Donald Trump forcing his signature on US currency while the dollar value is declining and expected to slide. Junk Trump money?

Good article🙏

How a weaker dollar is quietly making life more expensive.

"Travis Madeira, a fourth-generation lobsterman who founded the lobster-shipping business LobsterBoys with his brother, makes about 80% of his sales to Americans, unlike some competitors who primarily export."

Echo reporting by Matt Sedensky published by Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A hidden force is quietly pushing up costs for everything from your summer vacation to your weekly grocery bills: a weaker U.S. dollar.

The dollar has fallen about 10 󠀥% against other major currencies since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, a pullback potentially playing a role in Americans’ concerns about affordability.

“It’s kind of a hidden tax,” says economist Thomas Savidge of the conservative-leaning American Institute for Economic Research. “What your dollar is going to be able to buy is going to shrink.”

Historic dollar decline:  The U.S. 💲Dollar Index, which measures the greenback against other major currencies, logged its steepest six-month drop in more than 50 years in the first half of 2025. Though the decline hasn’t deepened, the dollar index is still about 10% lower than the start of Trump’s term.

A strong dollar makes imports cheaper and can help keep inflation in check. A weak one can increase prices on foreign goods but boost American exports.

U.S. presidents have long voiced support for a strong dollar even as they pursued policies that, at times, pushed the currency lower. Trump has suggested a strong 💲dollar puts the U.S. at a disadvantage and that a weak dollar helps American industry. And as with most things with Trump, he’s been more blunt in his messaging.

“You make a hell of a lot more money with a weaker dollar,” he said last year, one of a number of public statements showing his preference for seeing the 💲dollar decline.

A look at where the 💲dollar stands and what it means for you:
Big multinationals benefit

Trump isn’t alone in seeing benefits of a weaker buck.

In recent months, corporate earnings calls have been peppered with talk of how a weaker dollar has helped companies from Philip Morris to Coca-Cola, with executives pulling out C-suite phrases like “favorable currency impact” to note how the dip brought tailwinds outside the U.S. that added to bottom lines.

“In many cases, we’ve got a weaker dollar, which is not unhelpful,” Elie Maalouf, the CEO of InterContinental Hotels, said on a February call as the company announced higher profits and revenues.

For big multinational companies that do business overseas, a weaker dollar can spur sales for products that suddenly become cheaper. 

Nevertheless, the vast majority of U.S. businesses are not operating beyond the border. For those catering to domestic customers, it’s a different story, particularly if they are reliant on importing goods.

Travis Madeira, a fourth-generation lobsterman who founded the lobster-shipping business LobsterBoys with his brother, makes about 80% of his sales to Americans, unlike some competitors who primarily export.

“The exporters are gonna have the advantage when it comes to the dollar weakening,” says Madeira, who is paying more to import bait and buy Canadian lobsters. “These guys are gonna have a little bit of a lever on us.”

Smaller companies are hurt:  Even among companies that do have a presence outside the U.S., the dollar’s fall can have an impact. While many big companies hedge currency to try and insulate themselves or push more sales overseas, smaller businesses are often more susceptible to the turbulence.

David Navazio, CEO of Pennsylvania-based Gentell, which makes bandages and other medical supplies, operates plants in Brazil, Paraguay, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. In each location, the dollar has fallen, increasing Gentell’s costs.

Gentell has had to raise some prices to reflect the currency fluctuation, which stacks on top of other challenges, including tariffs and war-related spikes to fuel costs.

“A year ago, none of these were concerns,” he says. “And it always hurts the consumer.”

Other currencies rise:  For the American consumer, the reality of a declining dollar is most obvious during foreign travel or when making a purchase directly from an international seller.

Cross the border into Mexico, the top foreign destination of Americans, and your dollar is about 16% weaker versus the peso compared with early 2025. Declines of about 10% to 17% have been recorded elsewhere, including against the Swiss franc, South African rand, Danish krone, Swedish krona and the Euro.

As for goods imported to the U.S., there is an impact, but it’s harder to gauge. Many economists estimate that, in advanced countries like the U.S., only about 5% to 10% of a currency dip is passed on to consumers.

But, they are an added stress when prices are already affected by other factors, like inflation.

Take coffee, ❗one of the grocery items that has seen the biggest price hike in the past year. Brazil is the biggest source of coffee for the U.S. and the dollar has fallen around 13% versus its real. Currency fluctuations can hit harder in developing economies and, while only a fraction of the change may feed into coffee’s ballooning price, every bit can pile up. Coffee prices are up nearly 19% in the U.S. in the past year, according to government data.

Expect more movement:  Currency values are constantly moving and, while the dollar’s recent fall is notable, it has reached lower levels at points in the presidencies of each of Trump’s predecessors, back through the creation of the

💲Dollar Index in 1973, when Richard Nixon was at the helm.

Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard University economist and former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, says while “a lot of policies that Trump is doing are something of a cancer for the dollar,” he believes that it was destined to fall no matter who was in charge.

“The dollar had been on a 15-year bull run,” he said. “I would argue the dollar is still wildly overvalued and over the next maybe five or six years, it might fall 15%.” ⚠️ (IOW....ouch❗💥 is seems like consumer prices will never "drop like a rock", described by Trump. But, wait 🤪, Trump is forcing his name on U.S. currency so it is a given that our dollar will soon be like junk paper.🤣)

What does that mean for American consumers❓ Rogoff says commodity prices are likely to rise, particularly with the impact of the Iran war on fuel prices.

“They’re just going to go up,” he says, “no matter what the dollar’s at.”

___
Matt Sedensky can be reached at msedensky@ap.org and https://x.com/sedensky

Donald Trump and maga Republicans must end illegal deportations going against court orders- Trump pledged to evict ciminals NOT students

College freshman is deported flying home for Thanksgiving surprise, despite court order- AP by Holly Ramer (Associated Press)

Echo published in the Houston Chronicle in Texas: Why is the US deporting college students❓ | Opinion

College student deported:  Concord, N.H. (AP) — A college freshman trying to fly from Boston to Texas to surprise her family for Thanksgiving was instead deported to Honduras in violation of a court order, according to her attorney.  Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, 19, had already passed through security at Boston Logan International Airport on Nov. 20 when she was told there was an issue with her boarding pass, said attorney Todd Pomerleau. The Babson College student was then detained by immigration officials and within two days, sent to Texas and then Honduras, the country she left at age 7.
Regarding “College freshman is deported flying home for Thanksgiving surprise, despite court order,”(Nov. 28): When will the madness stop? A college student in Boston coming to Austin for Thanksgiving is handcuffed and shackled by immigration officials at the airport and immediately deported to Honduras, a country she hasn't been in since she was seven.

I thought criminals and felons were the targets❓❗ People, please rise up and help our politicians get the courage to stop the unlawful treatment of our people who are supposedly not the target for deportation.

From Ahronda James, in Cypress, Texas

Donald Trump and maga Republicans cut funds to protect spread of infectious diseases and rise of tuberculosis

Global tuberculosis diagnoses rises to a record number, but the reported deaths fall, WHO reports.

NEW YORK (AP) — The number of people diagnosed with tuberculosis worldwide rose again last year, eclipsing 2023’s record total, World Health Organization officials said Wednesday.

About 8.3 million people across the globe were reported as newly diagnosed with TB in 2024. Not all infections are diagnosed and the new numbers represent 78% of the estimated number of people who actually fell ill last year, the WHO noted.

WHO officials see the increase as an indication that screening and treatment are improving after health care disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Globally, the number of deaths caused by TB fell in 2024 to 1.23 million, down from 1.25 million the year before*.

U.S. tuberculosis cases continued to rise last year — reaching the highest level in more than a dozen years, according to preliminary data released earlier this year. The vast majority of U.S. TB cases are diagnosed in people born in other countries.

Tuberculosis is caused by bacteria that attack the lungs, and is spread through the air when an infectious person coughs or sneezes. Roughly a quarter of the global population is estimated to have TB, but only a fraction develop symptoms. It can be fatal if not treated, and is one of the top causes of death worldwide.

The WHO releases a TB report every year. The latest is based on data from 184 countries. Funding for fighting the disease was already stagnating, and experts worry about a possible backslide in the battle following recent spending cuts by the U.S. government and other funders.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The Associated Press is solely responsible for all the content.

*Tuberculosis is often a secondary diagnosis correlated with sexually transmited diseases (STD), especially with Acquired Immunity AIDS. 

Donald Trump and maga Repubicans must give a failing grade to the useless Alaska so called summit with Putin

Echo article published by Associated Press * Trump in Alaska summit' Failed~~~! Left empty-handed after failing to reach a deal to end Ukraine war and Russian aggression.

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska (AP) — Donald Trump failed to secure an agreement from Vladimir Putin on Friday to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, falling short in his most significant move yet to stop the bloodshed, even after rolling out the red carpet for the man who started it.

“There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” the U.S. president said, after Putin claimed they had hammered out an “understanding” on Ukraine and warned Europe not to “torpedo the nascent progress.” Trump said he would call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders to brief them on the talks.

Trump, who for years has balked at American support for Ukraine and expressed admiration for Putin, had pledged confidently to bring about an end to the war on his first day back in the White House. Seven months later, after berating Zelenskyy in the Oval Office and stanching the flow of some U.S. military assistance to Kyiv, Trump could not bring Putin even to pause the fighting, as his forces make gains on the battlefield.

The U.S. president had offered Putin both a carrot and a stick, issuing threats of punishing economic sanctions on Russia while also extending a warm welcome at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, but he appeared to walk away without any concrete progress on ending the war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year.

Instead, he handed Putin long-sought recognition on the international stage, after years of Western efforts to make him a pariah over the war and his crackdown on dissent, and forestalled the threat of additional U.S. sanctions.

In a sign that the conversations did not yield Trump’s preferred result, the two leaders ended what was supposed to be a joint news conference without taking questions from reporters.

KGB Putin chumps the Trump  in Alaska

During a subsequent interview with (Fake ❗)Fox News Channel before leaving Alaska, Trump insisted that the onus going forward might be somehow on Zelenskyy “to get it done,” but said there would also be some involvement from European nations. That was notable since Zelenskyy was excluded from Trump and Putin's meeting.

The U.S. president had wanted to show off his deal-making skills, while Putin wanted to negotiate a deal that would cement Russia’s gains, block Kyiv’s bid to join the NATO military alliance and eventually pull Ukraine back into Moscow’s orbit.

“We had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to,” Trump (lied 🤥) while standing next to Putin. “And there are just a very few that are left. Some are not that significant. One is probably the most significant, but we have a very good chance of getting there.”

He continued: “We didn’t get there.”

Putin says Trump ‘shows understanding’ that Russia has its own interests

For Putin, just being on U.S. soil for the first time in more than a decade was validation after his ostracization following his invasion of Ukraine.

His meeting with Trump may stall the economic sanctions that the U.S. president had promised unless Moscow worked harder to bring the fighting to a close. It also may simply lead to more meetings, giving his forces more time to make progress on the battlefield.

Putin said Russia and the United States should “turn the page and go back to cooperation.”

He praised Trump as someone who “has a clear idea of what he wants to achieve and sincerely cares about the prosperity of his country, and at the same time shows understanding that Russia has its own national interests.” (Fact check❗  Trump has no idea, only a lust for power.)

“I expect that today’s agreements will become a reference point not only for solving the Ukrainian problem, but will also mark the beginning of the restoration of businesslike, pragmatic relations between Russia and the U.S.,” Putin said.

Despite not reaching any major breakthrough, Trump ended his remarks by thanking Putin and saying, “we'll speak to you very soon and probably see you again very soon.”

When Putin smiled and offered, “next time in Moscow,” Trump said “that’s an interesting one” and said he might face criticism but “I could see it possibly happening.”

During the interview with Fox News, Trump bragged that Putin echoed many of the U.S. president’s long-standing grievances, including about the 2020 election. This suggests that Putin, a former KGB officer, may have left Trump with the impression that he’d notched a big win even as he left empty handed.

When Trump and Putin arrived in Alaska, they had greeted each other with a warm handshake, chatting almost like old friends, and gripped hands for an extended period on a red carpet rolled out at the military base. As they chatted, Putin grinned and pointed skyward, where B-2s and F-22s — military aircraft designed to oppose Russia during the Cold War — flew overhead. The two then shared the U.S. presidential limo for a short ride to their meeting site, with Putin offering a broad smile as they rolled past the cameras.

It was the kind of reception typically reserved for close U.S. allies and belied the bloodshed and suffering in the war Putin started in Ukraine. Although not altogether surprising considering their longtime friendly relationship, such outward friendliness likely raised concerns from Zelenskyy and European leaders, who fear that Trump is primarily focusing on furthering U.S. interests and not pressing hard enough for Ukraine’s.

Not a one-on-one meeting

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said shortly before Air Force One touched down that the previously planned one-on-one meeting between Trump and Putin would be a three-on-three discussion including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff. Putin was joined by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov.

The change seemed to indicate that the White House was taking a more guarded approach than it did during a 2018 meeting in Helsinki, where Trump and Putin met privately with their interpreters and Trump then shocked the world by siding with the Russian leader over U.S. intelligence officials on whether Russia meddled in the 2016 campaign.

Zelenskyy’s (wrong minded) exclusion was also a heavy blow to the West’s policy of “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.”

War is still raging

Russia and Ukraine remain far apart in their demands for peace. Putin has long resisted any temporary ceasefire, linking it to a halt in Western arms supplies and a freeze on Ukraine’s mobilization efforts, which are conditions rejected by Kyiv and its Western allies.

The meeting comes as the war has caused heavy losses on both sides and drained resources. Ukraine has held on far longer than some initially expected since the February 2022 invasion, but it is straining to hold off Russia’s much larger army, grappling with bombardments of its cities and fighting for every inch on the over 600-mile (1,000-kilometer) front line.

Alaska is separated from Russia at its closest point by just 3 miles (less than 5 kilometers) and the international date line.

Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson was crucial to countering the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It continues to play a role today, as planes from the base still intercept Russian aircraft that regularly fly into U.S. airspace.
___

*Weissert reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Jonathan J. Cooper in Washington, Elise Morton in London and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.

Donald Trump and the Republican administration are illegally oppressing Americans' First Amendment rights without regard for free speech

Echo editorial published in The New York Times by the Editorial Board

 In 1791, the nation’s founders ratified the First Amendment to the Constitution. It would come to offer protections in the new nation essentially never seen before: the right to ask things of and to criticize the government; to express opinions, popular or not; to assemble peacefully; to practice diverse religious beliefs; and to have a free press that publishes information without fear of censorship or retribution.

This constitutional provision reflects the framers’ intent to establish a society where individuals have the ability to voice their views and participate actively in shaping the nation’s governance while holding their leaders accountable. Together, these five guaranteed liberties continue today to make the people of the United States the freest in the world.

Donald Trump and many of his (cult❗) supporters — from tech leaders like Elon Musk to populist politicians like JD Vance — 

have spent the past several years portraying themselves as free-speech crusaders. Capitalizing on the censorial strains of the left, they regularly lecture about the necessity of letting people say whatever they want, even if it’s hateful, asinine or corrosive.

That form of free-speech absolutism, which aims to defend not just favored speech but also disfavored speech, has a long and welcome role in American society. But, problem is that for all their bluster, these supposed "free-speech crusaders" have proved themselves consistently intolerant when it comes to words, ideas and perspectives they disagree with.

Over the past month Donald Trump and his allies have embarked on an expansive crackdown on free expression and disfavored speakers that should be decried, not just as hypocritical, but also as un-American and unconstitutional.

In the distorted view of the Trump Republican administration, protecting free speech requires controlling free speech — banning words, phrases and ideas that challenge or complicate government-favored speech. Officials in Washington have spent the past month stripping federal websites of any hint of undesirable words and thoughts, disciplining news organizations that refuse to parrot the president’s language and threatening to punish those who have voiced criticism of investigations and prosecutions.

Obviously, the Orwellian nature of this approach is deliberate and dangerous. This posture is not about protecting free speech. Rather, it is about prioritizing far-right ideology — and at times celebrating lies and hate speech under the guise of preventing the criminalization of language — while trying to silence independent thought, inconvenient truths and voices of dissent.

When Donald Trump announced that he was changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, for example, it seemed to be an essentially harmless bit of nationalistic chest-puffery, paling in comparison with the real damage he intended to do to national security, public health, the Civil Service and the rule of law. But then he made it clear that compliance was mandatory.

This month, a reporter for The Associated Press showed up at an Oval Office event and was barred from entering because the news organization continued referring to the gulf by the internationally recognized name it has had since at least the 16th century. That was an editorial decision that The A.P., just like The Times and many other outlets, has every right to make on its own without government interference.

Yet, the White House press office then upped the ante; it is now keeping both Associated Press (A.P.) reporters and photographers away from many press events and off Air Force One on presidential trips, making it far more difficult for the nation’s largest wire service to provide essential coverage. The A.P., to its great credit, has sued officials in the administration, saying it was doing so “to vindicate its rights to the editorial independence guaranteed by the United States Constitution and to prevent the executive branch from coercing journalists to report the news using only government-approved language.”

Federal District Judge Trevor McFadden has yet to rule on The A.P.’s request but made it clear that the White House appeared to be improperly punishing the wire service for its editorial decision. “It seems pretty clearly viewpoint discrimination,” the judge said at a preliminary hearing.

This struggle is obviously about more than the name of a body of water; the White House wants to use coercion to control how it is covered and even who gets to cover the president. On Tuesday the press office said it would begin handpicking the news organizations that cover Donald Trump as part of the press pool — a decision that up to now was made by a group representing the news outlets themselves. The White House immediately cut Reuters and HuffPost from the pool and added two sycophantic outlets, Newsmax and The Blaze.

The Trump administration’s intention can be seen clearly by looking at the way it communicates with the public. All federal contracts, job descriptions and social media posts are being scrutinized for any hint of “gender ideology,” according to a memo from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management; federal employees “whose position description involves inculcating or promoting gender ideology” must be placed on leave.

The National Park Service erased the letters T and Q: from L.G.B.T.Q. references on its website describing the Stonewall National Monument in New York City. More than 8,000 federal websites, in fact, have been taken down or altered to remove concepts derided by the MAGA movement. These include thousands of pages about vaccine research and S.T.D. prevention guidelines, efforts to prevent hate crimes, prevention of racial discrimination in drug trials and disbursement of federal grants and details of environmental policies to slow climate change.

Unbelievable, The Republican Trump government won’t even describe its own museum collections as diverse. The word was eliminated from an Interior Department website describing federally owned works of art and natural history, though it has one of the broadest and most significant collections in the world.

The open hypocrisy on matters of speech is perhaps best exemplified by the actions of Mr. Musk, even before he became the Trump administration’s designated wrecking ball to crucial institutions of government. Mr. Musk has every right to say what he wants on X, a forum owned by a private company. Describing himself as a “free speech absolutist,” he said he acquired Twitter in 2022 to create “a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner.” He seemed particularly agitated that the platform had dared to distinguish between lies — like those about Covid vaccines and the 2020 election — and verifiable truth.

But nearly immediately he began to demonstrate that the only free speech he championed was his own. Within a couple of months, he had suspended the accounts of journalists who had written critically about his business practices or the flights of his private plane. (So much for the hope he previously expressed that “even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means.”)

“The White House press pool exists to serve the public, not the presidency,” said Bruce Brown, the executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Politicians are allowed to criticize the press — that is free speech, too, and there is nothing new about it — but there is a difference between using language and using muscle. Government officials are supposed to use their considerable regulatory powers for the benefit of the public, not for personal or partisan goals. This administration, however, is mustering the arms of government to suppress speech it doesn’t like and compel words and ideas it prefers. It sees the press not as an institution with an explicit constitutional privilege but as a barrier to overcome, like an inspector
general or a freethinking Republican senator.

Members of Congress can be targeted for primaries, and inspectors general can be fired; under the same mentality, reporters need to be excluded and their bosses subjected to litigation.

Then he began suppressing access to posts with words like “transgender” and “bisexual” or ideas like Ukraine’s battling against Russian aggression and made it more difficult for users of his platform to read articles from independent news organizations, including The Times and Reuters. Purveyors of hate speech were invited to return to Twitter, which he later renamed X, and when some critics advocated a boycott of the platform in response, he moved to block them. Elon Musk even boosted his own pronouncements on X, forcing his posts to appear loudly even on the timelines of those who chose not to follow him.

And when he couldn’t quiet his critics, he sued them. He filed suit against Media Matters for America, a liberal media watchdog group that wrote about advertisements on X appearing next to neo-Nazi content, and then sued a group of prominent businesses, including Unilever and CVS, for what he said was an illegal advertising boycott of his platform. (Last year a federal judge threw out a similar lawsuit Mr. Musk brought against the Center for Countering Digital Hate.)

When the magazine Wired published the names of six inexperienced young men working for Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk falsely announced on X that publication of the names constituted a “crime.” And later, illustrating the connection between Elon Musk’s aims and those of the administration, one of the loyalists that Donald Trump installed as a federal prosecutor in Washington made an inflammatory announcement that he would use his position in the Justice Department to defend claims that Elon Musk had raised.

The administration’s desire to control speech and thinking has extended to Congress, the military and college campuses. Among other recent examples:

After the office of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York, conducted a webinar instructing immigrants of their constitutional rights when challenged by federal officials, Tom Homan, the president’s so-called border czar, said he had asked the Justice Department to investigate whether she crossed a legal red line by suggesting noncompliance with federal immigration officers.

The Pentagon began pulling books off the shelves of school libraries used by the children of military families if they violated Donald Trump’s new rules on not speaking about gender or racial equity issues. Among the titles subject to military review are a picture book about Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and a book by the actress Julianne Moore about a young girl coping with her freckles.

In a fact sheet accompanying an executive order about antisemitism last month, Donald Trump said he would deport legal immigrants if they joined in “pro-jihadist protests” and would cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses. “We put you on notice,” he wrote. “Come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you.” Supporting terrorism is always wrong, and antisemitism is vile in any form. Even some congressional Democrats cheered the executive order. What the administration is establishing, however, is a much more expansive legal definition of hate speech to include even just strident criticism of Israeli government policy.

The current administration may argue that these steps are simply payback for an American political left that can be rightly criticized for policing speech in recent years, from trying to shut or shout down conservative speakers to trying to enforce adherence to its own list of acceptable words and phrases like “pregnant people,” the “unhoused,” “incarcerated individuals” and “Latinx.”

But, the Trump Republican administration’s early and furious reaction to criticism and pungent speech isn’t just guilty of the same sins; it expands on them, worryingly, with the powers of the state. If the MAGA (cult ❗) movement were really confident that the American public stood firmly behind the new intolerance, then why not welcome serious news reporting or even the jeers of critics and let the best ideas win? That seemed to be what JD Vance was advocating in recent remarks to the Conservative Political Action Conference.

“You do not have shared values if you’re so afraid of your own people that you silence them and shut them up,” he said.

The Republican administration and the broader MAGA (cult❗) movement are demonstrating how they lack the confidence to permit free thinking by the American people. But, those people still have the powers granted to them more than 230 years ago by the Bill of Rights to make themselves heard.

Americans have enormous ability and enviable creativity in finding ways to speak out against Donald Trump’s repressive and hypocritical speech regime, whether on social media or in the public square. The independence of The Associated Press and other organizations to make decisions contrary to government fiat should be defended and championed. Donald Trump wants to redefine free speech with bans, bullying and fear. It’s never been more necessary to speak up. 📣❗

No More Kings protests grass roots organized in record time by 50501 with more to follow

50501- All 50 states on one day: A grass roots activist group organized to protest the illegal anti-democratic Trumpziisms.
This group organized via social media without any money!

 ‘No kings on Presidents Day’ rings out from protests against Trump and Musk. Echo report by the Associated Press by Michael Casey*.

BOSTON (AP) — Protesters against President Donald Trump and his policies braved frigid temperatures in parts of the U.S. Monday, shouting “No kings on Presidents Day” in East Coast cities and attempting to enter the Arizona Statehouse to oppose a bill that would bolster fast-changing federal immigration enforcement.

In Florida and California, local media outlets reported on hundreds of protesters carrying out “Not my Presidents Day” protests. The “No Kings” theme was orchestrated by the 50501 Movement, and marked the second set of protests criss-crossing the nation in less than two weeks. A similar nationwide event on Feb. 5 drew participants in dozens of cities. Both sets of rallies denounced Trump and billionaire adviser Elon Musk, the leader of Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, a government organization designed to slash federal spending.

Nearly 1,000 people marched in the snow from the Statehouse in Boston to City Hall, chanting “Elon Musk has got to go” and other slogans. The temperature was below freezing, with wind chills in the teens.

Boston protesters, some dressed in Revolutionary War-style clothing, carried signs saying such things as “This is a Coup” and “Cowards Bow to Trump, Patriots Stand Up.” One sign had a depiction of Uncle Sam saying “I Want You to Resist.”

“I thought it was important to be here on Presidents Day to demonstrate for what America stands for,” said Emily Manning, 55, a Boston engineer who came to the rally with her two teenage sons. “American values are not the values of the plutocracy or the limited few rich people.”

Organizers of Monday’s "No Kings Day" protests, which were focused on state capitals and major cities including Washington, D.C.; Orlando, Florida; and Seattle, said they were targeting “anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration and its plutocratic allies.”

One sign at the rally that attracted hundreds in the nation’s capital said, “Deport Musk Dethrone Trump.”

Many demonstrations were slated for cities where temperatures were well below freezing as a polar vortex worked its way across the country.

The rallies followed a series of Trump evil executive orders and came just days after layoffs across federal agencies as part of an effort to reduce the government workforce.

In Phoenix, hundreds of protestors gathered in front of the Capitol carrying signs reading “No Kings” and “Resist Fascism.” Security barred protesters from entering the building after a few tried to get inside. Demonstrators were seeking access to a state Senate committee hearing on legislation that would require law enforcement officers across the state to support federal immigration policy.

Protest organizer December Archer said her goal was to keep the event civil. She quickly came between someone trying to enter the Statehouse and a security guard who pushed the protestor back through the doorway.

“We’re trying to make sure everything stays civil and stays respectable because again, we’re here to make a statement not be the statement,” Archer said.

*Associated Press writers Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin; and Sejal Govindarao in Phoenix contributed to this report.

Evilism Trumpziism creating fear among law abiding, legal and faithful Haitian immigrants

Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, turn to faith as deportation fears rise

Echo report by David Crary Religion News Director for the Associated Press

Many migrant communities across the U.S. have been unsettled by (EvilismTrumpziism😈❗❗) Donald Trump’s promised migration crackdown. Among them, with a very specific reason for anxiety, are the 15,000 Haitians in Springfield, Ohio. They are peaceful people who were dragged into the already heated immigration debate last year, after Trump falsely accused them of eating their neighbors' cats and dogs. Now − even though most of them migrated legally − they're fearful the crackdown will target them. The AP Religion Team’s Luis Andres Henao and Jessie Wardarski met with many community members on a recent trip to Springfield and attended a worship service at one of their churches. At the end of the service, the pastor knelt in prayer, flanked by the flags of Haiti and the United States. “I asked God to protect my people,” the Rev. Reginald Silencieux said afterward. “I prayed especially for the Haitian community, and I prayed for U.S.A. too.”

Saying a hearffelt goodby to President Jimmy Carter

President Joe Biden hails President Jimmy Carter’s ‘strength of character’ in eulogy for 39th president. ‘Throughout his life, he showed us what it means to be a practitioner of good works and a good and faithful servant of God and of the people,’ President Biden said at a National Cathedral service attended by all living U.S. presidents.

Transcript published by the Associated Press:

President Joe Biden:  Leaders of the clergy, distinguished guests and most importantly family of President Jimmy Carter.

In April 2021, Jill and I visited Jimmy and Rosalynn on a warm spring day down in Plains, Georgia. We wanted to see them.

Rosalynn met us at the front door with her signature smile. Together, we entered a home that they had shared for almost 77 years of marriage, an unassuming red brick ranch home. They flexed their modesty more than any trappings of power.

We walked into the living room where Jimmy greeted us like family. That day, just the four of us sat in the living room and shared memories that spanned almost six decades, a deep friendship that started in 1974.

I was a 31-year-old senator. And I was the first senator outside of Georgia, maybe the first senator, to endorse his candidacy for president.

It was an endorsement based on what I believe is Jimmy Carter’s enduring attribute: Character. Character. Character.

Because of that, character, I believe, is destiny. Destiny in our lives and quite frankly, destiny in the life of the nation.

It is an accumulation of a million things built on character that leads to a good life in a decent country. A life of purpose, a life of meaning. Now, how do we find that good life? What does it look like? What does it take to build character? Do the ends justify the means?

Jimmy Carter’s friendship taught me, and through his life taught me, that strength of character is more than title or the power we hold. It’s the strength to understand that everyone should be treated with dignity, respect. That everyone, and I mean everyone, deserves an even shot. Not a guarantee, but just a shot.

Now, it’s not about being perfect, because none of us are perfect. We’re all fallible. But it’s about asking ourselves: "Are we striving to do things, the right things? What values? What are the values that animate our spirit? To operate from fear or hope, ego or generosity? Do we show grace? Do we keep the faith when it’s most tested?"

For keeping the faith with the best of humankind and the best of America is the story, in my view, from my perspective, of Jimmy Carter’s life.

The story of a man, to state the obvious – you’ve heard today some great, great eulogies -- who came from a house without running water or electricity and rose to the pinnacle of power.

The story of a man who was at once driven and devoted to making real the words of his savior and the ideals of this nation. The story of a man who never let the tides of politics divert him from his mission to serve and shape the world.

The man had character. President Jimmy Carter had character.

Jimmy held a deep Christian faith in God. And that his candidacy spoke and wrote about faith as a substance of things hoped for, and evidence of the things not seen. Faith founded on commandments of scripture. Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy mind and all thy soul. And love thy neighbor as thyself.

You know, we have an obligation to give hate no safe harbor. And to stand up to what my dad used to say is the greatest sin of all: the abuse of power.

Easy to say, but very, very difficult to do. In his life, in this life, any walk of faith can be difficult. It can be lonely. But it requires action to be the doers of the world.

But, in that commandment lies the essence, in my view, found in the gospel, found in many faith traditions, and found in the very idea of America. Because the very journey of our nation is a walk of sheer faith. To do the work, to be the country we say we are, to be the country we say we want to be. A nation where all are created equal in the image of God and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives.

We’ve never fully lived up to that idea of America. We’ve never walked away from it either, because of patriots like Jimmy Carter. Throughout his life, he showed us what it means to be a practitioner of good works and a good and faithful servant of God and of the people.

And today, many think he was from a bygone era. But in reality, he saw well into the future.

A white Southern Baptist who led on civil rights. A decorated Navy veteran who brokered peace. A brilliant nuclear engineer who led on nuclear nonproliferation. A hard-working farmer who championed conservation and clean energy.

And a president who redefined the relationship with a vice president.

Jimmy and I often talked about our dear friend Walter Mondale, whom we all miss very much. Together they formed a model partnership of collaboration and trust, because both were men of character.

And as we all know, Jimmy Carter also established a model post-presidency by making a powerful difference as a private citizen in America. And I might add, as you all know around the world, through it all he showed us how character and faith start with ourselves and then flow to others.

At our best, we share the better parts of ourselves: joy, solidarity, love, commitment. Not for reward, but in reverence for the incredible gift of life we’ve all been granted. To make every minute of our time here on Earth count.

That’s the definition of a good life, a life Jimmy Carter lived during his 100 years.

To young people, to anyone in search of meaning and purpose, study the power of Jimmy Carter’s example.

I miss him, but I take solace in knowing that he and his beloved Rosalynn are reunited again. To the entire Carter family, thank you, and I mean this sincerely, for sharing them both with America and the world. We love you all.

Jill and I will cherish our visits with them, including that last one in their home. We saw Jimmy as he always was, at peace with a life fully lived. A good life of purpose and meaning, of character driven by destiny and filled with the power of faith, hope and love.

Say it again: Faith, hope and love.

As he returns to Plains, Georgia, for his final resting place, we can say goodbye. In the words of the prophet Micah, who Jimmy so admired until his final breath, Jimmy Carter did justly, loved mercy, walked humbly.

May God bless a great American, my dear friend and a good man. 

May he rise up, be raised up on eagle’s wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, and make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of His hand.

God bless you, Jimmy Carter.

Media Alert! Donald Trump must be held accountable for spewing lies and misinformation!

A Mississippi point of view by the Association Press and published in Mississippi Free Press  (Check my blog published on April, 1, 2017....a preamble to continuous lies... https://oneturkeyrun.blogspot.com/2017/04/lie-library-solicitions-trump-legacy.html)

In his first news conference since Vice President Kamala Harris became popular the Democratic nominee for president, former President Donald Trump said he would debate her on September 10, and pushed for two more debates. The Republican presidential nominee (X-president) spoke for more than an hour, discussing a number of issues facing the country and then taking questions from reporters. He made a number of false and misleading claims. 

Many of them have been made before. Here’s a look at some of Trump's false claims. 

1.  Crowd Sizes:  CLAIM: “The biggest crowd I’ve ever spoken — I’ve spoken to the biggest crowds. Nobody’s spoken to crowds bigger than me. If you look at Martin Luther King when he did his speech, his great speech, and you look at ours, same real estate, same everything, same number of people, if not we had more. And they said he had a million people, but I had 25,000 people.”

“Stop questioning the size of her crowds,” was the advice former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. said in a Fox News appearance.

But, THE FACTS: Trump was comparing the crowd at his speech in front of the White House on Jan. 6, 2021, to the crowd that attended Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech on August. 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial.  But far more people are estimated to have been at Dr. Martin Luther King's speech, than the former.

Approximately 250,000 people attended the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, at which King gave his speech, according to the National Park Service. The Associated Press reported in 2021, that there were at least 10,000 people at Trump’s address.

Moreover, Trump and King did not speak in the same location. King spoke from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, which looks east toward the Washington Monument. Trump spoke at the Ellipse, a grassy area just south of the White House.

2,  January 6th: CLAIM: “Nobody was killed on January 6th.” ❓

But, THE FACTS: That’s false❗ In fact, 😡 five people died in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and its immediate aftermath. Pro-Trump rioters breached the U.S. Capitol that day amid Congress’ effort to certify Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

Among the deceased are Ashli Babbitt, a Trump supporter shot and killed by police, and Brian Sicknick, a police officer who died the day after battling the mob. Four additional officers who responded to the riot killed themselves in the following weeks and months. 

Babbitt, was a 35-year-old Air Force veteran from San Diego, was shot and killed by a police officer as she climbed through a broken part of a Capitol door during the violent riot. Trump often cited Babbitt’s death while lamenting the treatment of those who attended a rally outside the White House that day and then marched to the Capitol, many of whom fought with police.

3.  Democratic Nomination: CLAIM: “The presidency was taken away from Joe Biden, and I’m no Biden fan, but I tell you what, from a constitutional standpoint, from any standpoint you look at, they took the presidency away.”

But, THE FACTS: There is nothing in the Constitution that prevents the Democratic Party from making Vice President Kamala Harris its nominee. That process is determined by the Democratic National Committee.

Harris officially claimed the nomination Monday following a five-day online voting process, receiving 4,563 delegate votes out of 4,615 cast, or about 99% of participating delegates. A total of 52 delegates in 18 states cast their votes for “present,” the only other option on the ballot.

The vice president was the only candidate eligible to receive votes after no other candidate qualified by the party’s deadline following President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the race on July 21.
The Economy

4.  CLAIM: Suggesting things would be different if he had been in office rather than Biden: “You wouldn’t have had inflation. ❓ You wouldn’t have had any inflation because inflation was caused by their bad energy problems❓ Now they’ve gone back to the Trump thing because they need the votes. They’re drilling now because they had to go back because gasoline was going up to 7, 8, 9 dollars a barrel.”

But, THE FACTS: There would have been at least some inflation if Trump had been reelected in 2020, because many of the factors causing inflation were outside a president’s control. Prices spiked in 2021 after cooped-up Americans ramped up their spending on goods such as exercise bikes and home office furniture, overwhelming disrupted supply chains. U.S. auto companies, for example, couldn’t get enough semiconductors and had to sharply reduce production, causing new and used car prices to shoot higher. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in March 2022, also sent gas and food prices soaring around the world, as Ukraine’s wheat exports were disrupted and many nations boycotted Russian oil and gas.

Still, under Biden, U.S. oil production reached a worldwide record level earlier this year.

Many economists, including some Democrats, say Biden’s $1.9 trillion financial support package, approved in March 2021, which provided a $1,400 stimulus check to most Americans, helped fuel inflation by ramping up demand. 

But, the relief check didn’t cause inflation all by itself. And Trump supported $2,000 stimulus checks in December 2020, rather than the $600 checks included in a package he signed into law in December 2020.

Prices still spiked in countries with different policies than Biden’s, such as France, Germany and the U.K., though mostly because of the sharp increase in energy costs stemming from Russia’s invasion.
Immigration

5. CLAIM: “Twenty million people came over the border during the Biden-Harris administration — 20 million people — and it could be very much higher than that. Nobody really knows.”

But, THE FACTS: Trump’s 20 million figure is unsubstantiated at best, and he didn’t provide sources.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports 7.1 million arrests for illegal crossings from Mexico from January 2021 through June 2024. That’s arrests, not people. Under pandemic-era asylum restrictions, many people crossed more than once until they succeeded because there were no legal consequences for getting turned back to Mexico. So the number of people is lower than the number of arrests.

In addition, CBP- i.e., Customs, says it stopped migrants 1.1 million times at official land crossings with Mexico from January 2021 through June 2024, largely under an online appointment system to claim asylum called CBP One.

U.S. authorities also admitted nearly 500,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela under presidential authority if they had financial sponsors and arrived at an airport.

All told, that’s nearly 8.7 million encounters. Again, the number of people is lower due to multiple encounters for some.

There are an unknown number of people who eluded capture, known as “got-aways” in Border Patrol parlance. The Border Patrol estimates how many but doesn’t publish that number.

6.  CLAIM: Vice President Kamala Harris “was the border czar 100% and all of a sudden for the last few weeks she’s not the border czar anymore.”

But, THE FACTS: Harris was appointed to address “root causes” of migration in Central America. That migration manifests itself in illegal crossings to the U.S., but she was not assigned to the border.
New York Cases

7.  CLAIM: “The New York cases are totally controlled out of the Department of Justice.”

But, THE FACTS: Trump was referring to two cases brought against him in New York — one civil and the other criminal.

Neither has anything to do with the U.S. Department of Justice.

The civil case was initiated by a lawsuit from New York Attorney General Letitia James. In that case, Trump was ordered in February to pay a $454 million penalty for lying about his wealth for years as he built the real estate empire that vaulted him to stardom and the White House.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a state-level prosecutor, brought the criminal case. In May, a jury found Trump guilty on 34 felony counts in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016, election through a hush money payment to a porn actor who said the two had sex.

Associated Press writers Melissa Goldin and Elliot Spagat and economics writer Christopher Rugaber contributed to this article.

Find more AP Fact Checks here.

Trump did nothing while the U.S. Capital was under seige by January 6 insurrectionists

White House transcription of President Joe Biden's campaign speech at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, published by the Associated Press, January 5, 2024.

President Joe Biden is the first President to visit Valley Forge since Gerald Ford, who came when Valley Forge was officially designated a National Park in 1976, according to the National Park Service.

"Members of his staff, members of his family. Republican leaders who were under attack at that very moment pled with him. Act❗ Call off the mob. Imagine had he gone out and said, “Stop.”

Still, Trump did nothing. Today, the topic of my speech today is deadly serious and I think it needs to be made at the outset of this campaign."

Valley Forge National Park and General George Washington encampment

In the winter of 1777, it was harsh and cold as the Continental Army marched to Valley Forge. General George Washington knew he faced the most daunting of tasks, to fight and win a war against the most powerful empire in existence in the world at the time. His mission was clear: liberty, not conquest. Freedom. Not domination. National independence. Not individual glory.

America made a vow: Never again would we bow down to a king.

Months ahead would be incredibly difficult. But General Washington knew something in his bones. Something about the spirit of the troops he was leading. Something, something about the soul of the nation he was struggling to be born. In his general order, he predicted, and I quote, with one heart and one mind, with fortitude and with patience, they would overcome every difficulty, the troops he was leading. And they did. They did.

This army that lacked blankets and food, clothes and shoes. This army, whose march left bloody bare footprints in the snow. This ragtag army made up of ordinary people.

Their mission, George Washington declared, was nothing less than a sacred cause. That was the phrase he used. A sacred cause. Freedom, Liberty. Democracy. American democracy.

I just visited the grounds of Valley Forge. I’ve been there a number of times since the time I was a Boy Scout, years ago.

You know, it’s the very site that I think every American should visit, because it tells the story of the pain and the suffering and the true patriotism it took to make America.

Today, we gather in a new year, some 246 years later, just one day before January 6, a day forever seared in our memory because it was on that day that we nearly lost America, lost it all.

Today, we’re here to answer the most important of questions. Is democracy still America’s sacred cause? I mean it.

This is not rhetorical, academic or hypothetical. Whether democracy is still America’s sacred cause is the most urgent question of our time.

And it’s what the 2024, election is all about.

The choice is clear. Donald Trump’s campaign is about him, not America, not you.

Donald Trump’s campaign is obsessed with the past, not the future. He’s willing to sacrifice our democracy, put himself in power.

Our campaign is different. For me and Kamala, our campaign is about America. It’s about you. It’s about every age and background that occupy this country.

It’s about the future we’re going to continue to build together. And our campaign is about preserving and strengthening our American democracy.

Three years ago tomorrow, we saw with our own eyes the violent mob stormed the United States Capitol. It was almost in disbelief as you first turned on the television.

For the first time in our history, insurrectionists had come to stop the peaceful transfer, transfer of power in America. First time.

Smashing windows, shattering doors, attacking the police.

Outside, gallows were erected as the MAGA crowd chanted, “Hang Mike Pence.”

Inside, they hunted for Speaker Pelosi. The House was chanting as they marched through and smashed windows, “Where’s Nancy?”

Over 140 police officers were injured.

Jill and I attended the funeral of police officers who died as a result of the events of that day.

Because Donald, because of Donald Trump’s lies, they died because these lies brought a mob to Washington.

He promised it would be wild. And it was.

He told the crowd to “fight like hell” and all hell was unleashed.

He promised he would write them, write them, everything they did. He would be side by side with them.

Then, as usual, he left the dirty work to others.

He retreated to the White House.

As America was attacked from within, Donald Trump watched on TV in a private, small dining room off my oval, off the Oval Office.

The entire nation watched in horror. The whole world watched in disbelief.  And Trump did nothing.

All of it. He lost.
Trump lost recount after recount after recount and state after state.

But in desperation and weakness, Trump and his MAGA followers went after election officials who ensured your power as a citizen would be heard.

These public servants had their lives forever upended by attacks and death threats for simply doing their jobs.

In Atlanta, Georgia, a brave Black mother and her daughter, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, were doing their jobs as election workers until Donald Trump and his MAGA followers targeted and threatened them, forcing them from their homes, unleashing racist vitriol on them.

Trump’s personal lawyer. Rudy Giuliani, was just hit with a 148 million-dollar judgment for cruelty and defamation that he inflicted against them.

Other state and local elected officials across the country faced similar personal attacks. In addition, Fox News agreed to pay a record eight, 787 million dollars for the lies they told about voter fraud.

Let’s be clear about the 2020 election.

Trump exhausted every legal avenue available to him to overturn the election. Every one, but the legal path just took Trump back to the truth, that I’d won the election and he was a loser.

Well, so knowing how his mind works now, he had one, he had one act left. One desperate act available to him, the violence of January the sixth.

Since that day, more than 1,200 people have been charged with assault in the Capitol. Nearly 900 of them have been convicted or pled guilty. Collectively to date, they have been sentenced to more than 840 years in prison.

What’s Trump done? Instead of calling them criminals, he’s called these insurrectionists patriots. They’re patriots. And he promised to pardon them if he returns to office. Trump said that there was a lot of love on January the sixth.

The rest of the nation, including law enforcement, saw a lot of hate and violence.

One Capitol Police officer called it a medieval battle.

That same officer called vile, was called vile, racist names.

He said he was more afraid in the Capitol of the United States of America, in the chambers, than when he was fighting as a soldier in the war in Iraq. He said he was more afraid inside the halls of Congress than fighting in war in Iraq.

In trying to rewrite the facts of January sixth, Trump was trying to steal history, the same way he tried to steal the election.

But he, we knew the truth, because we saw it with our own eyes. So it wasn’t like something, a story being told. It was on television repeatedly. We saw it with our own eyes.

Trump’s mob wasn’t a peaceful protest. It was a violent assault.

They were insurrectionists, not patriots.

They weren’t there to uphold the Constitution. They were there to destroy the Constitution.

Trump won’t do what an American president must do.

He refuses to denounce political violence.

So hear me clearly.

I’ll say what Donald Trump won’t. Political violence is never, ever acceptable in the United States political system. Never, never, never.

It has no place in a democracy. None.

You can’t be pro-insurrectionist and pro-American.

You know, Trump and his MAGA supporters not only embrace political violence, but they laugh about it.

At his rally, he jokes about an intruder, whipped by the big Trump lie, taking a hammer to Paul Pelosi’s skull, and echoing the very same words used on January 6th. “Where’s Nancy?”

And he thinks that’s funny. He laughed about it. What a sick ...

My God.  I, I think it’s despicable. Seriously. Not just for a president, for any person to say that.

But to say it to the whole world listening. When I was overseas, anyway ...

Trump’s assault on democracy isn’t just part of his past. It’s what he’s promising for the future. He’s been straightforward.

He’s not hiding the ball.

His first rally for the 2024 campaign opened with a choir of January sixth insurrectionists singing from prison on a cellphone while images of the January sixth riot played on the big screen behind him at his rally.

Can you believe that?  This is like something out of a fairy tale, a bad fairy tale.

Trump began his 2024 campaign by glorifying the failed violent insurrectionist, insurrection at our, on our Capitol.

The guy who claims law and order sows lawlessness and disorder.

Trump’s not concerned about your future. I promise you.

Trump is now promising a full-scale campaign of revenge and retribution, his words, for some years to come.

They were his words, not mine. He went on to say he’d be a dictator on day one.

I mean, if I were writing a book of fiction, and I said an American president said that, and not in jest.

He called and I quote, the terminate, quote, this is a quote, the termination of all the rules, regulations and articles, even those found in the U.S. Constitution should be terminated if it fits his will.

It’s really kind of hard to believe.

Even found in the Constitution, he could terminate.

He’s threatened the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff with the death penalty.

He says he should be put to death because the chairman put his oath to the Constitution ahead of his personal loyalty to Trump.

This coming from a president who called, when he visited his cemetery, called dead soldiers “suckers and losers.” Remember that?

Sometimes I’m really happy the Irish in me can’t be seen.

It was right around the time was at Beau’s grave. Tommy.

How dare he?

Who in God’s name does he think he is?

With former aides, Trump plans to invoke the Insurrectionist Act, Insurrection Act, which would allow him to deploy, he’s not allowed to do it in ordinary circumstances, allow him to deploy U.S. military forces on the streets of America.

He said it.  He calls those who opposed, oppose him "vermin".😩😧

He talks about the blood of America’s is being poisoned, echoing the same exact language used in Nazi Germany!

He proudly posts on social media the words that best describe his 2024 campaign. Quote, revenge, quote, power, and quote, dictatorship.

There’s no confusion about who Trump is, what he intends do.

I placed my hand on our family Bible, and I swore an oath on the very same steps of the Capitol just 14 days after the attack on January the sixth.

As I looked out over the capital city, whose streets were lined with National Guard to prevent another attack, I saw an American that had been pushed to the brink, an America that had been pushed to the brink.

But I felt enormous pride, not in winning. I felt enormous pride in America, because American democracy had been tested.

American democracy had held together.

And when Trump had seen weakness in our democracy and continued to talk about it, I saw strength.

Your strength, it’s not hyperbole.

Your strength, your integrity, American strength and integrity.

Ordinary citizens, state election officials, the American judicial system, had put the Constitution first, and sometimes at their peril, at their peril.

Because of them. Because of you. The will of the people prevailed.

Not the anger of the mob or the appetites of one man.

When the attack on January sixth happened, there was no doubt about the truth.

At the time, even Republican members of Congress and Fox News commentators publicly and privately condemned the attack.

As one Republican senator said, Trump’s behavior was embarrassing and humiliating for the country. But now that same senator and those same people have changed their tune.

As time has gone on, gone on, politics, fear, money, all have intervened.

And now these MAGA voices, who know the truth about Trump on January sixth, have abandoned the truth and abandoned the democracy.

They made their choice.

Now, the rest of us, Democrats, independents, mainstream Republicans, we have to make our choice.

I know mine, and I believe I know America’s.

We’ll defend the truth, not give in to the big lie.

We’ll embrace the Constitution of the Declaration, not abandon it.

We’ll honor the sacred cause of democracy, not walk away from it.

Today, I make this sacred pledge to you: The defense, protection and preservation of American democracy will remain, as it has been, the central cause of my presidency.

America, as we begin this election year, we must be clear: Democracy is on the ballot. Your freedom is on the ballot.

Yes, we’ll be voting on many issues: on the freedom to vote, and have your vote counted. On the freedom of choice.

The freedom to have a fair shot.

The freedom from fear.

And we’ll debate and disagree.

Without democracy, no progress is impossible. Think about it.

The alternative to democracy is dictatorship. The rule of one, not the rule of we, the people.

That’s what the soldiers of Valley Forge understood.

So was me, we have to understand it as well.

We’ve been blessed so long with a strong, stable democracy, it’s easy to forget why so many before us risked their lives and strengthened democracy.

What our lives would be without it.

Democracy means having the freedom to speak your mind, to be who you are, to be who you want to be.

Democracy is about being able to bring about peaceful change.

Democracy. Democracy is how we open the doors of opportunity wider and wider with each successive generation, not notwithstanding our mistakes.

But if democracy falls, we’ll lose that freedom, we’ll lose the power of we, the people, to shape our destiny.

If you doubt me, look around the world.

Travel with me as I meet with other heads of state throughout the world.

Look at the authoritarian leaders and dictators Trump says he admires. He out loud says he admires.

I won’t go through them all. It would take too long.

Look, remember how he first, how he refers to what he calls love letter exchanges between he and the dictator of North Korea?

Those women and men out there in the audience who’s ever fought for an American military. Did you ever believe you’d hear a president say something like that?

His admiration for Putin?

I could go on.

And look at what these autocrats are doing to limit freedom in their countries.

They’re limiting freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom to assemble, women’s rights, LGBQ rights, people are going to jail. So much more.

It’s true. The push and pull of American history is not a fairy tale.

Every stride forward in America is met with ferocious backlash, many times, from those who fear progress and those who exploit that fear for their own personal gain.

From those who traffic in lies, told for power and profit. For those who are driven by grievance and grift, consumed by conspiracy and victimhood.

From those who seek to bury history and ban books.

Did you ever think you’d be at a political event and talk about book banning, for a presidential and a presidential election?

The choice in contest between those forces, those competing forces, between solidarity and division, is perennial. But this time it’s so different.

You can’t have a contest, you can’t have a contest, if you see politics as an all-out war instead of a peaceful way to resolve our differences.

All-out war is what Trump wants.

That’s why he doesn’t understand the most fundamental truth about this country.

Unlike other nations on Earth, America is not built on ethnicity, religion, geography.

We’re the only nation in the history of the world built on an idea, not hyperbole, built on an idea.

We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men and women are created equal.

It’s an idea, declared in the Declaration, created in a way that we’ve viewed everybody as equal and should be treated equal throughout their lives.

We’ve never fully lived up to that. We have a long way to go, but we’ve never walked away from the idea.

We’ve never walked away from it.

And I promise you, I will not let Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans force us to walk away now.

We’re living in an era where a determined minority is doing everything in its power to try to destroy our democracy for their own agenda.

The American people know it, and they’re standing bravely in the breach.

Remember, after 2020, January sixth insurrection to undo the election in which more Americans had voted than any other in American history.

America saw the threat posed to the country and they voted them out in 2022. Historic midterm election. In state after state, election after election, the election deniers were defeated.

Now, in 2024, Trump is running as the denier-in-chief, the election denier-in-chief.

Once again, he’s saying he won’t honor the results of the election if he loses.

Trump says he doesn’t understand, or he still doesn’t understand the basic truth. That is, you can’t love your country only when you win.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

I’ll keep my commitment to be president for all of America. Whether you voted for me or not, I’ve done it for the last three years and I’ll continue to do it.

Together, we can keep proving that America is still a country that believes in decency, dignity, honesty, honor, truth.

We still believe that no one, not even the president, is above the law.

We still believe the vast majority of us still believe that everyone deserves a fair shot at making.

We’re still a nation that gives hate no safe harbor.

I tell you from my experience working with leaders around the world, and I mean this sincerely, not a joke, that America is still viewed as a beacon of democracy for the world.

I can’t tell you how many, how many world leaders, and I know all of them, virtually all of them, grab my arm in private and say, “He can’t win. Tell me. No, my country will be at risk.”

Think of how many countries, Tommy, you know that are on the edge.

Imagine.  We still believe in we the people, and that includes all of us. Not some of us.

Let me close with this.  In the cold winter of 1777, George Washington and his American troops to Valley Forge waged a battle on behalf of a revolutionary idea, that everyday people like where I come from, and the vast majority of you, not a king or a dictator, that everyday people can govern themselves without a king or a dictator.

In fact, in the rotunda of the Capitol, there’s a giant painting of General George Washington, not President Washington.

And he is resigning his commission as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.

A European king at the time said after he won the revolution, now’s the time for him to declare his kingship.

But instead, the mob that attacked the Capitol, waving Trump flags and Confederate flags, stormed right past that portrait.

That image of George Washington gave them no pause, but it should have.

The artist who painted that portrait memorialized that moment because he said it was, quote, one of the highest moral lessons ever given to the world, end of quote.

George Washington was the height of his power, having just defeated the most powerful empire on Earth.

Could have held on to power as long as he wanted.

He could have made himself not a future president, but a future monarch, in effect.

And by the way, when he got elected president, he could have stayed for two, three, four or five terms till he died.

But that wasn’t the America he and the American troops at Valley Forge had fought for.

In America, genuine leaders, democratic leaders with a small D don’t hold on to power relentlessly.

Our leaders return power to the people and they do it willingly because that’s the deal.

You do your duty. You serve your country.

And ours is a country worthy of service as many Republican presidents and Democratic presidents have shown over the years.

We’re not perfect, but at our best, we face on, we face head on the good, the bad, the truth of who we are.

We look in the mirror and ultimately never pretend we’re something we’re not.

That’s what great nations do. And we’re a great nation. We’re the greatest nation on the face of the earth. We really are.

That’s the America I see in our future. We get up. We carry on.

We never bow. We never bend.

We speak of possibilities, not carnage. We’re not weighed down by grievances.

We don’t foster fear. We don’t walk around as victims.

We take charge of our destiny. We get our job done with the help of the people we find in America, who find their place in a changing world and dream and build a future that not only they but all people deserve a shot at.

We don’t believe, none of you believe America is failing.

We know America is winning. That’s American patriotism.

It’s not winning because of Joe Biden. It’s winning.

This is the first national election since January sixth insurrection placed a dagger at the throat of American democracy. Since that moment.

We all know who Donald Trump is. The question we have to answer is who are we?

That’s what’s at stake. Who are we?

In the year ahead, as you talk to your family and friends, cast your ballots, the power is in your hands.

After all we’ve been through in our history, from independence to civil war to two world wars to a pandemic to insurrection, I refuse to believe that in 2024 we Americans will choose to walk away from what’s made us the greatest nation in the history of the world.

Freedom, liberty. Democracy is still a sacred cause, and there’s no country in the world better positioned to lead the world than America.

That’s why, I’ve said it many times, that’s why I’ve never been more optimistic about our future, and I’ve been doing this a hell of a long time.

Just to remember who we are.

With patience and fortitude, with one heart, we are the United States of America, for God’s sake. I mean it.

There’s nothing. I believe with every fiber there’s nothing beyond our capacity if we act together and decently with one another.

Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

I mean it. We’re the only nation in the world that’s come out of every crisis stronger than we went into that crisis. And that was true yesterday.

It is true today. And I guarantee you will be true tomorrow.

Members of his staff, members of his family. Republican leaders who were under attack at that very moment pled with him.

Act. Call off the mob. Imagine had he gone out and said, “Stop.”

Still, Trump did nothing.

It was among the worst derelictions of duty by a president in American history.

An attempt to overturn a free and fair election by force and violence. A record 81 million people voted for my candidacy and to end his presidency.

God Bless you all. And may God protect our troops.

Trump lost the popular vote by 7 million.

Trump’s claims about the 2020 election never could stand up in court. Trump lost 60 court cases. Sixty.

Trump lost the Republican-controlled states. Trump lost before a Trump-appointed judge, and then judges, and Trump lost before the United States Supreme Court.