President Donald Trump is an authoritarian- that we all can see. Yet, aside from acknowledging the obvious, we would benefit from pinpointing his underlying motive (s).
Donald Trump's guiding philosophy is zero-sum. In his approach to tariffs, to Ukraine, personal financial dealings, and to other matters, it is clear that he believes that he, his family, or his fellow plutocrats benefit only to the extent that an individual or a group suffers.
But to what end does Trump apply this philosophy? There probably are two and, fortunately for Democrats contemplating a strategy to checkmate or neuter this man of evil, they are in harmony and compatible with each other.
Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy has been promoting one dominant feature of the Trump presidency, here posted on Reddit in graphic form:
Democratic strategist James Carville ripped into President Trump’s recent moves on Ukraine and tariffs, accusing the president of deliberately hurting the country.
Carville, a longtime vocal critic of Trump’s, compared the president’s actions to that of other past Republican leaders he has strongly criticized, such as George W. Bush during the Iraq War.
“However, I never would for one minute thought George W. Bush wanted to harm the United States,” Carville said. “I don’t think Trump likes the United States. I honestly believe that the most compelling answer to all of this is he doesn’t like this country.”
The Democratic strategist ticked through his various criticisms of Trump, asserting the GOP president “doesn’t like the Constitution,” international alliances that have existed for decades or the separation of powers within the U.S. federal government.
Carville may have been referring in part to Trump's Truth Social post of December 3, 2022 when the then ex-President (his emphasis, obviously) wrote
Do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution. Our great 'Founders' did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections!
Additionally, Carville noted
We know he believes that we’re a terrible country, we’re terrible people … we know that. We know, like many people, he didn’t want to serve in armed forces, but we know that. We know that he is trying to destroy the military by getting rid of every competent person he could find, we know that. We know today that he doesn’t care about high prices.
“What could explain all that?” he continued. “I think the simplest and most direct explanation is the president of the United States hates the United States.”
“Do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” Trump wrote in a post on the social network Truth Social and accused “Big Tech” of working closely with Democrats. “Our great ‘Founders’ did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections!”
KISS: Keep it Simple, Stupid. Sometimes (though not usually) the simplest explanation is most accurate. I hate to be repetitive, but not enough to avoid being repetitive. And this simply must mean something:
That was over two years ago, when Joe Biden was President, and so it is even more telling that at his first Cabinet meeting, on February 26, the once and current President stated "this country has gotten bloated, fat, and disgusting. I think we had the worst President in the history of our country. He just left office."
Well, no, he's still in office. With contempt for the country and unparalleled corruption, Donald Trump is an easy target. Some may take the low road and mock and lampoon him, a la Tim Walz. Others, such as Senator Murphy, can use social media and pictorial representations to make it clear to the country that the man is a crook and con man. By all means draw a line from hatred of the country to looting the country. All the evidence is available- only willingness, effort, and a little creativity are necessary.
During the Overtime segment of Real Time with Bill Maher on March 7, the host asked (at 2:50 of the video below) of the panelist the audience question "What do you think of Republican leadership telling their members that they should avoid doing town halls?" Alyssa Farrah Griffin, designated conservative, anti-Trump Republican of The View, responded
You can't hide from your own voters, like they're not gonna be mad if you don't show up? It's actually politically good advice from Richard Hudson because I think this is going to happen.
Not satisfied with being right, she continued
My concern is that DOGE has cut a lot that we don't know and in the next few months, there's going to be goods and services that the American public does rely on, not the fat and waste that none of us like. And if you're not getting your VA benefits, if you're waiting at the Social Security office, you're gonna want to go and yell at your congressman or you're gonna vote him out of the office.
Uh, no. That is how it should work but does not and will not. Recently ousted senator Jon Tester of Montana largely agreed, remarking
The other thing I would add to that is you get in Washington, D.C. and round that brick and mortar and it's a bubble and you never hear what's going on in the real world. And these town hall meetings are the only way you can hear what's really going on in the real world.
The real world to Republican members of the House (less so to Senators) is Donald J. Trump. If they slip up and criticize sort-of President Trump at all or come off as a buffoon at a town hall meeting, there is a serious chance that Trump will sponsor a primary challenger. In most of the districts they represent, the general election is a mere formality. A well-funded, well-endorsed primary challenger is the greater threat.
Those GOP House members are betting that either things will turn around in the country, their Party will look better, and their re-election chances will be good or that voters will get so mad and frustrated that they will give up on haranguing or even challenging their Representative. They may get voted out of office but with a little help from the Republican god in the White House and a registration advantage for the GOP in the district, their odds are good.
There is are tactics with the potential to get around this. The Minnesota Star Tribune reported
Members of a left-leaning group tried to get Rep. Tom Emmer, the No. 3 Republican in the U.S. House, to hold a town hall to talk about President Donald Trump's sweeping changes to Washington.
Receiving no response, Wright County Indivisible and Indivisible North Metro chose to hold one without him. At least 300 people packed into the Monticello Community Center last week in Moorhead and Willmar, hundreds have been protesting outside Rep. Michelle Fischbach's district offices and int he street calling on her to talk to them about what's happening to the federal government under Trump.
Similar protests have drawn dozens in New Ulm and Rochester in front of Rep. Brad Finstad's district offices and more outside of Rep. Pete Stauber's office in Hermantown.
That's good, for a start. But has anyone outside of Minnesota heard about this? Without the member of Congress present, there is little media interest. And without media interest, the tree has fallen in the forest but no one has noticed.
I've never been in the public relations or the graphic arts business. However, we're all acquainted with the concept of an effigy. (No one has to be "hung in effigy.") There can be a real-life representation, computer-generated or old school, of the Republican congressman in the hall with the constituents. And then there is this:
House Republicans aren't hosting town halls because people are pissed about DOGE and cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security. It's cowardly and they're leaving their constituents behind. If House Republicans won't host town halls in their districts, we will. pic.twitter.com/lRjhAdQoEW
— Congressman Robert Garcia (@RepRobertGarcia) March 10, 2025
Democrats squandered a huge opportunity when they attended Donald Trump’s State of the Union Address rather than holding a town hall meeting simultaneously in their own districts. Had they done so, there would have been at least some media coverage of their events and they would have avoided the media narrative that they were so naughty and so rude to the President. Nonetheless, they can make up for lost time. As it is, there will be little price for Republicans to pay for avoiding public confrontations with their constituents. With the effort Representative Robert Garcia and a few others have chosen to put forth, that price could skyrocket.
The Democratic caucus in the House of Representatives- as with the Party- has a problem, though not what it appears.
The Republican-controlled House on Thursday voted to censure
Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, for disrupting President Donald Trump’s address to
Congress on Tuesday.
The vote was 224-198, with 10 Democrats joining all
Republicans in approving the censure resolution. Green and freshman Rep.
Shomari Figures, D-Ala., voted present. As the vote proceeded, Green sat by
himself along the center aisle.....
The 10 Democrats who voted to censure Green are all
moderates: Reps. Ami Bera and Jim Costa, both of California; Ed Case of Hawaii;
Laura Gillen and Tom Suozzi, both of New York; Jim Himes of Connecticut;
Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania; Marcy Kaptur of Ohio; Jared Moskowitz of
Florida; and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington state.
The ten Democrats are only a symptom of a larger problem, which is not the censure resolution because
A censure is a formal way for the House to express
disapproval of a member’s conduct. A censured member does not lose any rights
or privileges as a House member.
The matter, however, might not be closed. The far-right
House Freedom Caucus, who had been racing to introduce their own resolution to
censure Green, said after the vote its members plan to roll out another
resolution seeking to remove Green from the House Financial Services Committee.
The group said on X it expects Johnson to bring the resolution to the floor
next week.
This may or may not play out as the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus wishes. However, even the possibility, let alone the actuality, of a group of Republicans taking this action should be a wake-up call to those ten Democrats. Al Green went quietly, choosing not to fight back against the Sergeant-at-Arms (as he would have been wise to do) amid GOP chants of nah, nah, nah, hey, hey, goodbye. (Civility!)
Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Lauren Boebert,
R-Colo., repeatedly interrupted and interjected during President Joe Biden's
State of the Union address Tuesday night.
Greene was heard grumbling through the entire part of
Biden's speech about Covid policy before she shouted a remark about women's
sports when Biden mentioned new laws targeting transgender Americans and their
families.
Boebert and Greene tried to start a "build the
wall" chant — a reference to former President Donald Trump's calls to
construct a wall across the U.S. southern border — when Biden referred to
securing the border and reforming immigration law.
But the moment that stood out most was when Boebert shouted
"13 of them" — referring to the 13 U.S. service members who died in
an attack in Afghanistan during the U.S. withdrawal last year — when Biden
discussed battlefield conditions that may contribute to veterans' developing
cancers "that would put them in a flag-draped coffin."
Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Lauren Boebert,
R-Colo., repeatedly interrupted and interjected during President Joe Biden's
State of the Union address Tuesday night.
Greene was heard grumbling through the entire part of
Biden's speech about Covid policy before she shouted a remark about women's
sports when Biden mentioned new laws targeting transgender Americans and their
families.
Boebert and Greene tried to start a "build the
wall" chant — a reference to former President Donald Trump's calls to
construct a wall across the U.S. southern border — when Biden referred to
securing the border and reforming immigration law.
Nonetheless, the moment that stood out most was when Boebert shouted
"13 of them" — referring to the 13 U.S. service members who died in
an attack in Afghanistan during the U.S. withdrawal last year — when Biden
discussed battlefield conditions that may contribute to veterans' developing
cancers "that would put them in a flag-draped coffin.
Lauren Boebert did not get tossed out. Neither did Marjorie Taylor Greene. The rules had changed but Democrats (including myself) did not know that they had. The rules now are: there are no rules.
Some Democrats still don't understand. Perhaps Al Green, contrary to House rules, understood when he boldly and bravely stood early in President Trump's State of the Union address.
Yet, it is unclear that even Green recognizes the zeitgeist. A black man of 77 years of age, he remembers too well the power of peaceful civil disobedience and was arrested outside the Sudanese embassy in the nation's capital in 2012 when he protested the humanitarian crisis in the Sudan. That was a very long time ago, before a political candidate and President would threaten with arrest or execution a variety of political enemies, in midst of being elected President twice. It was before the United States Supreme Court granted immunity for any action a President can deem "official." It was before a President with full self-awareness would call himself a "king," and hardly anyone would notice.
It's easy for me, sitting at home, to say, but if Green wanted to make an impact, he should have stood his ground- literally, not only figuratively. Let them drag him out of the chamber. Americans- Democrats, Independents, and a significant minority of Republicans- would be horrified by the video, which would be played nearly non-stop for the following 72 hours. And the Democrats now fretting about confronting the President or who would prefer a mere "strong, determined and dignified Democratic presence" would actually defend a colleague who chose to be more confrontational.
There is nothing more telling about the moment we're in than the immediate response by many House Democrats to the censure vote and the Republican counter-response. Green led some Democrats in singing "We Shall Overcome," a nice and inoffensive, albeit totally ineffective, gesture.
A screaming match between House Democrats and Republicans broke out. At one point, Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley yelled back, "Shame on you!" Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib also shouted at Republicans.
Republicans offer blind loyalty to a President who hired- for a role in diplomacy- a guy who has said "competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work." These individuals are supposed to respond to an appeal- "shame on you"- to conscience. Shortly after the confrontation, Republican US Representative Andy Ogles of Tennessee announced he is "drafting privileged resolutions to remove each of them from their committees."
We Shall Overcome- not a rap song nor even the "Black National Anthem," but We Shall Overcome. Though recognizing the dreadful nature of domestic abuse, Steve M compares Democrats to abused partners because
their belief that docility and outreach are winning strategies comes from motivated reasoning. They want to believe these things work. They're afraid to reality-test their theory because they've been beaten down and the thought of standing up for themselves cares them, while they've survived thus far being meek and mild.
Worse, that's on top of a disturbing addiction to rules and norms, wherein Democrats are refusing to refer to "President Musk" or to "forced-birth" conservatives or to name the most corrupt President ever; defending the FBI, whose director in 2016 kept his mouth shut about the agency's investigation of Donald Trump; giving many votes to terrible Cabinet appointments such as dog-shooting Kristi Noem; acquiescing to having a colleague removed from the House chamber.
(My favorite is Kyle Rittenhouse, a white male conservative who traveled with a rifle to a BLM protest in Wisconsin and shot three individuals. The two who were unarmed were killed and when the murderer was acquitted, the decision was defended by Democrats because, of course, the "rule of law," the unchallenged jury system, and did I mention rules?)
This environment demands something more, and different. Protest here, protest there, only to make a point won't cut it. Sustained, even dramatic, opposition will be necessary.
That's a particularly fraught situation in the House of Representatives. The Democrats' "Leader" is only a minority leader in a chamber in which the majority party traditionally holds all power, with current members of said party dependent on the continued favor of Donald Trump.
Democrats cannot turn to their most popular figure- or perhaps it's the spouse of its most popular figure- because he has gone missing. A problem during the eight years of his lackluster presidency, it is an even greater problem currently. The GOP has Donald Trump while the Democratic Party has no individual to lead it.
Leadership is critical. So, too, is recognizing reality. We Shall Overcome pricked the conscience of a nation at one time, when the nation had a conscience to prick. Now, it is seen merely as a metaphor for liberal weakness. There now is a left and a right and a vanishing middle, a country in which Donald Trump twice has won the votes of Independents and in which propriety and respectability have left the building.
Donald Trump knows. He knows that it's open season, as it always is, on the opposition party. The President mentioned Joe Biden on thirteen occasions in Tuesday's State of the Union Address. You probably noticed that none of the references was positive- or even neutral. There were thirteen, in twelve paragraphs, six involving a variety of topics. (Feel free to skip to "The Democratic rebuttal....")
We ended all of Biden's environmental restrictions that were making our country far less safe and totally unaffordable. And importantly, we ended the last administration's insane electric vehicle mandate. Saving our auto workers and companies from economic destruction.
Joe Biden especially let the price of eggs get out of control. The egg price is out of control, and we're working hard to get it back down. Secretary, do a good job on that. You inherited a total mess from the previous administration. Do a good job.
It may be a little bit of an adjustment period. We had that before when I made the deal with China. $50 billion in purchases, and I said, just bear with me. And they did. They did. Probably have to bear with me again and this will be even better. That was great. The problem with it was that Biden didn't enforce it. He didn't enforce it - $50 billion of purchases. And we were doing great. But Biden did not enforce it, and it hurt our farmers.
I did it with China and I did it with others, and the Biden administration couldn't do anything about it because there was so much money. They couldn't do anything about it.
And look, And look where Biden took us to. Very low. The lowest we've ever been. Jeff,
But we're getting along very well with them and lots of good things are happening. Biden has authorized more money in this fight. than Europe has spent by billions and billions of dollars.
Six references to pertained to one of the few matters, immigration, on which President Biden's performance was faulty.
In comparison, under Joe Biden, the worst president in
American history. There were hundreds of thousands of illegal crossings a
month, and virtually.
So while we take out the criminals, killers, traffickers
and child predators who are allowed to enter our country under the open border
policy of these people, the Democrats, the Biden administration, the open
border. insane policies that you've allowed to destroy our country.
Many of them were murderers, human traffickers, gang members and other criminals from the streets of dangerous cities all throughout the world because of Joe Biden's insane and very dangerous open border policies. They are now strongly embedded in our country, but. We are getting them out and getting them out fast.
That morning, Laken was viciously attacked, assaulted, beaten, brutalized, and horrifically murdered. Laken was stolen from us by a savage illegal alien gang member. Who was arrested while trespassing across Biden's open southern border and then set loose into the United States under the heartless policies of that failed administration. It was indeed a failed administration. He had then been arrested. and released in a Democrat run sanctuary city, a disaster before ending the. life of this beautiful young angel.
Joe Biden didn't just open our borders, he flew illegal aliens over them to overwhelm our schools, hospitals and communities throughout the country. Entire towns like Aurora, Colorado, and Springfield, Ohio, buckled under the weight of the migrant occupation and corruption like nobody's ever seen before. Beautiful towns destroyed. Now, just as I promised in my inaugural address, we are achieving the great liberation of America.
Countless thousands of these terrorists were welcomed into the U.S by the Biden administration. But now every last one will be rounded up and forcibly removed from our country. Or if they're too dangerous, put in jail…..
The Democratic rebuttal was offered by freshman senator Elissa Slotnick of Michigan. At 22:27 of the video below, the Senator can be seen remarking
President Trump likes to say "peace through strength." That's actually a line he stole from Ronald Reagan. But let me tell you. After the spectacle that just took place in the Oval Office last week, Reagan must be rolling in his grave. We all want an end to the war in Ukraine but Reagan understood that true strength required America to combine our military and economic might with moral clarity.
And that scene in the Oval Office wasn't just an episode of reality TV. It summed up Trump's whole approach to the world. He believes in cozying up to dictators like Vladimir Putin and kicking our friends like the Canadians in the teeth. He sees American leadership as merely a series of real estate transactions. As a Cold War kid, I'm thankful that it was Reagan and not Trump in office in the 1980s Trump would have lost us the Cold War.
Probably so. However, Slotnick's reasoning is one all too common among among individuals who bring to mind the GOP slur "Republicans in Name Only" (RINOs). After showing this clip, an exasperated Kyle Kulinski at 23:10 responds
Ah, we have "you gotta hand it to George W. Bush and you gotta hand it to Ronald Reagan in the same Democratic speech- Democratic. Why can't you do a like "you gotta hand it to Lyndon B. Johnson with the War on Poverty and you gotta hand it to FDR with the New Deal." Zero mentions of FDR; multiple mentions of George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. Guys, this is the core of the problem. This is the heart of the problem right here.
By contrast, no Republican ever says of a disappointing Republican "why can't he be like Barack Obama (or Bill Clinton)" nor "Franklin Roosevelt would be rolling over in his grave." Never. He or she prefers to spend time and words blasting the favorite Democratic target of the era.
The President did that twelve (12) times, to little criticism or even notice. It is what both the media and Democrats have come to expect, and to neither is it news. Democrats never have defended their own as have Republicans and often have fallen back to the kind of argument invoked by Senator Slotkin. You are not a good Republican; You are not a true conservative. ("Remember when Republicans were for balanced budgets!"); You, sir, are no Ronald Reagan.
It's hard for a political party to build a message or brand out of that. If only there were a Democrat who is popular among party officials, more so among Democrats in the street, more so yet among the base (black women). Ideally, that person would be able to speak with gravitas and legitimately claim that he or she uniquely understands the nature of the office President Trump holds.
And yet former President Barack Obama remains silent. The man who served eight years as President, he of the (D) after his name, has barely been heard from the last eight weeks as Donald Trump takes apart the government, the Trans-Atlantic Alliance, and representative democracy. Crickets. "Where have you gone, Barack Obama?"
Obama did have a friendly chat with President Trump at the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter, an exchange I at the time erroneously thought meant nothing. Perhaps it was their status as among the fewer than fifty individuals who have ever held the highest office in what has been the most powerful nation on earth. Or there was some other reason.Whatever, as Bob Dole would have said.
Nonetheless, whether former President Obama or some other figure respected in the Party takes the reigns, someone has to break out of the pack and take a leadership role. For decades, Republicans used Jimmy Carter as a whipping boy, the name becoming synonymous with "failed," if not worse. The same is in danger of happening to Joe Biden, who was a very good President but whom very few prominent Democrats will defend. That's bad for Joe Biden, and bad for the Democratic Party.
Call him Hakeem, call him Representative Jeffries, call him even Hakeem the Dream. But don't call him "Leader." Fox News reports
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has noted
that he plans to attend President Donald Trump's Tuesday night address before a
joint session of Congress.
"Given my responsibilities in the House, I plan to
attend the speech, along with other members of the Democratic leadership, to
make clear to the nation that there is a strong opposition party ready, willing
and able to serve as a check and balance on the excesses of the
administration," Jeffries said in a message to colleagues…
"The decision to attend the Joint Session is a personal
one and we understand that members will come to different conclusions,"
Jeffries noted.
"However, it is important to have a strong, determined
and dignified Democratic presence in the chamber. The House as an institution
belongs to the American people, and as their representatives we will not be run
off the block or bullied," he continued.
Oh, yes you will be- bullied, that is.
Donald Trump will do the same to Democrats at Tuesday's State of the Union address as he did to Zelensky at Friday's Oval Office meeting. Trump, obviously parroting Moscow's line, looked bad to most of the world and to many Americans. However, many Americans loved Trump's belligerent act toward a foreigner, and Zelensky- whatever sense he made- would have been better off skipping the meeting.
Dignified and righteous, Zelensky sat there and largely took the battering like a man, which is more than the President of the USA is.
That is the action Jeffries is modeling. President Trump will stand at the podium, towering over members of Congress, and excoriate Democrats left, right, and center, and more viciously than he or Vice President Vance did to the Ukrainian leader. And Democrats will take it in and sitting there being pummeled, will look small and weak.
Some Democrats there will mount ineffective or self-defeating protests.. Pink ribbons from the Democratic Women's Caucus, thereby reminding voters that Democrats speak for one gender/sex and not both? Check. Black ribbons from female members of the Congressional Black Caucus, thereby confirming suspicions that Democrats are losers and weak? Check. Empty egg cartons to symbolize the soaring price of eggs which no one will remember in November, 2026? Check. Signs condemning DOGE? Right up Trump's alley. Walking out because the President attacks transexual youth? A reminder that the presidential election was close before Republicans began to run tasteless (and effective) ads a few days before November 5.
There is one possible response to the State of the Union address which would be potent, powerful, and productive (alliteration day!). So close and yet so far, Democratic Senator Ron Wyden will be skipping the President's speech in favor of holding a town hall meeting, to begin at 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time, the official start of the 9:00 p.m. Eastern time State of the Union.
That would be an excellent idea by Wyden- except that it will be online. Doing it online misses the point. "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does make a sound?" Of course, it makes a sound. However, no one will hear it, and no one will care.
Outside of Oregon- a fairly safe Democratic state- there will be little or no mention of that town hall. There probably will be no audio reported, and obviously there will be no video.
No video. Without pictures or videotape, no national media, no local media outside of that state, will be shown. It is, sadly, the heart and soul of social media. (Facebook once mattered. It no longer does.) Even Twitter would be inconsequential without the attached video or pictures, some real, some doctored.
Moreover, on top of the images which would be disseminated from in-person town hall meetings, Democrats would be seen caring about what their constituents think and feel. These constituents, which other Americans would recognize as voters, will prove to be very angry about Trump-Musk Administration policies. Some would even have personal stories to tell a Representative or Senator, stories which local and national media would play over and over again- with pictures and audio. This, conducted in-person with individuals outraged at the Administration, became national news:
Instead, Representative Jeffries (officially, House Minority Leader Jeffries) would have his Democratic colleagues appear and be repeatedly bashed by a President who will whack them at will. Conservative viewers across the land will see the minority party aa weak and hold them in contempt. Liberals and progressives will view their leaders as acquiescing to craziness or evil which, at least in the short term, will be an accurate perception. Former Representative and Tea Partier is correct:
When Obama was president & I was in Congress, he gave an address to Congress on the economy. I didn’t want to hear Obama’s take on the economy, so I boycotted his speech and went home to hold a town hall to get my constituents’ take on the economy. Democrats should boycott…
