escalating feud between the two leaders.

"I have no interest in fighting with the president, but I have an interest in fighting for my communities and fighting for our people," Moore told ABC News' "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz in an interview that aired Sunday.

Earlier this month, Trump offered to send the National Guard into other cities across the country after his law enforcement surge into Washington, D.C., calling Baltimore "so far gone." Moore responded by formally inviting the president to join him and Baltimore officials on a public safety walk.

After the two continued to trade barbs on social media, Trump rebuked the invitation and renewed his threat to send the National Guard into Baltimore, calling the city a "hellhole" in the Oval Office on Tuesday.

"Wes Moore was telling me he wants -- 'I want to walk with the president.' Well, I said, 'I want to walk with you, too, someday. But first you've got to clean up your crime," Trump said.

The President's remark obviously made no sense. "First you've got to clean up your crime?"  If Trump's purpose is to "clean up crime" (give it a shower?), the time to visit and examine the city of Baltimore is when its crime rate is high, not after it has seriously declined. Trump is saying "you make things better and I'll come and do a photo-op with you."

Realistically, the President is afraid of what he'd see: a city still troubled but one in which crime significantly has declined. If he then decided to send National Guard soldiers into the city, he'd be doing it in a place he learns appears to be on the upswing, which would make his claim that the federal crackdown is unrelated to crime.

Alternatively, the President is refusing to go because he would be uncomfortable on a street with substandard housing, mothers with little children, poor minorities. The man who has found the splendor of the White House inadequate and wants to turn it into the Palace of Versailles would be ay out of his comfort zone. The reality of life in America might be too difficult to encounter for an elderly man in declining health.

The idolization of Donald Trump by his fans and the danger the rest of us recognize in him blinds us to another reality- that our President is pathetic. He's a guy who defines exercise as riding around in a golf cart, bravery as avoiding an STD, and believes bombing Iran makes him a war hero. Then he's asked to walk the streets of Baltimore with a fellow who was awarded the Bronze Star. The contrast would be jarring.

However, an even more pathetic event began on the day after Trump rejected Moore's invitation and called Baltimore a "hellhole." Signing executive orders on August 25

Trump continued his ongoing criticism of Moore and the city of Baltimore for being a "deathbed" with "tremendous crime," before flashing back to an interaction that he described fondly.

"I met him at the Army-Navy game. They said, 'Oh there's Gov. Moore. He'd love to see you.' He came over to me, hugged me, shook my hand, you were there. He said, 'Sir, you're the greatest president of my lifetime,'" Trump said, adding that Moore had told him he was doing a "fantastic job."

Surprise! It didn't happen. Not only did Moore quip "breaking news to everybody but the President is not telling the truth," Fox News tried to convince viewers that Moore had praised Trump- while inconveniently proving he hadn't. Host Will Cain appears to believe that he has caught the governor in a gotcha moment when he runs film of Moore greeting Trump with "Welcome back to Maryland, sir. Welcome back o Maryland. It's great to see you" and after Trump responds, "thank you, sir. It's great to have you back here."

Oh, my gosh. A governor of a state is pleased that the President of the USA is visiting and Dallas Cowboy fan (of course) Dean Cain tries to prove that he's a hypocrite. (Trump giving the governor a bro-slap and two days later calling his state's largest city a "hellhole" was less notable, evidently.)  Cain may be even more pathetic than is his pro football team.

Nonetheless, carrying water for Donald Trump, as are Cain, Jennings, and nearly the entire Republican Party, pales in importance to the actual policies of an authoritarian regime. Governor Moore called Trump's bluff, and virtually no one in the media understood the significance. The President told us, as clearly as he could, that he's not going to visit a major city, to which he is threatening to send armed soldiers to curb crime, precisely because there is so much crime. 

When the protests come, there must be soldiers under the President's command to arrest the many while shooting a few. And then, finally, the mainstream media may figure out that crime was never the primary concern of the First Felon.



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