Donald Trump and maga Republicans must end the campaign against the 2026 elections! ICE OUT NOW !!

This is not a drill❗

It’s only February, and the November elections are already in peril.

Echo opinion by David French in The New York Times. 

When I think back to the days and weeks before January 6, 2021, one thing that’s clear is that many of us suffered from a failure of imagination. We knew President Trump’s lies and conspiracy mongering were dangerous, but it’s hard to think of a single person who predicted that a MAGA mob would storm the Capitol.

Very few people anticipated the sheer scale and scope of the effort to overturn the election or that an incredible 147 Republicans would vote not to certify Joe Biden’s clear and unambiguous presidential victory. We did not realize that they would go along with something that plainly corrupt and dangerous.

We must not make that mistake again.

And so I’m going to do something a little bit unusual. I’m going to ask you to imagine alongside me. But this is a different kind of imagination. It’s based on real events — things that are already occurring right in front of our eyes.

So here we go.

It’s Friday, October 30, 2026, and Donald Trump's approval rating is low, abysmally low. He hasn’t been able to reverse the gradual decline that began after his inauguration.

At the end of January his aggregate approval rating was 41.4 percent, and his disapproval rating was 55.7 percent. In June his approval dropped below 40 percent, and it hasn’t come back up.

Meanwhile, Democrats are leading the generic ballot by a wide margin, and Democratic voters are far more enthusiastic about going to the polls than Republicans. In a normal midterm election, this would mean that Democrats would easily take control of the House of Representatives. They could even win the Senate.

But this is not a normal election year.

Now, in October, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, (aka the Evil ICE Gestapo) which rapidly expanded throughout the year, is running large-scale operations in Democratic-controlled cities. Hundreds if not thousands more American citizens were caught in the dragnet. So have thousands of lawful residents.

Citizens, lawful residents and undocumented immigrants alike have been shackled and transported to brutal detention facilities in Texas and Florida.

Despite repeated court orders holding that federal officials cannot stop, much less detain, anyone purely on the basis of perceived ethnicity, the stops are still happening on a daily basis in cities across the United States.

Not only has the administration defied hundreds of court orders, it also refuses to discipline rogue officers. A complex web of federal immunities and privileges further insulates these officers from both private lawsuits and state prosecutions.

As a result, nonwhite citizens are reluctant to go anywhere near ICE, and rumors of ICE conducting operations near polling stations spread like wildfire. Thousands upon thousands of citizens choose to stay home rather than risk arrest to vote.

During early voting, reports of citizens discovering they’re no longer on the voting rolls have multiplied. Most of them have Latin-, African- or Asian-sounding names. The voters named Smith or Jones have had no problems. But if you’re a Gonzalez or a Diallo, then you’ve been purged.

Meanwhile, the F.B.I. raided several election offices in blue cities in swing states. Lawmakers in red states have moved to take over election administration in certain blue cities, citing the president’s raids and indictments as justification.

At the same time, his base has continued to radicalize. Democratic protests against the ICE deployments are viewed, in these quarters, as proof that Democrats want undocumented immigrants to vote — that they can’t win without them.

Donald Trump himself stokes their anxiety and their anger. His social media feeds are full of the wildest accusations, constantly repeating even the most specious conspiracy theories about the 2016, and 2020, elections. He keeps up his calls to arrest former President Barack Obama. He also calls for the arrest of Democratic governors and lawmakers.

He tells his base, the people who trust him more than any news source, that the Democratic Party is a criminal enterprise and that its members will destroy the country if they win the midterms.

Right-wing media is full of mug shots of heavily tattooed, scowling criminals that ICE has allegedly yanked from the streets. The banner on the television underneath their mug shots reads “Democrat voters.”

Donald Trump’s raids and indictments prove to them that they were right all along: The 2020, election was corrupt.🤥💢😱❗

And when federal judges issue injunctions requiring federal law enforcement to stay away from polling places, that’s all the proof they need to raise the alarm.

“This election is rigged!” they shout. And they’re right. Just not in the way they think.

The horrifying thing about our current moment is that not a single aspect of the scenario above is far-fetched. In fact, some of it is already happening.

Not only did the F.B.I. raid a Georgia election center last week, Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, was present. She’s a cabinet-level official responsible for coordinating the activities of American intelligence agencies, yet there she was, in Fulton County, Georgia.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Gabbard has turned much of her attention to investigating the 2020, election, an election that withstood dozens of legal challenges. According to The Journal, she’s investigating possible foreign interference.

The search warrant itself contains a claim that there is probable cause to believe that there is property, data or information at the Fulton County election office that is “evidence of the commission of a criminal offense.”

In the days after the search, two Republican-appointed members of the state election board said that it was “on the radar as an avenue we could take” to seize control of elections in Fulton County. Ninety percent of Atlanta lies within the county.

Federal agents are seizing American citizens. There is an enormous amount of evidence that they are racially profiling their suspects and mistreating their detainees.

Even if federal agents don’t show up at polling places (the presence of armed federal agents at the polls is prohibited by federal criminal law), they raise the risk of travel even for American citizens who might look Hispanic by blanketing majority-Hispanic parts of a given city.

But criminal law is no impediment to Trump. He’ll just pardon the violent men and women who break federal law to keep him in power.

And if federal courts enjoin ICE activities, would anyone trust Trump to comply? As the Republican-appointed chief judge for the Federal District Court of Minnesota wrote last week, “ICE has likely violated more court orders in January 2026, than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence.”

Pam Bondi, the attorney general, sent Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota a letter promising to “bring an end to the chaos” in his state if he agreed to a list of demands, including granting Justice Department officials access to its voter rolls.

After the F.B.I. raided the Fulton County, Georgia election center, Trump demanded Obama’s arrest on social media and threatened the prosecution of election workers. He claimed, among other things, that Italian military satellites had hacked the 2020, election and that Obama had “conspired with foreign powers, not one, not two, not three, but four times to overthrow the United States government in 2016.” (OMG file under "you cannot make this 💩shit up❗" 

The Italian satellite theory is a jolting reminder that Trump will demand that his core supporters believe almost anything he says, no matter how wild or delusional.

As Jonathan Karl reported for ABC News, this theory “was brought to the White House by a woman who went by several aliases, including ‘The Heiress,’ and was known at the Pentagon for her claimed ties to Somali pirates.”

Rather than discarding the theory as obvious nonsense from an unreliable narrator, Karl says that “then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows directed both the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense to look into the matter.”

Informed readers will know that this column is woefully incomplete. I can’t possibly compile all of Trump’s threats against American elections into a single column. Entire books have been written describing his plot to disrupt the 2020, election.

But one thing is quite clear: He is more dangerous now than he was then. His party controls the House and the Senate. In 2020, Democrats controlled the House.

Trump has filled his administration with cronies and true believers, and his attorney general is one of his chief enforcers. In 2020 Bill Barr, who was then the attorney general, resigned rather than continue to pursue Trump’s stolen election claims.

This time around, by contrast, Ed Martin, a Justice Department official, posted a picture of himself standing next to Sidney Powell, one of the chief legal architects of Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election. In 2023 she pleaded guilty to six counts of conspiracy to commit intentional interference with performance of election duties. The president pardoned her in November.

And what was Martin’s message? “Good morning, America. How are ya’?”

During his first term, the Trump administration largely complied with federal court orders. In his second term, his administration is defying the courts at a frequency that boggles the mind. So even if Trump-appointed judges and justices repeat their courageous performance from 2020 and block any effort by the president to overturn the next election, it’s an open question whether the Trump administration will care.

Donald Trump doesn’t care about the law. He commands an obedient Congress and is supported by a radicalized base of tens of millions of people who believe his lies, represents a threat to the next election. I fear that millions of citizens are still too complacent. They aren’t aware of the peril we face.

And as you take note of each of the incidents I mentioned, you may realize that Trump can unlawfully influence an election without explicitly rigging the count. By deterring his enemies from coming to the polls, he can engineer the outcomes he seeks.

In a future column, I’ll try to describe what can be done to stop him — aside from simply hoping and praying that his lawlessness has limits other than his own morality — but a nation won’t rouse itself if it doesn’t hear the alarm.

So consider this to be something like a fire drill. It’s an alarm, one of thousands that should be ringing across the country. MAGA’s acts of aggression are already intimidating. Trump isn’t just trying to “stop the steal” again; another kind of theft might (probably is) already be underway.

Donald Trump and his incoherent babble to the United Nations.

Opinion letters published in The New York Times:

In the stumbling address Donald Trump tried to give to the United Nations General Assembly, he questioned whether the U.N. should exist. His own remarks provided the answer.

Dear Nations of the World: On behalf of the American people, I apologize for the words and behavior of our president at the United States. He does not represent our beliefs. 

By asking,“What is the purpose of the United Nations❓” — and telling world leaders, “Your countries are going to hell”  —  Trump showed precisely why the U.N. matters.

The United Nations remains essential as a forum where nations can challenge authoritarian impulses and defend shared norms. Without this global venue, weaker states and civil society would have no platform to confront great-power unilateralism or to uphold international law and human rights.

The United Nations is not perfect. Security Council vetoes and limited enforcement power are real obstacles. But the remedy is reform, not retreat.

Donald Trump's dismal display didn’t diminish the U.N.’s relevance. His clumsy speech only underscored the need to strengthen it. 

From Jordan Ryan in Decatur, Georgia (The writer is a former United Nations assistant secretary general).

To the New York Times Editor: An objective observer might have found Donald Trump’s United Nations talk astonishing, whether because of the rudeness of his words — the insults, the braggadocio, the disparaging of the leaders of so many other countries — or his appropriation of nearly four times the time allotted to him to speak. (What an ass ❗)

Sadly, most of us ceased being astonished years about Donald Trump. 

In fact, the Trump's stumbling United Nations talk is an extension of his constant sources of shame and embarrassment.

From Peter Larson in Milwaukee Wisconsin

Donald Trump and Republicans must release all the Epstein Files because his dismal poll numbers are dragging down the GOP

Dear Editor,  Echo letter published in the Lake Oconee News, in Greensboro, Georgia:

Letter to the Editor: Epstein files present safety issue

Donald Trump’s usefulness to the Republican Party has run its course. Now well into his second term, he is no longer eligible for reelection, and his approval numbers suggest he is dragging the party toward a disastrous showing in the midterms. The sharks are circling, and they are not from the opposing party. They are from within his own ranks.

Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Tim Burchett are among the prominent Republicans calling for the full, unredacted release of the Epstein files. Their motivation is not hard to guess. These records, which may include Trump’s name on flight logs and in financial transactions, could serve as a political cleanse. By shining light on these dark associations, they position themselves as champions of transparency and women, while quietly clearing the path for a new generation of Republican leadership.

To some, it may seem unthinkable that the GOP would turn on its most prominent figure. But make no mistake, they are ready to throw Trump under the bus. After all, they have learned from the master (Trump himself). And, surprising as it may sound, this could be America’s saving grace.

The Epstein files are not just about politics. They represent an urgent public safety issue. Girls and young women in the presence of any man named in those documents may be at risk. It does not matter if that name is Trump, Clinton, or Diddy. Accountability must transcend party lines and celebrity status.
The truth must come out, not just for political gain but for justice, safety, and the future of our democracy.

From:  Ace Jones, in Greensboro, Georgia

Those who ignore history are doomed to fail and repeat - Trump and Neville Chamberlain

An echo essay published in The Brunswick News, in Georgia:

September 30, 1938

Hitler made inflammatory speeches demanding that Germans in Czechoslovakia be reunited with their homeland, war seemed imminent. Neither France nor Britain felt prepared to defend Czechoslovakia.

On Friday, Donald Trump and President Zelenskyy proved that diplomacy, like laws and sausages, should never be made in public. 

Similar negotiations between the leaders of the United States, Russia and Great Britain were difficult during World War II. Still, more reasoned minds conducted deliberations behind closed doors and then joined together with a unified message. As a result, they won WWII. The United States and Ukraine should do the same.

Is President Zelenskyy right to push for a just and lasting peace, one defined by security guarantees? Yes. To do otherwise, to weakly engage with Vladimir Putin, would not bode well for Western Europe, the United States or Ukraine. This is not a case of holding on to the stereotypes of the Cold War. Any serious student should realize that the Russian people are people of vast contrasts and contradictions. However, the Ukrainian conflict is not one with the Russian people. It is the product of a three-year rape of a peaceful nation by one man, Vladimir Putin, who, as a former KGB Colonel, is an artifact of the Soviet era and desires to remain so.

In his book The Gathering Storm, Winston Churchill described his predecessor Neville Chamberlain as “an upright, competent, well-meaning man,” while not ignoring the fact that he was also a leader sadly deceived by overconfidence, lacking both foresight and experience in diplomacy. Churchill’s analysis was well-founded, for Chamberlain was greatly responsible for the ill-fated Munich Agreement, which allowed Nazi Germany to annex part of Czechoslovakia, a betrayal of the first order. 

Chamberlain hoped this humiliating sacrifice inflicted on part of a country he did not lead would finally satisfy what Adolf Hitler referred to as his last major territorial demand, thereby avoiding a larger war. He was wrong, for Hitler quickly annexed the remainder of Czechoslovakia and then invaded Poland, continuing his conquest of Europe.

If President Zelenskyy or his successor is forced to sign an unfair agreement with Vladimir Putin — especially one without adequate security arrangements protecting Ukraine’s sovereignty — peace may be achieved, but at what price and for how long? 

President Zelenskyy has every right to be skeptical of Mr. Putin, who, like Adolf Hitler, has certainly demonstrated no evidence of peaceful behavior as Ukraine has previously signed several agreements with Russia that Moscow conveniently broke.

Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan fully understood this dynamic and openly supported those who desired freedom over oppression. Reagan believed that peace should not be bought “by committing an immorality.” He understood that “every lesson of history tells us that the greater risk lies in appeasement” and that appeasement ultimately “gives no choice between peace and war, only between fight or surrender.” Reagan would have embraced the approximately 800,000 Ukrainian military service members who have valiantly struggled against the Russian invaders rather than a brutal totalitarian autocrat, one who, unprovoked and in violation of international law, invaded a sovereign nation, causing the largest military and refugee crisis in Europe since WWII.

Ukraine isn’t Trump’s to give away, but it is certainly his to lose. Making false statements about the Ukrainian leader, such as being a “dictator without elections” and that Ukraine “should have never started the war,” certainly does not advance the process. It is my prayer that our president will remain strong, not by appeasement but by proceeding honorably in support of Ukraine. If not, the United States can no longer claim that it is the last best hope for freedom in the world, for we will have sacrificed our global standing by taking a knee before an international criminal and one of our country’s biggest adversaries.

Alex Atwood (BS, MA, JD, L.LM.) has served in many roles, including as a Marine officer, in the judiciary, three terms in the Georgia General Assembly, and as a state commissioner in the Kemp Administration. Mr. Atwood now writes and teaches in the School of Business and Public Management at the College of Coastal Georgia. He can be reached at: jatwood@ccga.edu. Mr. Atwood’s views are his own and may not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of College of Coastal Georgia, faculty or administrators.

Republicans are responsible for America's gun violence epidemic- outlaw AR15 automatic weapons

Not One More❗ After another deadly school shooting, this time in Georgia, gun reform makes a campaign comeback: Immigration and the economy have dominated the presidential race. But gun violence is now back on the ballot. 

Echo opinion by Renée Graham published in the Boston Globe:

At a campaign rally in New Hampshire, Vice President Kamala Harris was scheduled to talk about her economic plan for small businesses. But taking the stage hours after a shooting at a suburban Georgia high school, she briefly went off script to address the first mass shooting of this still-nascent school year.

Calling the shooting by an alleged 14-year-old gunman that killed two fellow students and two teachers “a senseless tragedy,” Harris said, “we’ve got to stop it, and we have to end this epidemic of gun violence in our country once and for all. You know it doesn’t have to be this way.”

It doesn’t — except that in a nation with more guns than people, it’s too often “this way.” In this presidential race, gun violence has not been as prominent a topic as the economy or immigration. But the tragedy in Georgia should put gun violence back on the ballot.

At a campaign rally in New Hampshire on Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris was scheduled to talk about her economic plan for small businesses. But taking the stage hours after a shooting at a suburban Georgia high school, she briefly went off script to address the first mass shooting of this still-nascent school year.

Calling the shooting by an alleged 14-year-old gunman that killed two fellow students and two teachers “a senseless tragedy,” Harris said, “we’ve got to stop it, and we have to end this epidemic of gun violence in our country once and for all. You know it doesn’t have to be this way.”

It doesn’t — except that in a nation with more guns than people, it’s too often “this way.” In this presidential race, gun violence has not been as prominent a topic as the economy or immigration. But the tragedy in Georgia should put gun violence back on the ballot.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, the shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga., marks the 385th time this year that four or more people were killed or injured in a mass shooting. Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14-year-old students, and math teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39; and Christina Irimie, 53, died. Nine others were injured.Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14-year-old students, and math teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39; and Christina Irimie, 53, died. Nine others were injured.

These casualties, as well as the “AR-15 style” rifle that authorities say was used by the alleged shooter, have reignited conversations about gun reform that had been largely sidelined throughout this election season.

After a man was killed and another wounded during an assassination attempt against Donald Trump in July, conversations about guns were muted, at best. And even when that shooter’s weapon was revealed to be an AR-15 style rifle, it was President Biden and Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, an ardent gun reform proponent — not Trump or the GOP — who brought up banning assault weapons.

Meanwhile, Republicans point fingers of blame in every direction except at the easy availability of weapons designed solely to kill and injure a lot of people in a very short amount of time.

In her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention last month, Harris mentioned “the freedom to live safe from gun violence in our schools, communities and places of worship,” as a “fundamental” right. 

In Trump’s Republican National Convention speech in July, Trump talked about crime and criminals only to (😡wrongly❗) vilify migrants. He used the word “gun” only once — to hail Hulk Hogan,

 the former wrestler who endorsed the former president, as “one strong son of a gun.”

After the Georgia shooting, Trump posted a response on his social media site. Again, he said nothing about guns but called the alleged shooter “a sick and deranged monster.” 

But in an appearance before the National Rifle Association in May, Trump had plenty to say about firearms, including the false and inciting claim that “if the Biden regime gets four more years, they are coming for your guns.” He said that Biden “has a 40-year record of trying to rip firearms out of the hands of law-abiding citizens.”

In 1994, Biden, then a senator, helped pass a ban on assault weapons. It prohibited the manufacture or sale of certain semiautomatic weapons to civilians and banned high-capacity magazines of 10 rounds or more. The ban expired in 2004.

After mass shootings, Republicans often say that the tragedy should not be politicized, a cynical attempt to quell public debate. This time they’ve avoided saying even that. With the first presidential debate days away, they seem reluctant to say anything that can be held against Trump or highlight GOP objections to gun reform.

That’s why Harris should keep gun violence on her political agenda. She can tout the Biden administration’s Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in 2022, signed into law weeks after mass shootings in Buffalo, N.Y., and Uvalde, Texas. It was the first major gun reform bill passed in nearly 30 years.

Harris can do what Trump will not — say explicitly that weapons of war have no business on America’s streets; that most domestic violence fatalities are caused by guns; that everyday gun violence is a preventable epidemic; and that in order to strengthen gun reform, Democrats must regain control of the House and hold onto the Senate.

With Georgia on the nation’s mind, Harris can make the case that while Republicans have branded the issue of gun reform as partisan, the guns that destroy American lives and communities are not.

Renée Graham is a Boston Globe columnist.

Republicans who know Trump is incompetent but vote for him anyway are "socially unwell"

Echo opinion letter published in the Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper, in Georgia.

Dear Editor (AJC readers write)- It’s possible, but not certain, that Vice President Kamala Harris will defeat former guy Donald Trump.

Like former Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, I am a Republican who has been sold out, and I only have one chance to get rid of this cancer in what was my party.

Trump being elected by people who know better but let him laugh at them is a sign of being socially unwell.

Trump lost the 2020, election, tried to overturn it and got people killed. Now, he threatens a bloodbath if he loses again and plans to immediately start to deport good people we know who play important roles in our lives. It is depressing.

Harris is our only hope. Hope needs a lot of prayers, but she seems charged and ready. Republican members of Congress who supported the Trump scourge need to go. We need Georgia “blue” because “red” politicians hug someone who promises a bloodbath.

From Dan Smith in Alpharetta, Georgia

Speaker Mike Johnson is abdicating his oath to support to the Constitution. He puts Trump first!

Echo opinion letter published in the The Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper (Georgia):  House Speaker Mike Johnson should support judicial system, not Trump.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a Trumpti-Dumpti puppet

The specter of House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., appearing at the Trump trial in New York to support the former president and disparage the court system was deplorable. 

This "Bible thumping" man is second in line to the U.S. presidency and should support the American judicial system and the rule of law, not call the proceedings 😡 “corrupt” and a “ridiculous prosecution.”

There has been no credible criticism of the trial from reputable authorities; on the contrary, there is widespread belief that the trial has been conducted in a fair and competent manner by the presiding judge.

Speaker Mike Johnson is misplacing his fealty to Donald Trump rather than to his responsibility under the oath he took to support the American Consitution.

After Johnson had recently worked with Democrats to pass several bills of national importance, it gave me some hope that the speaker showed some signs of bipartisan leadership. But when he felt compelled to display his fealty (sworn loyalty❗) to the former guy Trump, in such an obsequious (i.e., excessive obiedience❗) manner, I realized that for him, it is politics above the Constitution. 

From Larry J. Pett, in Atlanta, GeorgiaLARRY J. PETT, ATLANTA

Americans waiting to hear more - under oath- from Stormy Daniels at Trump's trial in Manhattan

Stormy Daniels and the Comeuppance of Donald Trump.

Echo opinion published in The New York Times by Jessica Bennett.

Sometimes, I lie awake at night wondering whether Donald Trump is afraid. (Maine Writer disclosure- I also😡😳😏 lie awake wondering how much longer Americans are going to ignore the dangerous Donald Trump!)

Does he think he’ll go to jail? Lose his fortune? Does he sleep easier after ranting in ALL CAPS on Truth (#fakenews😕) Social?

Surely I’m not the only one losing sleep over the threat this man poses to the country. (You are not alone!) But, lately, as I perversely scroll through the news on my phone, I’ve had a comforting thought: Mr. Trump is probably obsessing, too.

His Truth (#fakenews) Social account indicated as much last week. Mr. Trump posted a picture of a statement by Stormy Daniels, the erotic film star and a central figure in his hush money trial in Manhatan. In the statement, dated 2018, Ms. Daniels denies that the two ever had an affair (a statement she has since recanted). Mr. Trump, in his Truth (#fakenews) Social post, writes: “LOOK WHAT WAS JUST FOUND! WILL THE FAKE NEWS REPORT IT?”

Trump givess editorial cartoonists reason to imagine hush money and 'stormy' weather. (The Columbus Dispatch)

(To be clear, Trump, the 2018, statement was widely reported at the time- IOW not "just found".....😟😈)

Trumpti-Dumpti may be running for president of the United States, but it’s not American voters who are on his mind. 

Watching and listening to him for years now, reading him on social media and, more recently, observing his behavior in the face of criminal charges and civil lawsuits, I come away with the surreal yet frankly inspiring conclusion that this very powerful man has become consumed with the “nasty” women who are at long last holding him to account.

Sometimes I lie awake at night wondering whether Donald Trump is afraid.

Does he think he’ll go to jail? Lose his fortune? Does he sleep easier after ranting in ALL CAPS on Truth (#fakenews) Social?

Surely I’m not the only one losing sleep over the threat this man poses to the country. But lately, as I perversely scroll through the news on my phone, I’ve had a comforting thought:  Trump is probably obsessing, too.

His Truth (#fakenews!)Social account indicated as much last week. Trump posted a picture of a statement by Stormy Daniels, the erotic film star and a central figure in his hush money trial that is set to begin on Monday. In the statement, dated 2018, Ms. Daniels denies that the two ever had an affair (a statement she has since recanted). Trump, in his Truth Social post, writes: “LOOK WHAT WAS JUST FOUND! WILL THE FAKE NEWS REPORT IT?” (To be clear,  Trump, the 2018, statement was widely reported at the time.)

Trumpti-Dumpti may be running for president of the United States, but it’s not American voters who are on his mind. Watching and listening to him for years now, reading him on social media and, more recently, observing his behavior in the face of criminal charges and civil lawsuits, I come away with the surreal yet frankly inspiring conclusion that this very powerful man has become consumed with the “nasty” women who are at long last holding him to account.

Letitia James. Fani Willis. E. Jean Carroll, and her lawyer Roberta Kaplan. And, of course, Stormy Daniels. The five women who are living rent-free in Trump’s (delusional!)mind these days.

If my middle-of-the-night Truth (#fakenews!) Social tours are any guide, Mr. Trump wakes up not infrequently to the thought of Ms. James, the attorney general of New York, and calling her names like “Peekaboo.” He seems to think about her, and the civil fraud case she brought against him, during the day, too — sometimes driven to post about her “big, nasty and ugly mouth,” or draft campaign emails about her “filthy hands,” which he seems to think are furiously casting a spell in the “witch hunt” against him.

Then there is Ms. Daniels, who says she is “absolutely ready” to testify against Trump — a scenario his lawyers had been desperately trying to avoid, seemingly worried about her embarrassing their client on the stand. (Trump denied the affair and the charges.) She is also the subject of a sympathetic new documentary, “Stormy,” in which she describes the toll that the whole ordeal has taken on her, and details odd superstitions that Trump apparently has about his hair.

Ms. Willis, of course, is leading the Georgia election interference case against Mr. Trump, who is still trying to get her removed from the case. Ms. Carroll won an $83.3 million defamation case against him and is threatening to sue again, and Ms. Kaplan has a long history of going head-to-head with the former president (and winning).

Women. I suspect, he never thought they would be the ones to corner him, making the case about his craven and possibly criminal behavior. Trump has long treated women as objects, targets, supplicants; everyone knows the “Access Hollywood” recording, but he has demeaned and degraded them for years, as Megan Twohey and Michael Barbaro documented in The Times in 2016. He seems to mostly associate women with sex — they are “driving me crazy,” he said of all the “beautiful women” at a recent event at Mar-a-Lago — or with spite (see how he treated Nikki Haley, Megyn Kelly, Hillary Clinton and others). He will woo them, he will grab them, he will scorn them, he will mix them up, he will call them names. But he never took them as much of a threat, until now.

Rosalynn Carter fondly remembered at Glenn Memorial Church

When we take our leave of this world, we should hope to be remembered as fondly and reverently as Rosalynn Carter.

Opinion editorial published in the Orlando Sentinel, the Virginia Pilot and Daily Press:  

Mrs. Carter, the former first lady, died at age 96, on Sunday, November 19, 2023, in Plains, Georgia. Her death elicited an outpouring of emotional tributes in honor of her remarkable public life — all richly deserved.

Glenn Memorial Methodist Church Memorial Service on the campus of Emery University

While Jimmy Carter served as governor of Georgia and president, and after they returned to private life, Carter was an essential partner and a woman who gave freely of her time and energy to build a better world for all. At a time when empathy and compassion are in short supply, Carter displayed it in abundance, setting a laudable example we would all do well to emulate.

Rosalynn Carter was a different kind of first lady. While the president’s spouse often served as a confidant and sounding board, Carter made the role more muscular during the Carters’ four years in the White House. She ruffled feathers by sitting in on Cabinet meetings, acting as a policy adviser and using the unelected office to make progress on issues close to her heart.

Rosalynn Carter (b. August 18, 1927-
d. November 19, 2023) age 96 years old

In doing so, she shrugged off criticism that she was overstepping traditional boundaries. “You can’t let it stop you,” she said about the opposition to the role she played in the administration, according to The New York Times. “I didn’t let it stop me.”

“Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished,” former President Carter said in a statement on Sunday. “She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me.”

The Carters are often revered for their lifelong partnership in a marriage that lasted 77 years. They were married in 1946, and took up residence in Norfolk, while the future president served in the U.S. Navy; their first son was born in Portsmouth, Virginia.

The qualities common to Navy spouses — independence, loyalty, determination — would serve her well in the years to come as her husband won election as governor of Georgia before his plain-spoken charm connected with an electorate disillusioned with government after the Watergate scandal.

Rosalynn Carter was front and center throughout the administration, serving as a policy adviser and surrogate for the president on high-profile priorities. She played an important role in the peace negotiations between Israel and Egypt that led to the Camp David Accords and helped strengthen ties with Latin America.

But her primary passion while in public life was mental health, where she worked to expand access to care and eliminate the stigma associated with asking for help. As first lady of Georgia, she served on the Governor’s Commission to Improve Services to the Mentally and Emotionally Handicapped, work she continued in the White House where she served as honorary chair of the President’s Commission on Mental Health.

That resulted in passage of the Mental Health Systems Act in 1980, which expanded community mental health centers and provided a lifeline to millions of Americans in need of help, particularly in rural parts of the country.

She continued that work after her husband’s defeat in the 1980, presidential election with the same enthusiasm and passion as before. While the Carters accomplished much while in government, it can be argued that their dedication to improving mental health care, expanding democracy and alleviating homelessness through Habitat for Humanity has been similarly successful in improving the lives of their fellow citizens.

Still, it was her unique approach to the role of first lady that still shapes how presidential spouses operate in the White House. At a time when she was expected to take a back seat, she stepped forward and, in doing so, served the country with grace and determination.

To spend a life in such a way takes empathy. It takes compassion. And it takes courage. Rosalynn Carter possessed those qualities in abundance, and our nation is that much better for it.

This editorial originally appeared in the The Virginian-Pilot And Daily Press.

For the average person who is confused by the 91 Trump indictments - think one word= "Fascism"

An echo opinion by Jennifer Rubin, published in The Washington Post:

"Someone’s going to get hurt. Someone’s going to get shot. Someone’s going to get killed. And it’s not right.” 

Special Counsel Jack Smith (Shaye Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman)....who brought down the hammer and gave Trump his second indictment; now another is coming in Fulton County Georgia, when prosecutor Fani Willis is made grand jury charges public.

But the purported criminal enterprise did not stop, either in Georgia or in D.C.

Special counsel Jack Smith, for practical and legal reasons, chose not to indict defeated former president Donald Trump on charges of instigating the violence on Jan. 6, 2021. Smith wants a solid, slimmed-down case without First Amendment complications, which could arise in focusing on Trump’s “Stop the Steal” speech on the Ellipse.

Instead, Smith’s indictment portrays Trump as opportunistically taking advantage of the angry mob. That left many democracy defenders unsettled. Hasn’t violence always been part of Trump’s playbook, and wasn’t Trump egging on the violent mob?

Fortunately, Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis puts the question of Trump’s responsibility for mob violence front and center.

Right up front, the indictment handed down Monday by a grand jury in Atlanta alleges:

Members of the enterprise, including several of the Defendants, falsely accused Fulton County election worker Ruby Freeman of committing election crimes in Fulton County, Georgia. These false accusations were repeated to Georgia legislators and other Georgia officials in an effort to persuade them to unlawfully change the outcome of the November 3, 2020, presidential election in favor of Donald Trump. In furtherance of this scheme, members of the enterprise traveled from out of state to harass Freeman, intimidate her, and solicit her to falsely confess to election crimes that she did not commit.

In fact, the indictment describes defendants traveling to election worker Ruby Freeman’s home to mislead and intimidate her. 

Willis alleged Trump defamed Freeman to Georgia officials (claiming she was a “a professional vote scammer and a known political operative” and saying that “Ruby Freeman, her daughter, and others were responsible for fraudulently awarding at least 18,000 ballots to Joseph R. Biden at State Farm Arena in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia.”) Trump told Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger that Freeman had stuffed ballot boxes. 

In a one-hour phone call with Georgia election officials, former guy Trump insisted he won the state and threatened vague legal consequences.

Trump tweeted references to a conspiracy about Freeman to his followers. We know those people included cult Trumpzis who were menacing election workers, making threats and endangering the lives of Freeman and others.

Former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani is also accused of bantering about lies concerning Freeman (who he falsely stated had been “quite obviously surreptitiously passing around USB ports as if they’re vials of heroin or cocaine”). These lies reverberated through social media, putting a target on Freeman’s back and helping escalate threats against Georgia officials.

The indictment works to refocus our attention on the mob Trump and Giuliani allegedly tried to incite, to the threats the MAGA horde lobbed toward election officials and others, and to the gripping testimony from Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss, at the House Jan. 6 hearings. From everything we’ve seen, these Georgians’ lives were made a living hell.
Without the Georgia case and without Trump identified as the head of the alleged criminal enterprise, there would be no justice for those victims, no accounting for the use of mob violence to corrupt the democratic process.

Ruth Ben-Ghiat, author of “Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present” and an expert on fascism, told Insider that Trump resorted to inciting the crowd to violence when his other schemes failed “because he truly believes that violence is a way you can change history.” She added, “The thing about autocrats today is that they’re all corrupt, but they’re also violent. They use all of these tools at the same time. So, we can’t isolate one and say that Jan. 6 was just about this or just about that. It was everything. It was a process of months and it culminated in violence.”

The element of thuggishness reflective of authoritarians throughout time and around the globe should not be whitewashed in Trump’s prosecution. It’s easy to make Trump’s alleged attempted coup, run mostly by lawyers and focused on memos distorting and misrepresenting constitutional principles, seem sophisticated, legalistic and without human victims.

But, at bottom, the alleged plot rested on the threat of violence both in D.C. and in Georgia.

And let’s not forget this is all part of Trump’s playbook.

As Ben-Ghiat recalled in a recent interview, “Since 2015, he [has] used his rallies … as radicalization sites. And over and over, he told his supporters at these rallies that violence was a good way to solve conflict.” She reminded us, “How many times did he say, ‘Oh, you know, in the good old days, we used to be able to punch people, and nothing happened’? So, that discourse of violence, which encouraged January 6, is part of this.”

In December 2020, Georgia election official Gabriel Sterling held an emotional news conference, at which he said: “Mr. President, it looks like you likely lost the state of Georgia. We’re investigating. … What you don’t have the ability to do — and you need to step up and say this — is stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence.” He added, “Someone’s going to get hurt. Someone’s going to get shot. Someone’s going to get killed. And it’s not right.” 

But, the purported criminal enterprise did not stop, either in Georgia or in D.C.

In some legal venue, Trump and his cohorts need to be held accountable for infusing our politics with violence and the threat of violence, for the damage done to Freeman, for the police officers wounded on Capitol Hill, and for the trauma inflicted by the mob they stand accused of orchestrating. That might be a courtroom in Fulton County, Georgia.

Indeed, that would be a service to our democracy and a historical lesson cementing Trump’s legacy as a fascist strongman.

Republicans need to learn basic civics and election integrity and political honesty

Opinion echo letter published in the Los Angeles Times:

To the editor: Republicans could learn a thing or two from Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his deputy Gabriel Sterling. America needs men like these in Washington, not the ersatz (i.e., pretend) Republicans who claim to protect democracy. 

Brad Raffensperger" "It was a pleasure to address the Liberty County Chamber of Commerce for their Eggs & Issues event today to discuss election integrity."

If Republicans really cared or dared to watch these officials’ testimonies on June 21, their heads should have exploded.

It was heartbreaking to hear the testimony of Georgia election worker Shaye Moss, who blamed herself for endangering her mother, Ruby Freeman, and grandmother. Trump and his allies lied about them, endangering their lives. There are no words dark enough to describe how Trump and his allies maliciously target people, endanger them and callously throw them under the bus.

Too bad that democracy heroes ⭐ Bowers, Raffensperger, Sterling, Moss and Freeman cannot be cloned. They are the true patriots.

From Donna Sloan, in Los Angeles, California

Trump and his cult are full stop wrong to falsely accuse innocent Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss with election fraud

Echo opinion letter published in the Los Angeles Times newspaper:
Letters to the Editor: How the January 6, hearing spotlighted Trump’s attack on people of color.  (Maine Writer- Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss are innocent victims of the Trump misinformation campaign!)

The testimony by two election workers from Fulton County, Georgia., who were cruelly targeted and personally threatened, based on false claims by the former guy Trump was disturbing and painful to watch.

In fact, the testimony by the two Black women also spotlighted the racist and defamatory thrust of Trump’s Big Lie. 

 Shaye Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman are two Georgia election workers who Trump named in his false election denial claims.

It’s no coincidence that Trump made allegations of election fraud in states, cities and counties with substantial populations of people of color. Trump’s false claims were in sync with the Republican Party’s established voter suppression efforts, which are based on spurious fears that people of color can’t be trusted with the vote and must be targeted, lest they foul our democratic voting system.

Of course, Trump, with his Big Lie, has fouled our democratic voting system beyond measure while defaming and damaging the private lives of conscientious election workers along the way. 

When will Trump be held accountable for even a portion of the harm he has done to persons and institutions?

From D. Keith Naylor, in South Pasadena, California

Marjorie Taylor Greene does not represent her constituents

Echo opinion published in the Rome News Tribune, a Georgia newspaper.

Under the superb Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, the recent omnibus spending bill passed, included a much needed $5.1 million for redevelopment of the old Northwest Georgia Regional Hospital in Rome. By the way, a "hospital" (for the education of the ignorant Marjorie Taylor Greene) is a licensed clinical organization where people go to receive life saving care, just so she knows.)

Marjorie Taylor Greene is "Cuckoo! Cuckoo!"

Also in the bill: $1.2 million for the Fannin County Fire Department equipment and $75,000 for narcotic testing equipment for Whitfield County.

Many thanks to both senators, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, for adding and fighting for these funds for Northwest Georgia.

Marjorie Taylor Greene does not care about her constituents, because she is preoccupied with her own ambitions:  "....those who throw money at the (low life) Ms. Greene’s campaigns, as well as (ugh!) voting for her, may want to reconsider"

No thanks to the immoral Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who voted against us getting these funds. Her purported reason is that she is against earmarks being added to legislation because they may encourage corruption. Frankly, there is nothing corruptible about these much-needed funds.

Notably, Ms. (now divorced) Greene also opposed voting by proxy, a measure instituted by Speaker Pelosi to assist members of Congress to vote in spite of covid. Yet Greene voted against the spending bill by proxy, citing the “ongoing public health emergency” as her reason for not being physically present.

Perhaps those who throw money at the (low life) Ms. Greene’s campaigns, as well as (ugh!) voting for her, may want to reconsider, unless they don’t mind her voting against needed funding for our district.  From Paul Culotta, in Rome Georgia