Posts Tagged ‘D-DAY’
ABC NEWS, ABC’S THE WEEK, ADOLF HITLER, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, AUSTRIA, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BBC, BC NEWS, BEVIN ALEXANDER, BLOOMBERG, BLUESKY, BUZZFEED, CANADA, CBS NEWS, CHARLES “CQ” BROWN, CNN, CROOKS AND LIARS, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, D-DAY, DAILY KOS, DONALD TRUMP, ERWIN ROMMEL, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FRANCE, FUHRER OATH, GREAT BRITAIN, GREENLAND, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HEINZ GUDERIAN, HOW HITLER COULD HAVE WON WORLD WAR II (BOOK), HUFFINGTON POST, IRAN, JAMES SLIFE, JEFFREY EPSTEIN, JEFFREY KRUSE, JIMMY CARTER, JOINT OPERATIONS COMMAND, JUSTIN TRUDEAU, LISA FRANCHETTI, MEDIA MATTERS, MEXICO, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, MUNICH CONFERENCE, NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY, NAZI GERMANY, NBC NEWS, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NPR, NUCLEAR WEAPONS SITES, PANAMA, PAUL VON HINDENBURG, PBS NEWSHOUR, PETE HEGSETH, POLAND, POLITICIZING THE MILITARY, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAMDY GEORGE, RANDY GEORGE, RAW STORY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, RHINELAND, RUSSIA, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, SHOSHANA CHATFIELD, SLATE, SUDENTENLAND, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE INTERCEPT, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE NEW YORKER, THE PENTAGON, THE SS, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THEODORE ROOSEVELT, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TIMOTHY HAUGH, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, WERNER VON BLOMBERG, WERNER VON FRITSCH, WONKETTE, WORLD WAR 11, X
In Bureaucracy, History, Military, Politics, Social commentary, Uncategorized on May 7, 2026 at 12:13 am
When Donald Trump isn’t picking fights with Americans, he picks them with the leaders of democratic countries.
At a November 30, 2024 dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s estate in Palm Beach, Florida, he told Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that Canada could become the 51st state of the United States.
Canada’s Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who attended the dinner, insisted that Trump was joking.
But on December 2, Trump threatened to impose a 25% tax on all products entering the United States from Canada and Mexico unless they stopped the flow of drugs and illegal aliens.
And on December 3, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform an AI-generated image of himself standing on a mountain with a Canadian flag beside him. Its caption: “Oh Canada!”
Trudeau had requested the Mar-a-Lago meeting to convince Trump that the northern border is completely different from the southern one with Mexico.
Canadian flag
“Less than one percent of migrants coming into the United States irregularly come from Canada and 0.2 percent of the fentanyl coming into the United States comes from Canada,” Trudeau said in Parliament.
During the last fiscal year, American customs agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border, compared with 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border.
Most of the fentanyl reaching the U.S. is made by Mexican drug cartels using precursor chemicals smuggled from Asia.
Utterly unmentioned in Trump’s demand: It’s America’s insatiable demand for illicit drugs that is the root cause of the drug trade.
Heroin syringe
Also unmentioned—if not deliberately ignored by Trump: Canada plays a substantial role as a U.S. trading partner. About 60% of U.S. crude oil imports are from Canada, and 85% of U.S. electricity imports as well.
Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the U.S. and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon eagerly desires. About 77% of Canada’s exports go to the U.S.
Trudeau pleaded with Trump not to impose the tariff because because it would “kill” Canada’s economy.
Trump responded: “So your country can’t survive unless it’s ripping off the US to the tune of $100 billion?”
His comments referred to the American trade deficit with Canada.
The U.S. had a $75 billion trade deficit with Canada in 2023 but a third of what Canada sells into the U.S. is energy exports and prices have been high.
Trudeau left the meeting without reassurance that Trump would not impose a 25% tariff on products from Canada.
But on March 5, 2025, Trump slapped 25% tariffs on Canada. Six days later, Trump announced that he would impose an additional 25% tariff on all Canadian steel and aluminum imports effective March 12.
Yet another country Trump has aimed his hostility at is Greenland.
“For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on December 23, 2024.
The next day, Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede told Trump to back off: “Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom.”
The Kingdom of Denmark holds control of the semi-autonomous Greenland.
Trump had previously floated the idea of the U.S. buying Greenland in 2019, which the Danish prime minister at the time called “absurd.”
Greenland is home to America’s Pituffik Space Base which “detects and reports attack assessments of sea-launched and intercontinental ballistic missile threats in support of strategic missile warning and missile defense,” according to the base’s website.
Greenland is strategically significant to the United States because it sits between Russia and the eastern coast of the United States, and is the fastest way from Europe to New York.
Some critics believe that Trump is floating headline-getting assaults on other nations to divert attention from his domestic agenda—which includes deporting millions of men, women and children from Hispanic countries.
Others believe it’s to divert attention from the recently released Epstein Files, which document his longtime ties to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein
In January, 2026, Danish military personnel were deployed to Greenland with instructions to prepare to disable key airport runways in Nuuk and Kangerlussuaq to prevent U.S. military aircraft from landing. Danish forces brought explosives and blood supplies in preparation for potential conflict.
NATO had been created in 1949 to deter Soviet Union aggression against Europe. For the first time in its 77-year history, its European members prepared to repulse an invasion by the United States.
Trump’s actions faced heavy opposition in Congress from both major parties. Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson described Trump’s threats as “completely inappropriate.”
On January 21, 2026, Trump reversed course, first ruling out military force and then abandoning tariff threats after talks with NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte.
And while Trump picks needless fights with America’s longtime allies, China—the first peer competitor that can challenge America economically, militarily, and technologically—is deepening its ties with Russia, Iran, North Korea, and other countries that seek to weaken U.S. power.
ABC NEWS, ABC’S THE WEEK, ADOLF HITLER, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, AUSTRIA, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BBC, BC NEWS, BEVIN ALEXANDER, BLOOMBERG, BLUESKY, BUZZFEED, CANADA, CBS NEWS, CHARLES “CQ” BROWN, CNN, CROOKS AND LIARS, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, D-DAY, DAILY KOS, DONALD TRUMP, ERWIN ROMMEL, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FRANCE, FUHRER OATH, GREAT BRITAIN, GREENLAND, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HEINZ GUDERIAN, HOW HITLER COULD HAVE WON WORLD WAR II (BOOK), HUFFINGTON POST, JAMES SLIFE, JEFFREY EPSTEIN, JEFFREY KRUSE, JIMMY CARTER, JOINT OPERATIONS COMMAND, JUSTIN TRUDEAU, LISA FRANCHETTI, MEDIA MATTERS, MEXICO, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, MUNICH CONFERENCE, NAZI GERMANY, NBC NEWS, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NPR, PANAMA, PAUL VON HINDENBURG, PBS NEWSHOUR, PETE HEGSETH, POLAND, POLITICIZING THE MILITARY, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAMDY GEORGE, RANDY GEORGE, RAW STORY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, RHINELAND, RUSSIA, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, SHOSHANA CHATFIELD, SLATE, SUDENTENLAND, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE INTERCEPT, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE NEW YORKER, THE PENTAGON, THE SS, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THEODORE ROOSEVELT, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TIMOTHY HAUGH, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, WERNER VON BLOMBERG, WERNER VON FRITSCH, WONKETTE, WORLD WAR 11, X
In Bureaucracy, History, Military, Politics, Social commentary on May 6, 2026 at 12:15 am
On August 22, 2025, the PBS Newshour website carried the following headline: HEGSETH FIRES GENERAL WHOSE AGENCY’S INTEL ASSESSMENT OF U.S. STRIKES ON IRAN ANGERED TRUMP.
The story opened: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired a general whose agency’s initial intelligence assessment of damage to Iranian nuclear sites from U.S. strikes angered President Donald Trump, according to two people familiar with the decision and a White House official.
“Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse will no longer serve as head of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.
“The firing is the latest upheaval in military leadership and in the country’s intelligence agencies, and comes a few months after details of the preliminary assessment leaked to the media. It found that Iran’s nuclear program has been set back only a few months by the U.S. strikes, contradicting assertions from Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”
Donald Trump
After the June 21 strikes, Hegseth attacked the press, claiming that it had an anti-military bias . But he refused to provide evidence that proved the nuclear sites had been wiped out.
Since re-taking office on January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump, through Hegseth, has fired more than 10 senior military leaders. Critics have called this an unprecedented purge of the Pentagon.
Among those fired:
- General Charles “CQ” Brown Jr.: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Brown was the nation’s highest-ranking military officer
- Admiral Lisa Franchetti: The Chief of Naval Operations and the first woman to lead the U.S. Navy.
- General James Slife: The Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force was fired along with Brown and Franchetti
- General Timothy Haugh: The head of U.S. Cyber Command and the director of the National Security Agency (NSA)
- Vice Admiral Shoshana Chatfield: The U.S. military representative to NATO
- Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse: The director of the Defense Intelligence Agency
- Army Chief of Staff Randy George: The Army’s most senior general
Hegseth had stopped George from promoting several high-ranking service members—including four Army officers, two black men and two female soldiers—from becoming one-star generals.
The reason: To purge “woke” leadership and prevent a black female officer from standing next to the President.
Decades of experience have been wiped from the highest levels of the U.S. military through removals and retirements during the first year of the second Trump administration.
Trump’s determination to remake the armed forces in his own image reflects he mindset of an earlier dictator whose rage and egotism carried him—and his country—to ruin: Adolf Hitler.
Bevin Alexander provides an overall—but colorful—view of Hitler’s generalship in How Hitler Could have Won World War II.
Among the fatal military mistakes that led to the defeat of the Third Reich:
- Wasting hundreds of Luftwaffe [air force] pilots, fighters and bombers in a halfhearted attempt to conquer England.
- Ignoring the pleas of generals like Erwin Rommel to conquer Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, which would have given Germany control of most of the world’s oil.
- Attacking his ally, the Soviet Union, while still at war with Great Britain.
- Turning millions of Russians into enemies rather than allies by his brutal and murderous policies.
- Needlessly declaring war on the United States after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. (Had he not done so, Americans would have focused all their attention on defeating Japan.)
- Insisting on a “not-one-step-back” military “strategy” that led to the needless surrounding, capture and/or deaths of hundreds of thousands of German servicemen.
As the war turned increasingly against him, Hitler demanded absolute control over the smallest details of his forces.
On June 6, 1944, General Gerd von Rundstedt insisted that Panzer tanks be released to drive the Allies from the Normandy beaches. But these could not be released except on direct orders of the Fuehrer.
Panzer tank
Hitler’s chief of staff, General Alfred Jodl, informed Rundstedt: The Fuhrer was asleep-–and was not to be awakened. By the time Hitler awoke and issued the order, it was too late.
He refused to accept responsibility for his policies that were leading Germany to certain defeat. He blamed his generals, accused them of cowardice, and relieved many of the best ones from command.
Among those sacked was Heinz Guderian, creator of the German Panzer corps—and responsible for the Blitzkreig victory against France in 1940.
Finally, on April 29, 1945—with the Russians only blocks from his underground Berlin bunker—Hitler dictated his “Last Political Testament.”
Once again, he refused to accept responsibility for unleashing a war that ultimately consumed 50 million lives:
“It is untrue that I or anyone else in Germany wanted war in 1939. It was desired and instigated exclusively by those international statesmen who either were of Jewish origin or worked for Jewish interests.”
Hitler had launched the invasion of Poland—and World War II—with a lie: That Poland had attacked Germany.
Fittingly, he closed the war—and his life—with a final lie.
The ancient Greeks believed that “a man’s character is his destiny.”
For Adolf Hitler—and the nations he ravaged—that proved fatally true.
The same has proven true for Donald Trump—and the United States.
ABC NEWS, ABC’S THE WEEK, ADOLF HITLER, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, AUSTRIA, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BBC, BC NEWS, BEVIN ALEXANDER, BLOOMBERG, BLUESKY, BUZZFEED, CANADA, CBS NEWS, CHARLES “CQ” BROWN, CNN, CROOKS AND LIARS, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, D-DAY, DAILY KOS, DONALD TRUMP, ERWIN ROMMEL, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FRANCE, FUHRER OATH, GREAT BRITAIN, GREENLAND, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HEINZ GUDERIAN, HOW HITLER COULD HAVE WON WORLD WAR II (BOOK), HUFFINGTON POST, JAMES SLIFE, JEFFREY EPSTEIN, JEFFREY KRUSE, JIMMY CARTER, JOINT OPERATIONS COMMAND, JUSTIN TRUDEAU, LISA FRANCHETTI, MEDIA MATTERS, MEXICO, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, MUNICH CONFERENCE, NAZI GERMANY, NBC NEWS, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NPR, PANAMA, PAUL VON HINDENBURG, PBS NEWSHOUR, PETE HEGSETH, POLAND, POLITICIZING THE MILITARY, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAMDY GEORGE, RAW STORY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, RHINELAND, RUSSIA, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SHOSHANA CHATFIELD, SLATE, SUDENTENLAND, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE INTERCEPT, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE NEW YORKER, THE PENTAGON, THE SS, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THEODORE ROOSEVELT, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TIMOTHY HAUGH, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, WERNER VON BLOMBERG, WERNER VON FRITSCH, WONKETTE, WORLD WAR 11, X
In Bureaucracy, History, Military, Politics, Social commentary on May 5, 2026 at 12:05 am
Donald Trump has often claimed himself an “America First” President. But his attitude and policies toward the military are clearly based on the “Germany First” policies of Adolf Hitler.
On August 2, 1934, the aged German President Paul von Hindenburg died.
Hitler had been serving as Reich Chancellor—the equivalent of attorney general—since January 30, 1933. Within hours, the Nazi Reichstag [parliament] announced the following law, back-dated to August 1st:
“The office of Reich President will be combined with that of Reich Chancellor. The existing authority of the Reich President will consequently be transferred to the Führer and Reich Chancellor, Adolf Hitler.”
Immediately following the announcement of the new Führer law, the German Officer Corps and every individual soldier in the German Army was made to swear a brand new oath of allegiance:
“I swear by God this holy oath, that I will render to Adolf Hitler, Führer of the German Reich and People, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, unconditional obedience, and that I am ready, as a brave soldier, to risk my life at any time for this oath.”
Soldiers swearing the Fuhrer Oath
In the past, German soldiers had sworn loyalty to Germany. Now they had sworn it to a single man.
For men of honor in uniform, conspiracy against the Führer now meant betrayal of the Fatherland itself. They considered this oath sacred, overriding all others. And the vast majority would fanatically obey it right to the end of the disastrous war Hitler was leading them into.
Yet even that didn’t give Hitler the absolute control over the Armed Forces that he sought.
Since taking command of Germany in the summer of 1934, Hitler wanted to replace two high-ranking military officials: General Werner von Fritsch and Colonel General Werner von Blomberg. Both were convinced that Hitler’s increasingly aggressive foreign policy was putting Germany on a collision course with war—a war the Fatherland could not win.
Hitler, in fact, meant to go to war—and despised Fritsch’s and Blomberg’s hesitation to do so. He decided to rid himself of both men.
But how?
Accident played a part in the case of Blomberg.
On January 12, 1938, Blomberg married Erna Gruhn, with Hitler and Reichsmarshall Hermann Goring attending as witnesses. Soon afterward, Berlin police discovered that Gruhn had a criminal record as a prostitute and had posed for pornographic photographs.
Marrying a woman with such a background violated the standard of conduct expected of German officers. Hitler was infuriated at having served as a witness to the ceremony.
But he also saw the scandal as an opportunity to dispose of Blomberg—who was forced to resign.
Shortly after Blomberg was forced out in disgrace, the SS—Hitler’s private police force—presented Hitler with a file that falsely accused Werner von Fritsch of homosexuality. Fritsch angrily denied the accusation but resigned on February 4, 1938.
From that point on, Hitler was in de facto command of the German Armed Services.
Adolf Hitler
Hitler had a timetable of conquest:
- On March 7, 1936, he seized the Rhineland, the demilitarized zone between Germany and its arch-enemy, France.
- On March 12, 1838, he “unified” Austria with Germany by annexing it.
- In September, 1938, he seized a large portion of western Czechoslovakia after that nation’s British and French “allies” sold it out at the infamous Munich Conference.
- On March 15, 1939, he ordered the Wehrmacht to occupy the rest of Czechoslovakia.
- On September 1, 1939, he ordered the invasion of Poland—unintentionally igniting World War II and the eventual destruction of Nazi Germany.
Like Hitler, Donald Trump has a plan of conquest. Since taking office on January 20, 2025, he has repeatedly threatened the economic—if not the military—security of:
- Canada
- Mexico
- Panama
- Greenland.
Donald Trump
On December 25, 2024, Trump told a conservative conference in Arizona that Panama was charging U.S. ships “ridiculous, highly unfair” fees to use its namesake canal.
The United States built the canal during the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt and opened it in 1914. It remained controlled by the United States until President Jimmy Carter signed a a 1977 agreement for its eventual handover to Panama in 1999.
On December 25, Trump posted on his website, Truth Social: “Merry Christmas to all, including to the wonderful soldiers of China, who are lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama Canal.”
“There is not a single Chinese soldier in the canal,” the president of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, told reporters the next day, adding that there is “absolutely no Chinese interference.”
Another country that Trump has rushed to make an enemy of is America’s longtime ally—Canada.
At a November 30 dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s estate in Palm Beach, Florida, he told Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that Canada could become the 51st state of the United States.
Canada’s Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who attended the dinner, insisted that Trump was joking.
But on December 2, Trump threatened to impose a 25% tax on all products entering the United States from Canada and Mexico unless they stopped the flow of drugs and illegal aliens.
And on December 3, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform an AI-generated image of himself standing on a mountain with a Canadian flag beside him. Its caption: “Oh Canada!”
1991 IRAQ WAR, 2003 IRAQ WAR, 2026 IRAN WAR, ABC NEWS, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BARACK OBAMA, BBC, BLOOMBERG, BLUESKY, BOMBING, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CNN, CROOKS AND LIARS, D-DAY, DAILY KOS, DONALD TRUMP, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FLAMETHROWERS, GEORGE H.W. BUSH, GEORGE W. BUSH, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HUFFINGTON POST, ISLAMIC STATE OF IRAQ AND SYRIA, MEDIA MATTERS, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NAVY SEALS, NAZI GERMANY, NBC NEWS, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NPR, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, PREDATOR DRONES, RAW STORY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE INTERCEPT, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE NEW YORKER, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. AIR FORCE, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, VICTORY THROUGH AIR POWER, VIETNAM WAR, WALT DISNEY, WORLD WAR 11, X
In Bureaucracy, History, Military, Politics, Social commentary on March 2, 2026 at 12:18 am
Victory Through Air Power is a 1943 Walt Disney animated Technicolor feature film released during World War II. It’s based on the book—of the same title––by Alexander P. de Seversky.
Its thesis: By using bombers and fighter aircraft, the United States can attain swift, stunning victory over its Axis enemies: Germany, Italy and Japan.
Although not explicitly stated, the clear impression given is: By using air power, America can defeat its enemies without deploying millions of ground troops.
The movie has long since been forgotten except by film buffs, but its message has not. Especially by the highest officials within the U.S. Air Force.
The Air Force regularly boasted of the tonnage of bombs its planes dropped over Nazi Germany. But it failed to attain its primary goal: Break the will of the Germans to resist.
Just as the German bombings of England had solidified the will of the British people to resist, so, too, did Allied bombing increase the determination of the Germans to fight on.
Nor did the failure of air power end there.
On June 6, 1944—D-Day—the Allies launched their invasion of Nazi-occupied France.
It opened shortly after midnight, with an airborne assault of 24,000 American, British, Canadian and Free French troops. This was followed at 6:30 a.m. by an amphibious landing of Allied infantry and armored divisions on the French coast.
The operation was the largest amphibious invasion in history. More than 160,000 troops landed—73,000 Americans, 61,715 British and 21,400 Canadians.
Allied air power bombed and strafed German troops out in the open. But it couldn’t dislodge soldiers barricaded in steel-and-concrete-reinforced bunkers or pillboxes.
Those had to be dislodged, one group at a time, by Allied soldiers armed with rifles, dynamite and flamethrowers.
American soldier using flamethrower
This situation proved true throughout the rest of the war.
Then, starting in 1964, the theory of “Victory Through Air Power” once again proved a dud—in Vietnam.
From 1964 to 1975, seven million tons of bombs were dropped on Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia—more than twice the amount of bombs dropped on Europe and Asia in World War II.
Yet the result proved the same as it had in World War II: The bombing enraged the North Vietnamese and steeled their resolve to fight on to the end.
American bomber dropping its cargo over North Vietnam
The belief that victory could be achieved primarily—if not entirely—through air power had another unforeseen result during the Vietnam war.
To bomb North Vietnam, the United States needed air force bases in South Vietnam. This required that those bombers and fighters be protected.
So a force to provide round-the-clock security had to be maintained. But there weren’t enough guards to defend themselves against a major attack by North Vietnamese forces.
So more American troops were needed—to guard the guards.
North Vietnam continued to press greater numbers of its soldiers into attacks on American bases. This forced America to provide greater numbers of its own soldiers to defend against such attacks.
Eventually, the United States had more than 500,000 ground troops fighting in Vietnam—with no end in sight to the conflict.
Nor did it work for America in the 1991 and 2003 wars against Iraq.
Both wars opened with massive barrages of American missiles and bombs. The 1991 war—launched by President George H.W. Bush—saw the first use of the vaunted “stealth bomber,” which could avoid detection by enemy radar.
The 2003 war—launched by President George W. Bush—opened with an even greater bombardment intended to “shock and awe” the Iraqis into surrendering.
They didn’t.
Baghdad under “shock and awe” bombardment
Nor did air power prove effective on the Iraqi insurgency that erupted after American forces occupied Baghdad and much of the rest of the country.
That war had to be fought by U.S. Army regulars and Special Operations soldiers—especially Navy SEALS. It was a dirty and private effort, marked by nightly kidnappings and torture of suspected Iraqi insurgents.
The war devolved into a long, violent insurgency, occupation and sectarian civil war that lasted until 2011, when American troops were withdrawn. The United States failed to achieve control of Iraqi oil and unite the country under American control.
Then, in 2014, with forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) launching a blitzkrieg throughout Iraq, President Barack Obama caught the “Victory Through Airpower” disease.
ISIS had thrown the American-trained Iraqi Army into a panic, with soldiers dropping their rifles and running for their lives.
This led Republicans to accuse the President of being about to “lose” Iraq.
As a result, he shipped at least 300 American “advisors” to Iraq, to provide support and security for U.S. personnel and the American Embassy in Baghdad.
And he authorized American Predator drones to traverse Iraq, keeping tabs on the advancing ISIS forces. Then, in September, 2014, Obama ordered airstrikes against ISIS in Syria.
Yet that didn’t alter the balance of power in Iraq.
Finally, on February 11, 2015, Obama called on Congress to formally authorize the use of ground forces against ISIS. This would include supporting and training Iraqi forces and Syrian insurgents on the ground.
On February 28, 2026, President Donald Trump ordered a massive bombardment of Iran
The rerun of the Vietnam/Iraq experience will begin showing in the months ahead.
2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, 2020 [RESIDENTIAL ELECTION, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, ABORTION, AFFORDABLE CARE ACT, AIR TRAFFICK CONTROLLERS, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BBC, BLOOMBERG, BLUESKY, BUZZFEED, CAPITAL PUNISHMENT, CBS NEWS, CHRISTIANITY, CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS, CNN, CONTRACEPTION, COVID-19, CROOKS AND LIARS, D-DAY, DAILY KOS, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, EQUITY DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION (DEI) PROGRAMS, FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION (FAA), FEDERAL COMMUNICATIOS COMMISSION, FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FOSSIL FUELS, GULF OF MEXICO, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HUFFINGTON POST, IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT (ICE), INSPECTORS GENERAL, JOHN F. KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, JOSEPH STALIN, KGB, MEDAL OF HONOR WINNERS, MEDIA MATTERS, MEDICAID, MEDICARE, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION (NOAA), NAZI GERMANY, NBC NEWS, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NPR, PAUL VON HINDENBURG, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, REUTERS, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (SNAP), TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE INTERCEPT, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE NEW YORKER, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TUSKEGEE AIRMEN, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE (DOD), UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, UPI, USA TODAY, VLADIMIR PUTIN, WILLIAM L. SHIRER, WOMEN VETERANS, X
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Politics, Social commentary, Uncategorized on December 16, 2025 at 12:15 am
CBS Correspondent William L. Shirer covered the Third Reich from 1934 to 1940. Writing about the rise of Adolf Hitler in his monumental bestseller, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (1960), he noted:
“No class or group or party in Germany could escape its share of responsibility for the abandonment of the democratic Republic and the advent of Adolf Hitler. The cardinal error of the Germans who opposed Nazism was their failure to unite against it.
“At the crest of their popular strength, in July 1932, the National Socialists had attained but 37 percent of the vote. But the 63 percent of the German people who expressed their opposition to Hitler were much too divided and shortsighted to combine against a common danger which they must have known would overwhelm them unless they united, however temporarily, to stamp it out.”
William L. Shirer (left)
Competent future historians will reach the same verdict about the second coming to power for Donald Trump on November 5, 2024.
- Republicans: Who feared that Trump’s Fascistic supporters would deprive them of political office if they didn’t abase themselves to a lifelong criminal and would-be dictator.
- Republican judges: Who bent and/or broke the law to enable Trump to escape justice.
- Justice Department prosecutors: Whose awe of the Presidency allowed Trump to slander and threaten federal prosecutors and judges.
- Attorney General Merrick Garland: Who refused to appoint Jack Smith Special Counsel until November 18, 2022—giving Trump time to delay justice and again win the Presidency.
- Democrats: Whose cowardice toward Trump encouraged Republicans to ever more extreme measures.
- Blacks: Who voted for a racist in hopes of a bigger paycheck.
- Muslims: Who refused to support Kamala Harris because President Biden wouldn’t stop Israel’s military campaign to free Hamas-captured hostages.
- Hispanics: Who refused to believe that Trump would carry out his threats to deport illegal aliens.
- The Biden administration: Which refused to stem the tide of illegal aliens invading America—and thus enraged millions of law-abiding Americans into supporting Trump.
- Toxic masculinity voters: Whose hatred of women led them to reject a former local and state prosecutor for a 34-times convicted felon.
- American voters: Whose hatred of Hispanic illegal aliens and inflationary grocery prices led them to ignore overwhelming evidence of Trump’s intent to overturn the democratic process and make himself absolute dictator.
On January 20, 2025, Donald J. Trump became the 47th President of the United States.
Since then, he has aggressively committed a series of outrages against the country he claims to love, including:
- Granting clemency to more than 1,500 people convicted of offenses related to the January 6, 2021 United States Capitol attack.
- Signing 26 executive orders reversing climate change initiatives, eliminating DEI programs, changing the federal designation for the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America” and initiating a federal hiring freeze.
- Revoking an executive order on Artificial Intelligence safety signed by former President Joseph Biden, to establish safeguards for the rapidly advancing AI technology.
- Firing the inspectors general—who are charged with protecting the government from waste and corruption—from more than a dozen federal agencies.
- Purging about a half-dozen executive assistant directors at the FBI. These were some of the bureau’s top managers overseeing criminal, national security and cyber investigations.
- Their “crime”: Investigating Trump’s inciting the January 6, 2021 coup attempt and illegally holding highly sensitive national security documents after leaving office.
- Following Trump’s anti-DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) executive order, the Department of Defense deletes content that included the achievements of nonwhites—such as Navajo code talkers, black Tuskegee Airmen, Medal of Honor winners and women veterans.
- Firing the board members at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and appointing himself as chairman—just as Joseph Stalin made himself arbiter of what was permissible for artists in the Soviet Union.
- Ordering the Justice Department to indict his critics such as New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey.
- James had convicted him on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Comey had sought to investigate Russia’s subversion of the 2016 Presidential campaign to ensure Trump’s election.
- Flooding the streets of cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago and San Antonio with masked, heavily-armed agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Almost 200 American citizens have been improperly assaulted, arrested and detained.
- Shutting down the Federal Government on October 1, when Democrats refused to agree to his gutting Medicaid, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), causing 10-15 million Americans to lose health insurance coverage.
- Among those not getting paid: Air traffic controllers for the Federal Aviation Administration. Owing to many controllers refusing to work, the FAA reduced air traffic by 10% at many airports.
- Shutting off the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for the poor to pressure Democrats to support his gutting of healthcare programs.
As John Adams, second President of the United States, observed:
“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. It is in vain to say that democracy is less vain, less proud, less selfish, less ambitious, or less avaricious than aristocracy or monarchy. It is not true, and nowhere appears in history. Those passions are the same in all men, under all forms of simple government, and when unchecked, produce the same effects of fraud, violence and cruelty.”
2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, ABC NEWS, ABORTION, ABUSE OF POWER, ADOLF HITLER, AFFORDABLE CARE ACT, AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS, AIR TRAFFICK CONTROLLERS, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, AXIOS, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BBC, BLACKS, BLOOMBERG, BLUESKY, BUZZFEED, CAPITAL PUNISHMENT, CBS NEWS, CHRISTIANITY, CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS, CLIMATE CHANGE, CNN, CONTRACEPTION, COVID-19, CROOKS AND LIARS, D-DAY, DAILY KOS, DEMOCRACY, DEMOCRATIC PARTY, DEMOCRATS, DIVERSITY EQUITY AND INCLUSION (DEI) PROGRAMS, DONALD TRUMP, ELECTORAL COLLEGE, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, EQUITY DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION (DEI) PROGRAMS, FBI, FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION (FAA), FEDERAL COMMUNICATIOS COMMISSION, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY, FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN, FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FOSSIL FUELS, GAZA, GULF OF MEXICO, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HILLARY CLINTON, HISPANICS, HUFFINGTON POST, illegal immigration, IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT (ICE), IMPEACHMENT, INFLATION, INSPECTORS GENERAL, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, ISRAEL, JACK SMITH, JAMES COMEY, JANUARY 6 COUP ATTEMPT, JOHN ADAMS, JOHN F. KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, JOSEPH BIDEN, JOSEPH STALIN, Kamala Harris, KGB, LATINOS, LETITIA JAMES, LOW INFORMATION VOTERS, MAR-A-LAGO, MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE, MASCULINITY, MEDAL OF HONOR WINNERS, MEDIA MATTERS, MEDICAID, MEDICARE, MERRICK GARLAND, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, MUSLIMS, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION (NOAA), NAVAJO COLDE TALKERS, NAZI GERMANY, NBC NEWS, NEW REPUBLIC, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NPR, OBSTRUCTION OF CONGRESS, PARDONS, PAUL VON HINDENBURG, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, PROJECT 2025, RAW STORY, REPUBLICAN PARTY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, ROBERT F. KENNEDY, RUSSIA, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (SNAP), TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE INTERCEPT, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE NEW YORKER, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TUSKEGEE AIRMEN, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. BORDER PATROL, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE (DOD), UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, UNITED STATES SENATE, UPI, USA TODAY, VLADIMIR PUTIN, VOX, WILLIAM L. SHIRER, WOMEN VETERANS, X
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Politics, Social commentary, Uncategorized on December 15, 2025 at 12:11 am
In 2024, President Joseph Biden turned 80—six years younger than German President Paul von Hindenburg when he died—and was capable of dying literally any day.
His Vice President, Kamala Harris, was widely perceived as unprepared for the Presidency.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump—like Adolf Hitler—was waging an all-out campaign to make himself dictator. And—like Hitler—he was using the democratic system to destroy democracy.
Hitler had a list of priorities—such as persecuting the Jews and conquering the Soviet Union—that he intended to carry out.
Adolf Hitler
And so did Trump. Among Trump’s: Implementing “Project 2025.”
This was a collection of policy proposals to fundamentally reshape the U.S. federal government in the event of a Republican victory in the 2024 Presidential election.
Established in 2022 by the Right-wing Heritage Foundation, the project aimed to recruit tens of thousands of radical Right-wingers to the District of Columbia to replace existing federal civil servants.
Under Project 2025:
- Republicans consider federal employees to be subversives who comprise the “deep state.”
- Replacing tenured civil servants with thousands of political hacks would arm Republicans with the power to establish an absolute dictatorship under the next Republican president.
- Republicans believed the Department of Justice had “forfeited the trust” of the American people by investigating Donald Trump’s proven collaboration with Russia to win the 2016 Presidential election.
- As a result, the DOJ must be thoroughly “reformed” and tightly overseen by the White House.
- The director of the FBI must be personally accountable to the President—just as the head of the KGB was personally accountable to Vladimir Putin.
Seal of the Justice Department
- Federal employees could be instantly fired for not obeying illegal orders, or on mere whim—including the whim of the President.
- The Department of Homeland Security would be abolished.
- The Environmental Protection Agency would be stripped of its authority to protect the air, water and soil.
- States would be prevented from adopting stricter regulations on vehicular emissions, like California had done.
- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) which the project called “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry,” would be abolished.
- Fossil fuels—the leading cause of global warming—would be favored and environmental regulations to combat climate change abolished.
- Federal funding for all public transit systems across the country would be eliminated.
- Traditionally independent federal agencies such as the Department of Justice, Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission would be placed under Presidential control.
- The wealthiest 1% would receive massive tax cuts at the expense of the poor and middle class.
- Conception would be designated as the point where life begins.
- Abortion would be outlawed.
- Access to birth control would be sharply restricted, if not banned.
- Christianity would be designated as the official religion of the United States—the way Islam is designated as the official religion of Saudi Arabia.
- The use of capital punishment would be revived and expanded—and the right of appeals sharply restricted.
Throughout the campaign, Trump denied that he had even heard of “Project 2025.”
According to the Washington Post Fact Checker 2020, by the time Trump left office in 2021, he had told approximately 30,573 lies. Among his most lethal were the ones he repeatedly told in 2020 about COVID-19:
- “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China.”
- “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China. It’s going to be fine.”
- “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA.”
- “CDC & my administration are doing a GREAT job of handling Coronavirus.”
- “I think that’s a problem that’s going to go away. They have studied it. They know very much. In fact, we’re very close to a vaccine.”
As a result of his lies and ruthless attacks on medical professionals trying to combat the disease, more than 400,000 Americans died.
That should have been enough to prove that nothing he said could be trusted. But for 77 million voters who were invested in their own hatred and/or ignorance, it wasn’t.
CBS Correspondent William L. Shirer covered the Third Reich from 1934 to 1940. Writing about the rise of Adolf Hitler in his monumental bestseller, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (1960), he noted:
“No class or group or party in Germany could escape its share of responsibility for the abandonment of the democratic Republic and the advent of Adolf Hitler. The cardinal error of the Germans who opposed Nazism was their failure to unite against it.
“At the crest of their popular strength, in July 1932, the National Socialists had attained but 37 percent of the vote. But the 63 percent of the German people who expressed their opposition to Hitler were much too divided and shortsighted to combine against a common danger which they must have known would overwhelm them unless they united, however temporarily, to stamp it out.”
Competent future historians will reach the same verdict about the second coming to power for Donald Trump on November 5, 2024.
2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, ABC NEWS, ABORTION, ADOLF HITLER, AFFORDABLE CARE ACT, AILEEN CANNON, AIR TRAFFICK CONTROLLERS, ALFRED JODL, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, ATTORNEYS GENERAL, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BARACK OBAMA, BAVARIA, BBC, BEER HALL PUTSCH, BEN SASSE, BLOOMBERG, BLUESKY, BRAD RAFFENSPERGER, BRIAN KEMP, BUZZFEED, CAPITAL PUNISHMENT, CBS NEWS, CHRISTIANITY, CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS, CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS TRIAL, CNN, CONTRACEPTION, COVID-19, CROOKS AND LIARS, D-DAY, DAILY KOS, DEMOCRATIC PARTY, DEMOCRATS, DONALD TRUMP, ELECTORAL COLLEGE, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, EQUITY DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION (DEI) PROGRAMS, FASCISM, FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION (FAA), FEDERAL COMMUNICATIOS COMMISSION, FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FOSSIL FUELS, GEORGE W. BUSH, GERD VON RUNDSTEDT, GULF OF MEXICO, GUNTHER BLUMENTRITT, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HERITAGE FOUNDATION, HILLARY CLINTON, HITLER: ASCENT (BOOK), HUFFINGTON POST, IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT (ICE), INSIDER, INSPECTORS GENERAL, JANUARY 6 COUP ATTEMPT, JOHN F. KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, JOSEPH BIDEN, JOSEPH STALIN, jOSH HAWLEY, JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, Kamala Harris, KEN PAXTON, KGB, MEDAL OF HONOR WINNERS, MEDIA MATTERS, MEDICAID, MEDICARE, MEIN KAMPF, MIKE PENCE, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, MUNICH, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION (NOAA), NAZI GERMANY, NAZI PARTY, NBC NEWS, NEW REPUBLIC, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NORMANDY, NPR, PAT A. CIPOLLONE, PAUL VON HINDENBURG, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, REPUBLICAN PARTY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, Ronald Reagan, RUTH BEN-GHIAT, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, STEPHEN COLLINSON, STRONGMEN (BOOK), SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (SNAP), SUPREME COURT, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE INTERCEPT, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE NEW YORKER, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, THREATS, TIME, TREATY OF VERSALLIES, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TUSKEGEE AIRMEN, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE (DOD), UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, UNITED STATES SENATE, UPI, USA TODAY, VLADIMIR PUTIN, VOLKER ULLRICH, VOTER FRAUD, WEIMAR REPUBLIC, WILLIAM L. SHIRER, WOMEN VETERANS, WONKETTE, WORLD WAR 1, WORLD WAR 11, X
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on December 12, 2025 at 12:57 am
Most Americans believe the United States is immune from the same fates of democracies that have become dictatorships.
Not so New York University historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat. Appearing on the November 13, 2023 edition of The PBS Newshour, she warned:
“Since 2015, [Donald Trump] started….using his rallies and campaign events for radicalizing people. And he started saying, oh, in the old days, you used to hurt people. The problem is, Americans don’t hurt each other anymore.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat
Humblewarrior, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
“So now he’s going into a new phase of openly dehumanizing his targets so that will lessen the taboos in the future. And we see that, in 2025, he’s got plans for mass deportations, mass imprisonments and giant camps.
“So you need people to be less sensitive about violence, either committing it themselves or tolerating it. And I see that as….the reason he’s using this dehumanizing rhetoric now, to prepare people.”
A historical example: The Weimar Republic, the constitutional federal republic in Germany which lasted from November 9, 1918 to March 23, 1933.
During its 14-year existence, the Republic granted Germans rights they had never enjoyed—and which would be ruthlessly suppressed during the 12-year Third Reich that replaced it.
Among those rights:
- Freedom of speech
- Freedom of assembly
- Privacy of mail, telegraph, and telephone
- Free and secret elections
- All citizens were eligible for public office
But the Republic had dangerous enemies—Communists on the Left, and Nazis on the Right. And it was plagued by charges of illegitimacy and even treason—for its members’ having signed the Treaty of Versailles ending World War 1.
Adolf Hitler joined the National Socialist German Workers (Nazi) Party in 1919—the year after World War 1 ended.
Adolf Hitler
In 1923, he staged a coup attempt in Bavaria—which was quickly and brutally put down by police. He was arrested and sentenced to less than a year in prison.
After that, Hitler decided that winning power through violence was no longer an option. He must win it through election—or appointment.
He repeatedly ran for the highest office in Germany—President—but never got a clear majority in a free election.
When the 1929 Depression struck Germany, the fortunes of Hitler’s Nazi party rose as the life savings of ordinary Germans fell. Streets echoed with bloody clashes between members of Hitler’s Nazi Stormtroopers and those of the German Communist Party.
Germany seemed on the verge of collapsing.
Germans desperately looked for a leader—a Fuhrer—who could somehow deliver them from the threat of financial ruin and Communist takeover.
In early 1933, members of his own cabinet persuaded aging German president, Paul von Hindenburg, that only Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor could do this.
Paul von Hindenburg
Hindenburg considered Hitler a dangerous radical. But he allowed himself to be convinced that, by putting Hitler in the Cabinet, he could be “boxed in” and thus controlled.
So, on January 30, 1933, he reluctantly appointed Adolf Hitler Chancellor—the equivalent of Attorney General.
On August 2, 1934, Hindenburg died, and Hitler immediately assumed the titles—and duties—of the offices of Chancellor and President.
His rise to total power was now complete.
In 2015, Donald Trump declared his candidacy for President.
At that time:
- The country was technically at war in the Middle East—but the fate of the United States was never threatened, as it had been during the Cold War.
- There was no draft; if you didn’t know someone in the military, you didn’t care about the casualties taking place.
- Thanks to government loans from Barack Obama, American capitalism had been saved from its own excesses during the George W. Bush administration.
- In contrast to the scandals of the Ronald Reagan Presidency, the Obama administration had been scandal-free.
- Nor had there been any major terrorist attacks on the country—as had occurred on 9/11 under President George W. Bush.
Yet—16 months after announcing his candidacy for President—enough Americans fervently embraced Donald Trump to give him the most powerful position in the country and the world.
Donald Trump
The message of Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign had been one of hope—“Yes, We Can!”
That of Donald Trump’s campaign was one of hatred toward everyone who was not an avid Trump supporter: “No, You Can’t!”
White supremacists comprised the overwhelming majority of the audiences at Trump rallies. They knew that demographics were steadily working against them. Birthrates among nonwhites were rising. By 2045, whites would make up less than 50 percent of the American population.
The 2008 election of the first black President had shocked Fascistic whites. His 2012 re-election had deprived them of the hope that 2008 had been an accident.
Then came 2016—and the possibility that a black President might be followed by a woman: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
And the idea of a woman dictating to men was strictly too much for them to bear.
So, on November 8, 2016, Donald Trump—lacking any government experience and best known as the host of a reality TV show—was elected President of the United States.
2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, ABC NEWS, ABORTION, ADOLF HITLER, AFFORDABLE CARE ACT, AILEEN CANNON, AIR TRAFFICK CONTROLLERS, ALFRED JODL, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, ATTORNEYS GENERAL, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BARACK OBAMA, BAVARIA, BBC, BEER HALL PUTSCH, BEN SASSE, BLOOMBERG, BLUESKY, BRAD RAFFENSPERGER, BRIAN KEMP, BUZZFEED, CAPITAL PUNISHMENT, CBS NEWS, CHRISTIANITY, CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS, CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS TRIAL, CNN, CONTRACEPTION, COVID-19, CROOKS AND LIARS, D-DAY, DAILY KOS, DEMOCRATIC PARTY, DEMOCRATS, DONALD TRUMP, ELECTORAL COLLEGE, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, EQUITY DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION (DEI) PROGRAMS, FASCISM, FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION (FAA), FEDERAL COMMUNICATIOS COMMISSION, FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FOSSIL FUELS, GEORGE W. BUSH, GERD VON RUNDSTEDT, GULF OF MEXICO, GUNTHER BLUMENTRITT, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HERITAGE FOUNDATION, HILLARY CLINTON, HITLER: ASCENT (BOOK), HUFFINGTON POST, IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT (ICE), INSIDER, INSPECTORS GENERAL, JANUARY 6 COUP ATTEMPT, JOHN F. KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, JOSEPH BIDEN, JOSEPH STALIN, jOSH HAWLEY, JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, Kamala Harris, KEN PAXTON, KGB, MEDAL OF HONOR WINNERS, MEDIA MATTERS, MEDICAID, MEDICARE, MEIN KAMPF, MIKE PENCE, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, MUNICH, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION (NOAA), NAZI GERMANY, NAZI PARTY, NBC NEWS, NEW REPUBLIC, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NORMANDY, NPR, PAT A. CIPOLLONE, PAUL VON HINDENBURG, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, REPUBLICAN PARTY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, Ronald Reagan, RUTH BEN-GHIAT, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, STEPHEN COLLINSON, STRONGMEN (BOOK), SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (SNAP), SUPREME COURT, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE INTERCEPT, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE NEW YORKER, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, THREATS, TIME, TREATY OF VERSALLIES, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TUSKEGEE AIRMEN, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE (DOD), UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, UNITED STATES SENATE, UPI, USA TODAY, VLADIMIR PUTIN, VOLKER ULLRICH, VOTER FRAUD, WEIMAR REPUBLIC, WILLIAM L. SHIRER, WOMEN VETERANS, WONKETTE, WORLD WAR 1, WORLD WAR 11, X
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on December 11, 2025 at 12:10 am
More than two years after he tried to establish himself as a dictator, Donald Trump remained free.
And he was still repeating “The Big Lie”: That he won the 2020 Presidential election but was cheated of victory by widespread voter fraud.
This was on a par with “The Big Lie” that had gripped Nazi Germany after World War 1: That the nation had been “stabbed in the back” by civilian Communists and Jews.
The result: Two-thirds of Republicans still rejected the legitimacy of the 2020 election of Joe Biden.
Facing 91 criminal charges in four criminal cases, Trump—unlike any other criminal defendant—was not even required to post bond.
In Florida, he faced 40 felony counts for illegally withholding highly classified government documents. Yet a judge he had appointed—Aileen Cannon—repeatedly delayed the start of his trial.
According to former United States Attorney Joyce Vance, her goal was clearly to delay the trial past the November, 2024, Presidential election.
Aileen Cannon
Trump repeatedly slandered—and even threatened—prosecutors, witnesses, judges and jurors in the four cases he faced. He claimed he was simply exercising his right to “freedom of speech” as a Presidential candidate.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who was overseeing Trump’s election interference case, imposed a limited gag order on Trump in October, 2023. But this was lifted by the U.S. Court of Appeals while it heard appeals from Trump’s lawyers, who wanted it removed completely.
Most ominously, an August 29, 2023 story by the Associated Press reported: Right-wing “think tanks”—led by the long-established Heritage Foundation—were plotting to remake the federal government into a Fascist dictatorship:
“With more than a year to go before the 2024 election, a constellation of conservative organizations is preparing for a possible second White House term for Donald Trump, recruiting thousands of Americans to come to Washington on a mission to dismantle the federal government and replace it with a vision closer to his own….
Heritage Foundation
Ser Amantio di Nicolao, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
“Trump-era conservatives want to gut the ‘administrative state’ from within, by ousting federal employees they believe are standing in the way of the president’s agenda and replacing them with like-minded officials more eager to fulfill a new executive’s approach to governing.
“Much of the new president’s agenda would be accomplished by reinstating what’s called Schedule F — a Trump-era executive order that would reclassify tens of thousands of the 2 million federal employees as essentially at-will workers who could more easily be fired.”
Meanwhile, Trump openly called for ending Constitutionally-granted freedoms:
On December 3, 2022, he wrote in a Truth Social post:
“Do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”
A November 14, 2023 analysis by CNN’s Stephen Collinson warned:
“The former and possibly future commander in chief aspires to strongman power if he wins back the White House next year. He believes his authority would be absolute. He wants vengeance against his political enemies. He’d pose the greatest challenge to the rule of law and the Constitution in modern times, seek to crush press freedoms and gut the machinery of government.
“None of this is speculation. Trump is saying and showing exactly what he would do in his rallies, social media posts, interviews, lawyers’ filings and even appearances in court that he uses to stigmatize the legal system. And Trump’s ambitions should be taken seriously because one year from the election, President Joe Biden’s reelection hopes are far from secure.”
As an example of Trump’s rhetoric, Ruth Ben-Ghiat professor of history at New York University and author of the bestselling book, Strongmen, cites the former President’s address on Veterans Day, 2023:
“We will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country, that lie and steal and cheat on elections, and will do anything possible, they will do anything, whether legally or illegally, to destroy America and to destroy the American dream.”
Speaking on the November 13, 2023 edition of The PBS Newshour, Ben-Ghiat said:
“Since the fascists, authoritarians always want to do two things—they want to change the way that people see violence, making it into something necessary and patriotic and even morally righteous, and they want to change the way people see their targets. And so they use dehumanizing language. And former President Trump is doing both.
“He’s been using his rallies since 2015 to shift the idea of violence into something positive. And now he’s starting to use dehumanizing rhetoric, all these groups who live like vermin. And this is what the original fascists did.
“Hitler started talking about Jews as parasites in 1920. So by the time he got in 1933, Germans had been exposed to this dehumanizing rhetoric for 13 years.
“And Mussolini literally talked about rats. After he had become dictator in 1927, he said, we need to kill rats who are bringing infectious diseases and Bolshevism from the east. And so this matches up with Trump talking about immigrants bringing disease and other such things.
“So this is very dangerous rhetoric with a very precise fascist history.”
2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, ABC NEWS, ABORTION, ADOLF HITLER, AFFORDABLE CARE ACT, AILEEN CANNON, AIR TRAFFICK CONTROLLERS, ALFRED JODL, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, ATTORNEYS GENERAL, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BARACK OBAMA, BAVARIA, BBC, BEER HALL PUTSCH, BEN SASSE, BLOOMBERG, BLUESKY, BRAD RAFFENSPERGER, BRIAN KEMP, BUZZFEED, CAPITAL PUNISHMENT, CBS NEWS, CHRISTIANITY, CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS, CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS TRIAL, CNN, CONTRACEPTION, COVID-19, CROOKS AND LIARS, D-DAY, DAILY KOS, DEMOCRATIC PARTY, DEMOCRATS, DONALD TRUMP, ELECTORAL COLLEGE, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, EQUITY DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION (DEI) PROGRAMS, FASCISM, FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION (FAA), FEDERAL COMMUNICATIOS COMMISSION, FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FOSSIL FUELS, GEORGE W. BUSH, GERD VON RUNDSTEDT, GULF OF MEXICO, GUNTHER BLUMENTRITT, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HERITAGE FOUNDATION, HILLARY CLINTON, HITLER: ASCENT (BOOK), HUFFINGTON POST, IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT (ICE), INSIDER, INSPECTORS GENERAL, JANUARY 6 COUP ATTEMPT, JOHN F. KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, JOSEPH BIDEN, JOSEPH STALIN, jOSH HAWLEY, JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, Kamala Harris, KEN PAXTON, KGB, MEDAL OF HONOR WINNERS, MEDIA MATTERS, MEDICAID, MEDICARE, MEIN KAMPF, MIKE PENCE, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, MUNICH, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION (NOAA), NAZI GERMANY, NAZI PARTY, NBC NEWS, NEW REPUBLIC, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NORMANDY, NPR, PAT A. CIPOLLONE, PAUL VON HINDENBURG, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, REPUBLICAN PARTY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, Ronald Reagan, RUTH BEN-GHIAT, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, STEPHEN COLLINSON, STRONGMEN (BOOK), SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (SNAP), SUPREME COURT, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE INTERCEPT, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE NEW YORKER, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, THREATS, TIME, TREATY OF VERSALLIES, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TUSKEGEE AIRMEN, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE (DOD), UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, UNITED STATES SENATE, UPI, USA TODAY, VLADIMIR PUTIN, VOLKER ULLRICH, VOTER FRAUD, WEIMAR REPUBLIC, WILLIAM L. SHIRER, WOMEN VETERANS, WONKETTE, WORLD WAR 1, WORLD WAR 11, X
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on December 10, 2025 at 3:26 am
On January 6, 2021, President Donald Trump appeared at the Ellipse, a 52-acre park south of the White House fence and north of Constitution Avenue and the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
A stage had been set up for him to address tens of thousands of his supporters, who eagerly awaited him.
Trump ordered them to march on the Capitol building to express their anger at the voting process and to intimidate their elected officials to reject the results of the 2020 Presidential election.
The Stormtrumpers marched to the United States Capitol—and quickly brushed aside Capitol Police, who made little effort to arrest or shoot them.
Capitol Police facing off with Stormtrumpers
- One attacker was shot as protesters forced their way toward the House Chamber where members of Congress were sheltering in place.
- Members of the mob attacked police with chemical agents or lead pipes.
- A Capitol Hill police officer was knocked off his feet, dragged into the mob surging toward the building, and beaten with the pole of an American flag.
- Several rioters carried plastic handcuffs, possibly intending to take hostages.
- Others carried treasonous Confederate flags.
- Shouts of “Hang Pence!” often rang out.
- Improvised explosive devices were found in several locations in Washington, D.C.
- Many of the lawmakers’ office buildings were occupied and vandalized—including that of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a favorite Right-wing target.
Stormtrumpers inside the Capitol Building
More than three hours passed before police—using riot gear, shields and batons—retook control of the Capitol.
And Trump?
- After giving his inflammatory speech, he returned to the White House—to watch his handiwork on television and rage-tweet against Vice President Mike Pence.
- He was “delighted” at the attack—and surprised that others weren’t, as angry Republican Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse said later.
- He initially denied requests to mobilize the National Guard.
- Six hours after the rioting began, Pat A. Cipollone, the White House Counsel and other officials intervened and deployed the National Guard.
- While the rioting was still erupting, Trump posted a video on Twitter: “I know you’re hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us….But you have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order….So go home. We love you. You’re very special.”
His administration was closing with the same contempt for law and democracy that had characterized it from its outset.
Joseph R. Biden legitimately assumed the Presidency on January 20, 2021.
Yet it was only on November 22, 2022, that his handpicked Attorney General, Merrick Garland, appointed Jack Smith as independent special counsel.
Smith had served in the Justice Department as an assistant U.S. attorney, acting U.S. attorney and head of the agency’s Public Integrity Section.
From 2008 to 2010, Smith worked as investigation coordinator for the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands. He thus oversaw cases against government officials and militia members accused of war crimes and genocide.
Jack Smith
He now became responsible for overseeing two preexisting Justice Department criminal investigations into Trump.
On June 8, 2023, a grand jury indicted Trump on seven federal criminal charges related to his handling of classified documents. This marked the first time in American history that a serving or former president had been indicted on a federal criminal charge.
On August 1, a second grand jury indicted Trump on four more federal felony counts for attempting to overturn the 2020 Presidential election and inciting a riot against Congress on January 6, 2021.
Meanwhile, Trump publicly attacked Smith as even notorious Mafia bosses like John Gotti never dared attack their prosecutors.
Trump attacked Smith as “deranged” and a “Trump-hating prosecutor,” adding that “his wife and family despise me much more than he does.”
A typical Trump post on his website, Truth Social, exploded on August 28, 2023:
“It has just been reported that aides to TRUMP prosecutor, Deranged Jack Smith, met with high officials at the White House just prior to these political SleazeBags Indicating me OVER NOTHING.
“If this is so, which it is, that means that Biden and his Fascist Thugs knew and APPROVED of this Country dividing Form of Election Interference, despite their insisting that they ‘knew nothing.”
Such attacks led the Justice Department to increase the security detail for Smith from two to at least four deputy U.S. marshals on a 24-hour basis.
Many of Trump’s supporters believed that Smith was acting on behalf of President Biden to deprive Trump of the chance to run for the White House a third time.
The January 6 coup attempt proved beyond doubt his followers’ capacity for violence.
On November 14, 2023, the Justice Department urged a Washington, DC, appeals court to uphold the gag order against Trump in his federal election subversion criminal case. Prosecutors charged that Trump’s attacks on Smith and his family demonstrated why restrictions on Trump’s speech were necessary.
“There has never been a criminal case in which a court has granted a defendant an unfettered right to try his case in the media, malign the prosecutor and his family, and …target specific witnesses with attacks on their character and credibility,” Smith’s team told the US DC Circuit Court of Appeals in a filing.
2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, ABC NEWS, ABORTION, ADOLF HITLER, AFFORDABLE CARE ACT, AILEEN CANNON, AIR TRAFFICK CONTROLLERS, ALFRED JODL, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, ATTORNEYS GENERAL, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BARACK OBAMA, BAVARIA, BBC, BEER HALL PUTSCH, BEN SASSE, BLOOMBERG, BLUESKY, BRAD RAFFENSPERGER, BRIAN KEMP, BUZZFEED, CAPITAL PUNISHMENT, CBS NEWS, CHRISTIANITY, CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS, CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS TRIAL, CNN, CONTRACEPTION, COVID-19, CROOKS AND LIARS, D-DAY, DAILY KOS, DEMOCRATIC PARTY, DEMOCRATS, DONALD TRUMP, ELECTORAL COLLEGE, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, EQUITY DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION (DEI) PROGRAMS, FASCISM, FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION (FAA), FEDERAL COMMUNICATIOS COMMISSION, FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FOSSIL FUELS, GEORGE W. BUSH, GERD VON RUNDSTEDT, GULF OF MEXICO, GUNTHER BLUMENTRITT, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HERITAGE FOUNDATION, HILLARY CLINTON, HITLER: ASCENT, HITLER: ASCENT (BOOK), HUFFINGTON POST, IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT (ICE), INSIDER, INSPECTORS GENERAL, JANUARY 6 COUP ATTEMPT, JOHN F. KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, JOSEPH BIDEN, JOSEPH STALIN, jOSH HAWLEY, JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, Kamala Harris, KEN PAXTON, KGB, MEDAL OF HONOR WINNERS, MEDIA MATTERS, MEDICAID, MEDICARE, MEIN KAMPF, MIKE PENCE, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, MUNICH, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION (NOAA), NAZI GERMANY, NAZI PARTY, NBC NEWS, NEW REPUBLIC, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NORMANDY, NPR, PAT A. CIPOLLONE, PAUL VON HINDENBURG, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, REPUBLICAN PARTY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, Ronald Reagan, RUTH BEN-GHIAT, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, STEPHEN COLLINSON, STRONGMEN (BOOK), SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (SNAP), SUPREME COURT, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE INTERCEPT, THE LONGEST DAY (MOVIE, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE NEW YORKER, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, THREATS, TIME, TREASON, TREATY OF VERSALLIES, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TUSKEGEE AIRMEN, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE (DOD), UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, UNITED STATES SENATE, UPI, USA TODAY, VLADIMIR PUTIN, VOLKER ULLRICH, VOTER FRAUD, VOTERFRAUD, WEIMAR REPUBLIC, WILLIAM L. SHIRER, WOMEN VETERANS, WONKETTE, WORLD WAR 1, WORLD WAR 11, X
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on December 9, 2025 at 12:10 am
From November 3 to December 14, 2020, President Donald J. Trump and his allies lost 59 times in court to overturn the 2020 Presidential election.
They either withdrew their cases or found them dismissed by Federal and state judges.
On November 19, Trump invited two Republican legislative leaders from Michigan to the White House—to persuade them to stop their state from certifying the vote.
The Michigan legislators said they would follow the law.
.jpg/220px-Donald_Trump_August_19,_2015_(cropped).jpg)
Donald Trump
On December 5, Trump called Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and asked him to call a special legislative session and convince state legislators to select their own electors that would support him, thus overturning Biden’s win.
Kemp refused, saying he lacked the authority to do so.
On December 8, the Supreme Court refused to hear Trump’s bid to reverse Pennsylvania’s certification of Biden’s victory. Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA), a Trump ally, argued that the state’s 2.5 million mail-in votes were unconstitutional.
Although Trump had appointed three of the Court’s Justices, not one of them dissented.
On December 10, the Supreme Court refused to let a Texas lawsuit overturn the results in four battleground states: Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The majority of their votes had been cast for Biden.
The Supreme Court
With the Senate due to certify states’ Electoral College results on January 6, 2021, Trump pressed Vice President Mike Pence to flip the results of the election to give him a win. This despite the fact that the Electoral Count Act of 1887 limits the Vice President to a largely ceremonial role.
Then, on December 30, Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley announced that, on January 6, 2021, he would object to the certification of some states’ Electoral College results.
A total of 147 Republican Congressional members voted to invalidate the Electoral College vote count of the 2020 presidential election: 139 in the House of Representatives, and eight in the Senate.
Having lost in 59 court cases to overturn the election results, Trump opted for some old-fashioned arm-twisting.
On January 2, 2021, he called the office of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. The reason: To pressure him to “find” enough votes to overturn former Vice President Joe Biden’s win in the state’s presidential election.
“All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state,” Trump lied.
He even threatened Raffensperger with criminal prosecution if he did not change the vote count in Trump’s favor: “That’s a criminal offense. And you can’t let that happen.”
Raffensperger insisted there hadn’t been any voter fraud—and refused to change the official results.
By January 6, 2021, Trump had almost run out of options for illegally staying in power for the next four years.
On January 6, the United States Senate, with Vice President Mike Pence presiding, would certify states’ Electoral College results of that election.
That morning, Trump urged Pence to flip the results of the election to give him a win. Pence replied that he lacked the power to overturn those results.
But as Pence went off to the Capitol Building housing the Senate and House of Representatives, Trump had one last card to play.
Mike Pence
For weeks Trump had ordered his legions of Right-wing Stormtrumpers to descend on Washington, D.C. on January 6.
On December 20, he had tweeted: “Statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 Election. Big protest in DC on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!”
In tweets, he promoted the rally again on December 27 and 30, and January 1.
On January 6, Trump appeared at the Ellipse, a 52-acre park south of the White House fence and north of Constitution Avenue and the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
A stage had been set up for him to address tens of thousands of his supporters, who eagerly awaited him.
Trump ordered them to march on the Capitol building to express their anger at the voting process and to intimidate their elected officials to reject the results.
Donald Trump addresses his Stormtrumpers
“All of us here today do not want to see our election victory stolen by a bold and radical left Democrats which is what they are doing and stolen by the fake news media.
“Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore, and that is what this is all about. And to use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with, we will stop the steal….
“Republicans are constantly fighting like a boxer with his hands tied behind his back….And we’re going to have to fight much harder….
“And after this, we’re going to walk down and I’ll be there with you. We’re going to walk down to the Capitol. And we’re going to cheer on our brave Senators and Congressmen and women and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them.
“Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated.”
The Stormtrumpers marched to the United States Capitol—and quickly brushed aside Capitol Police, who made little effort to arrest or shoot them.
Bureaucracybuster's Blog 
ABC NEWS, ABC’S THE WEEK, ADOLF HITLER, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, AUSTRIA, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BBC, BC NEWS, BEVIN ALEXANDER, BLOOMBERG, BLUESKY, BUZZFEED, CANADA, CBS NEWS, CHARLES “CQ” BROWN, CNN, CROOKS AND LIARS, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, D-DAY, DAILY KOS, DONALD TRUMP, ERWIN ROMMEL, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FRANCE, FUHRER OATH, GREAT BRITAIN, GREENLAND, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HEINZ GUDERIAN, HOW HITLER COULD HAVE WON WORLD WAR II (BOOK), HUFFINGTON POST, IRAN, JAMES SLIFE, JEFFREY EPSTEIN, JEFFREY KRUSE, JIMMY CARTER, JOINT OPERATIONS COMMAND, JUSTIN TRUDEAU, LISA FRANCHETTI, MEDIA MATTERS, MEXICO, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, MUNICH CONFERENCE, NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY, NAZI GERMANY, NBC NEWS, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NPR, NUCLEAR WEAPONS SITES, PANAMA, PAUL VON HINDENBURG, PBS NEWSHOUR, PETE HEGSETH, POLAND, POLITICIZING THE MILITARY, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAMDY GEORGE, RANDY GEORGE, RAW STORY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, RHINELAND, RUSSIA, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, SHOSHANA CHATFIELD, SLATE, SUDENTENLAND, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE INTERCEPT, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE NEW YORKER, THE PENTAGON, THE SS, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THEODORE ROOSEVELT, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TIMOTHY HAUGH, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, WERNER VON BLOMBERG, WERNER VON FRITSCH, WONKETTE, WORLD WAR 11, X
LIKE HITLER, LIKE TRUMP: AGGRESSION AS HEROISM: PART THREE (END)
In Bureaucracy, History, Military, Politics, Social commentary, Uncategorized on May 7, 2026 at 12:13 amWhen Donald Trump isn’t picking fights with Americans, he picks them with the leaders of democratic countries.
At a November 30, 2024 dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s estate in Palm Beach, Florida, he told Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that Canada could become the 51st state of the United States.
Canada’s Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who attended the dinner, insisted that Trump was joking.
But on December 2, Trump threatened to impose a 25% tax on all products entering the United States from Canada and Mexico unless they stopped the flow of drugs and illegal aliens.
And on December 3, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform an AI-generated image of himself standing on a mountain with a Canadian flag beside him. Its caption: “Oh Canada!”
Trudeau had requested the Mar-a-Lago meeting to convince Trump that the northern border is completely different from the southern one with Mexico.
Canadian flag
“Less than one percent of migrants coming into the United States irregularly come from Canada and 0.2 percent of the fentanyl coming into the United States comes from Canada,” Trudeau said in Parliament.
During the last fiscal year, American customs agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border, compared with 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border.
Most of the fentanyl reaching the U.S. is made by Mexican drug cartels using precursor chemicals smuggled from Asia.
Utterly unmentioned in Trump’s demand: It’s America’s insatiable demand for illicit drugs that is the root cause of the drug trade.
Heroin syringe
Also unmentioned—if not deliberately ignored by Trump: Canada plays a substantial role as a U.S. trading partner. About 60% of U.S. crude oil imports are from Canada, and 85% of U.S. electricity imports as well.
Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the U.S. and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon eagerly desires. About 77% of Canada’s exports go to the U.S.
Trudeau pleaded with Trump not to impose the tariff because because it would “kill” Canada’s economy.
Trump responded: “So your country can’t survive unless it’s ripping off the US to the tune of $100 billion?”
His comments referred to the American trade deficit with Canada.
The U.S. had a $75 billion trade deficit with Canada in 2023 but a third of what Canada sells into the U.S. is energy exports and prices have been high.
Trudeau left the meeting without reassurance that Trump would not impose a 25% tariff on products from Canada.
But on March 5, 2025, Trump slapped 25% tariffs on Canada. Six days later, Trump announced that he would impose an additional 25% tariff on all Canadian steel and aluminum imports effective March 12.
Yet another country Trump has aimed his hostility at is Greenland.
“For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on December 23, 2024.
The next day, Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede told Trump to back off: “Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom.”
The Kingdom of Denmark holds control of the semi-autonomous Greenland.
Trump had previously floated the idea of the U.S. buying Greenland in 2019, which the Danish prime minister at the time called “absurd.”
Greenland is home to America’s Pituffik Space Base which “detects and reports attack assessments of sea-launched and intercontinental ballistic missile threats in support of strategic missile warning and missile defense,” according to the base’s website.
Greenland is strategically significant to the United States because it sits between Russia and the eastern coast of the United States, and is the fastest way from Europe to New York.
Some critics believe that Trump is floating headline-getting assaults on other nations to divert attention from his domestic agenda—which includes deporting millions of men, women and children from Hispanic countries.
Others believe it’s to divert attention from the recently released Epstein Files, which document his longtime ties to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein
In January, 2026, Danish military personnel were deployed to Greenland with instructions to prepare to disable key airport runways in Nuuk and Kangerlussuaq to prevent U.S. military aircraft from landing. Danish forces brought explosives and blood supplies in preparation for potential conflict.
NATO had been created in 1949 to deter Soviet Union aggression against Europe. For the first time in its 77-year history, its European members prepared to repulse an invasion by the United States.
Trump’s actions faced heavy opposition in Congress from both major parties. Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson described Trump’s threats as “completely inappropriate.”
On January 21, 2026, Trump reversed course, first ruling out military force and then abandoning tariff threats after talks with NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte.
And while Trump picks needless fights with America’s longtime allies, China—the first peer competitor that can challenge America economically, militarily, and technologically—is deepening its ties with Russia, Iran, North Korea, and other countries that seek to weaken U.S. power.
Share this: