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In Bureaucracy, History, Military, Politics, Social commentary on September 7, 2026 at 12:10 am
The CIA, FBI and National Security Agency (which cracks codes and listens to the telephone conversation of foreign leaders) unanimously agree: Russian trolls and Intelligence agents played a major role in subverting the 2016 Presidential election.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller III, assigned in May, 2017, to investigate charges of Russian interference, believed there was collusion. He indicted or obtained guilty pleas from 34 people and three companies.
Robert Mueller
And about 58% of Americans believe that President Donald Trump tried to obstruct the investigation.
Apparently, most Americans don’t like having their elections subverted by enemy nations.
Subverting the governments of other countries is a right that Americans have long reserved for themselves. Among those regimes that have been toppled:
- Between 1898 and 1934, the United States repeatedly intervened with military force in Central America and the Caribbean.
- Americans staged invasions of Honduras in 1903, 1907, 1911, 1912, 1919, 1924 and 1925 to defend U.S. interests. These were defined as Standard Oil and the United Fruit Company.
- The United States occupied Nicaragua almost continuously from 1912 to 1933. Its legacy was the imposition of the tyrannical Somoza family, which ruled from 1936 to 1979.
- The United States occupied Haiti from 1915 to 1934. American banks had lent money to Haiti and requested American government intervention.
- In 1918, 13,000 American soldiers joined armies from Europe and Japan to overthrow the new Soviet government and restore the previous Czarist regime. By 1920, the invading forces proved unsuccessful and withdrew.
Allied troops parading in Vladivostok, 1918
- From 1946 to 1949, the United States provided military, logistical and other aid to the Right-wing Chinese Nationalist Party of Chiang Kai-shek. Its opponent: Communist forces led by Mao Tse-Tung, who ultimately proved victorious.
- In 1953, the Eisenhower administration ordered the CIA to overthrew the democratically-elected government of of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. His crime: Nationalizing the Iranian oil industry, which had been under British control since 1913. He was succeeded by Mohammad-Reza Shah Phlavi.
- Whereas Mossadeddgh had ruled as a constitutional monarch, Phlavi was a dictator who depended on United States government support to retain power until he was overthrown in 1979 by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
- In 1954, the CIA overthrew the democratically-elected government of Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz. His crime: Installing a series of reforms that expanded the right to vote, allowed workers to organize, legitimized political parties and allowed public debate. Most infuriating to American Right-wingers: His agrarian reform law, which expropriated parts of large land-holdings and redistributed them to agricultural laborers.
- The United Fruit Company lobbied the United States government to overthrow him—and the CIA went into action. Arbenz was replaced by the first of a series of brutal Right-wing dictators.
- From 1959 until 1963, the United States government was obsessed with overthrowing the revolutionary Cuban government of Fidel Castro. Although not democratically elected, Castro was wildly popular in Cuba for overthrowing the dictatorial Fulgencio Batista.
- On April 17, 1961, over 1,400 CIA-trained Cuban exiles invaded Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. Cuban military forces crushed the invasion in three days.
- Infuriated with the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion, President John F. Kennedy authorized “Operation Mongoose” to remove Castro through sabotage and assassination. The CIA, wanting to please Kennedy, teamed up with the Mafia, which wanted to resurrect its casinos on the island.
- Among the tactics used: Hiring Cuban gangsters to murder police officials and Soviet technicians; sabotaging mines; using biological and chemical warfare against the Cuban sugar industry. None of these proved successful in assassinating Castro nor overturning his regime.
Ernesto “Che” Guevera
- In 1970, President Richard M. Nixon ordered the CIA to prevent Marxist Salvador Allende from being democratically elected as president of Chile. When that failed, he ordered the CIA to overthrow Allende. Allende’s crime: A series of liberal reforms, including nationalizing large-scale industries (notably copper mining and banking).
- In 1973, he was overthrown by Chilean army units and national police. He committed suicide rather than be captured. He was followed by Right-wing dictator Augusto Pinochet, who slaughtered 3,200 political dissidents, imprisoned 30,000 and forced another 200,000 Chileans into exile.
And how did Americans react to all these attempts—successful and unsuccessful—at regime change?
Through indifference or outright support.
The popular 1960s TV series, “Mission: Impossible,” regularly depicted a CIA-type agency supporting regimes “we” liked or toppling those “we” didn’t.
Americans generally assume their Presidents and Congress know best who is a “friend” and who is an “enemy.” America’s friends usually turn out to be Right-wing dictators like Chiang Kai-Shek, Fulgencio Batista, Augusto Pinochet and Mohammad-Reza Shah Phlavi.
And its enemies often turn out to be liberal reformers like Augusto Sandino, Mohammad Mosaddegh and Salvador Allende.
Americans tend to favor intervention for the flimsiest of reasons. In 2003, President George W. Bush claimed Iraq’s dictator, Saddam Hussein, had plotted 9/11 with Osama bin Laden. There was absolutely no proof to substantiate this, yet Americans overwhelmingly supported Bush’s unprovoked invasion of Iraq.
But now the shoe is on the other foot.
Except for President Donald Trump and his fanatical supporters, Americans became furious that a foreign power dared to install “regime change” on them.
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In Bureaucracy, Business, History, Military, Politics, Social commentary on September 4, 2026 at 12:10 am
The “negotiating” methods of German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler serve as a useful guide to what domestic and world leaders can expect from trying to reach an agreement with President Donald Trump.
In September, 1938, seven months after seizing Austria, Hitler gave another exhibition of his “negotiating” methods.
This time, the target of his aggression was Czechoslovakia. Once again, he opened “negotiations” with a lie: The Czechoslovak government was trying to exterminate 3.5 million Germans living in the “Sudetenland.”
Then he threatened war: Germany would protect its citizens and halt such “oppression.”
For British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, the thought of another European war erupting less than 20 years after the end of World War I was simply unthinkable.
He quickly sent Hitler a telegram, offering to help resolve the crisis: “I could come to you by air and am ready to leave tomorrow. Please inform me of earliest time you can receive me, and tell me the place of the meeting. I should be grateful for a very early reply.”
[Mistake #1: Showing his willingness to placate a brutal dictator. Such men see any concessions as weakness—leading to only greater demands. Trump, like Hitler, relishes attacking those weaker than himself.]
The two European leaders met in Berchtesgaden, Germany, on September 15, 1938.
Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler
Hitler denied that he had threatened war: “Force? Who speaks of force?“
Then, suddenly, he accused the Czechs of having mobilized their army in May. They had mobilized—in response to the mobilization of the German army.
“I shall not put up with this any longer,” shouted Hitler. “I shall settle this question in one way or another. I shall take matters in my own hands!”
Suddenly, Chamberlain seemed alarmed: “If I understood you right, you are determined to proceed against Czechoslovakia in any case. In the circumstances, it is best for me to return at once. Anything else now seems pointless.”
Hitler, taken aback, softened his tone and said they should consider the Sudetenland according to the principle of self-determination.
Chamberlain agreed to the cession of the Sudetenland. Three days later, French Prime Minister Edouard Daladier did the same. No Czechoslovak representative was invited to these discussions.
[Mistake #2: Instead of conceding to Hitler, which emboldened the dictator, Chamberlain should have pressed his advantage. When Hitler faced an opponent he couldn’t bribe or cow—such as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill or Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin—he raged and sulked.
[When Trump faces an opponent he can’t buy or intimidate—such as Special Counsel Jack Smith or Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei—he does the same.]
Chamberlain met Hitler again in Godesberg, Germany, on September 22 to confirm the agreements. But Hitler aimed to use the crisis as a pretext for war.
He now demanded not only the annexation of the Sudetenland but the immediate military occupation of the territories. This would give the Czechoslovak army no time to adapt their defense measures to the new borders.
To achieve a solution, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini suggested a conference of the major powers in Munich.
On September 29, Hitler, Daladier and Chamberlain met and agreed to Mussolini’s proposal. They signed the Munich Agreement, which accepted the immediate occupation of the Sudetenland.
The Czechoslovak government had not been a party to the talks. Nevertheless, it promised to abide by the agreement on September 30.
It actually had no choice. It faced the threat of an immediate German invasion after being deserted by its pledged allies: Britain, France and the Soviet Union.
[Mistake #3: Selling out an ally and making a concession to an insatiable dictator—and believing that Hitler could be trusted to keep his word.
[Just as Chamberlain sold out Czechoslovakia, Trump plans on selling out Ukraine to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. He’s blamed Ukraine for starting the 2022 war—even though Russia invaded Ukraine.
He’s long wanted a Trump Tower in Moscow. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky can’t give him that. Putin can.]
Chamberlain returned to England a hero. Holding aloft a copy of the worthless agreement he had signed with Hitler, he told cheering crowds in London: “I believe it is peace for our time.”
Neville Chamberlain
Hitler—still planning more conquests—knew better. In March, 1939, the German army occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia.
Chamberlain would soon be seen as a naive weakling—even before bombs started falling on London.
Believing himself invincible, Hitler turned his attention—and demands—to Poland.
Adolf Hitler and his generals
Believing himself invincible, Trump now threatens violence against Canada, Greenland and Cuba.
Hitler ordered the invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. To his surprise, France and England honored their pledges to support Poland—triggering World War II. Six years and 50-56 million deaths followed.
On February 28, 2026, Trump—in concert with Israel–attacked Iran without warning. To his surprise, the Iranians closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20-30% of the world’s oil total daily oil supply passes. This has triggered a global oil crisis and severely tightened international energy supplies.
Hitler couldn’t “turn off” the war he had started. He could only lash out as his enemies multiplied.
The same has proven true for Trump.
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In Bureaucracy, Business, History, Military, Politics, Social commentary on September 3, 2026 at 12:10 am
To understand the “negotiating” style of Donald Trump, it’s essential to study that of Adolf Hitler.
Both men, dictatorial by nature, did/do not believe in compromise. Their idea of “compromise” was/is: “You do what I want—or I’ll destroy you.”
In Hitler’s case, his mania for absolute control began with the Nazi party and eventually extended to Germany. Then it reached to Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Norway, Denmark, France, Greece, Yugoslavia and Russia. At least 50 million men, women and children perished in the wars he unleashed from 1939 to 1945.
Adolf Hitler
Similarly, Trump’s mania for control started with building a real estate empire. Then it encompassed his “reality TV” show, The Apprentice—and finally politics.
He began dominating the Republican party by winning a series of Presidential primaries—and then the White House. Then came asserting control over the Justice Department and the judiciary—up to the Supreme Court.
Re-elected in 2024, he now seeks to dominate Americans, has asserted but failed to control Iran, attacks Mexico and Canada with trade wars, and threatened Greenland and Panama with invasion.
Much can be learned about Trump’s “negotiating” methods—and what it takes to counter them—by studying those of Germany’s Fuhrer.
Robert Payne, author of the bestselling biography, The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler (1973), described Hitler’s “negotiating” style thus:
“Although Hitler prized his own talents as a negotiator, a man always capable of striking a good bargain, he was totally lacking in finesse.
Donald Trump
“He was incapable of bargaining. He was like a man who goes up to a fruit peddler and threatens to blow his brains out if he does not sell his applies at the lowest possible price.”
What Payne writes about Hitler applies equally well to Trump.
Hitler revealed his “bargaining style” in 1938, when he invited Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg to his mountaintop retreat in Obersalzberg, Germany.
Hitler, an Austrian by birth, intended to annex his native land to Germany. Schuschnigg was aware of this, but felt secure in accepting the invitation. He had been assured that the question of Austrian sovereignty would not arise.
The meeting occurred on February 12, 1938.
Shuschnigg opened the discussion with a friendly compliment. Walking over to a large window, he admired the breathtaking view of the mountains.
HITLER: We haven’t come here to talk about the lovely view or the weather!
Austria has anyway never done anything which was of help to the German Reich….I am resolutely determined to make an end to all this business. The German Reich is a great power. Nobody can and nobody will interfere if it restores order on its frontiers.
[Like Hitler, Trump relies on insults and anger to put his victims on the defense.]
Kurt von Schuschnigg
SCHUSCHNIGG: We simply have to go on living alongside one another, the little state next to the big one. We have no other choice.
And that is why I ask you to tell me what your concrete complaints are. We will do all in our power to sort things out and establish a friendly relationship, as far as it is possible to do so.
HITLER: That’s what you say, Herr Schuschnigg. And I am telling you that I intend to clear up the whole of the so-called Austrian question—one way or another. Do you think I don’t know that you are fortifying Austria’s border with the Reich?
SCHUSCHNIGG: There can be no suggestion at all of that—
HITLER: Ridiculous explosive chambers are being built under bridges and roads—
This was a lie, and Hitler knew it was a lie. But it gave him an excuse to threaten to destroy Austria.
[For Trump, winning—not truth—is all that matters. During his first term as President, he told a documented 30,573 lies.]
HITLER: I have only to give one command and all this comic stuff on the border will be blown to pieces overnight. You don’t seriously think you could hold me up, even for half an hour, do you?
The S.A. [Hitler’s private army of Stormtroopers] and the [Condor] lLegion [which had bombed much of Spain into rubble during the Spanish Civil War] would come in after the troops and nobody—not even I—could stop them from wreaking vengeance.
Schnuschigg made a cardinal mistake in dealing with Hitler: He showed fear. And this was precisely what the Nazi dictator looked for in an opponent.
[Like Hitler, Trump relies on fear: “Real power is—I don’t even want to use the word—fear,” he said in March 2016 when still only a candidate for President.]
Contrary to popular belief, Hitler did not constantly rage at everyone. He used rage as a weapon, knowing that most people feel intimidated by it.
In the case of Schuschnigg, Hitler opened with insults and threats at the outset of their discussion. Then there was a period of calm, to convince the Austrian chancellor the worst was over.
Finally, he once again attacked—this time with so much fury that Schuschnigg was terrified into submission.
With one stroke of a pen, Austria became a vassal-state to Nazi Germany.
[Like Hitler, Trump threatens only those he feels are weak—thus his threats to use military force against Canada, Greenland and Panama.]
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In Bureaucracy, Business, History, Medical, Military, Politics, Social commentary on September 2, 2026 at 12:10 am
President Donald Trump is haunted by the fear of a third impeachment action against him if Democrats retake the House of Representatives in the fast-approaching midterm elections scheduled for November 3.
Speaking at a rally in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to support Senate candidate Darline Graham, sister of the late Senator Lindsey Graham, Trump warned: “If we lose the midterms, I am going to be impeached. They are going to impeach me. They have no idea why!”
On the contrary: Democrats know well why they want to remove him from office. Among their reasons:
- Starting an unprovoked war with Iran.
- Attacking longtime American allies like Canada, England and Greenland.
- Cozying up to Communist dictators such as Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-Un.
- Ordering the Justice Department to indict his critics such as New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey.
- Flooding Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, with 3,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who terrorized (and murdered) both American citizens and illegal aliens.
Donald Trump
Trump’s Republican accomplices in Congress fully understand the threat he faces—and what it poses for them. Thanks to his unprovoked war on Iran, oil shipments have been constrained worldwide—and Americans are furious at soaring prices for gas, food and housing.
Meanwhile, Trump arrogantly claims that “affordability” is a “Democratic hoax.” And, like Adolf Hitler contemplating architectural models while Nazi Germany neared destruction, he focuses on vanity projects like a 90,000 square foot White House ballroom and a towering “Victory Arch” overlooking Arlington Cemetery.
As a result, Trump’s current national approval rating hovers between 33% and 38%. And Republicans fear that his unpopularity will spell doom for their own re-election prospects.
On June 26, Mike Johnson (R-LA), Speaker of the House of Representatives, warned his colleagues:
“If we were to lose the midterms, heaven forbid, these Democrats, y’all, impeachment’s not even the biggest concern. They will turn every committee of Congress into an investigative body, and they’ll go after the president’s family, the Cabinet, his donors and friends—half of you in this room will be targeted.”
Mike Johnson
Frederick Wellman, the Democratic congressional candidate for Missouri’s 2nd District, was quick to agree:
“You’re damn right we will investigate crimes and corruption. Who moved $180 million in oil futures 15 minutes before Iran announcements? Who has gotten sole source contracts because of their connections to the Trump family?
“Where did our Social Security data go when DOGE downloaded it into portable hard drives? Where are the rest of the Epstein files? On and on this Congress has chosen covering up crimes instead of stopping them. That ends in November.”
Donald Trump is notorious for being thin-skinned. He has never displayed a sense of humor—nor an ability to laugh at himself. And he cannot abide listening to news that contradicts whatever he wants to do or believe.
The role that Natalie Harp plays in his life cannot be fully understood unless one accepts this fundamental truth: Trump, like Adolf Hitler, believes that if he just thinks positively, reality will bend to meet his wishes.
For this, he needs—and devours—a constant supply of “happy news” that confirms what he wants to believe. “News” that Harp is thrilled to constantly supply.
Thus, six months after launching a war he expected to be over in four to six weeks, Trump could say: “Right now, the situation is so good.”
Trump said this after leading reporters on a tour of the White House’s South Lawn to show off his latest renovations.
Presidents—and tyrants—who substitute “happy news” for hard truth usually come to a bad end. Hitler fired generals like Heinz Guderian—the architect of his sweeping victory over France in 1940—when they told him an offensive could not be continued or that their soldiers were needlessly dying for lack of supplies.
It did not win Hitler his war.
As Donald Trump lurches from one self-manufactured crisis to another, two warnings from Niccolo Machiavelli, the Florentine statesman and father of modern political science, take on special meaning:
“I must not omit an important subject, and mention of a mistake which princes can with difficulty avoid, if they are not very prudent, or if they do not make a good choice. And this is with regard to flatterers, of which courts are full, because men take pleasure in their own things and deceive themselves about them that they can with difficulty guard against this plague.”
And:
“It is an infallible rule that a prince who is not wise himself cannot be well advised, unless by chance he leaves himself entirely in the hands of one man who rules him in everything, and happens to be a very prudent man. In this case, he may doubtless be well governed, but it would not last long, for the governor would in a short time deprive him of the state.”
Noted historian Barbara Tuchman put it even more directly: “A great empire and little minds go ill together.”
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In Bureaucracy, Business, History, Military, Politics, Social commentary on September 1, 2026 at 12:10 am
Michael Wolff, a longtime biographer of Donald Trump, recently published letters from White House aide Natalie Harp to the President in The Daily Beast.
Among their revelations:
“If there is anything else I have done to cause you trouble, please forgive me. I want things to always be right between us. I also know I’ve been distracted all week (forgetting to eat throughout the days, and even forgetting to sleep, and only catching a couple hours at a time).”
And
“I never want to bring you anything but joy. I’m sorry I lost my focus. You are all that matters to me. I don’t want to ever let you down. Thank you for being my Guardian and Protector in this life.”
On August 16, Georgia’s Democratic United States Senator, Jon Ossoff, said at a campaign rally in Atlanta:
“He golfs and trades stocks. See, he doesn’t want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar.”
A clip of this remark was widely shared on social media.
Jon Ossoff
Ossoff didn’t accuse Trump and Harp of tripping the light fantastic, but the White House immediately and viciously reacted as if he had:
- White House Communications Director Steven Cheung: “Jon Jackoff has to be the biggest cuck loser in politics. Instead of denigrating hard working people serving their country, Jon should look deep into his soul and ask himself why he’s a miserable person who hates this country. It’s because he’s a radical, extremist Dumocrat.” [“Denigrating” actually means “insulting.” The word Cheung meant was “praising.”]
- Trump spokesman Davis Ingle: “A cringeworthy, feminine theatre kid cosplaying as Barack Obama.”
- Right-wing CNN pundit Scott Jennings: “A garbage human.”
- When a CNN reporter asked Trump about Ossoff’s remarks, a White House-run X account attacked her as “a disgraceful, humiliating embarrassment to her alleged profession.”
Even some Democrats feel that Ossoff went too far. One of these was David Axelrod, former advisor to President Barack Obama.
“No one has been more consistently eloquent or incisive in exposing @realDonaldTrump than @Ossoff. The paragraph from his weekend speech that has gotten so much attention was a brutal takedown. But two words in it, ‘with Natalie’ seemed gratuitous and unnecessary,” Axelrod wrote on X.
David Axelrod
This despite the fact that Trump has built his political career on countless brutal insults to both Republicans and Democrats.
The attacks on him haven’t fazed Ossoff: “It’s been amazing to watch this White House melt down over this all week,” he told MS NOW. “These White House staffers are adults, public officials paid by the taxpayer with immense power in positions of public trust.”
Even if there is no affair between the President and his adoring aide, their relationship underscores a fundamental Trumpian dilemma:
On one hand, he craves not simply loyalty but constant adoration. He must be repeatedly told he’s the most handsome, brilliant, powerful, beloved man on the planet.
On the other hand, his flagrant greed, egotism and constant attacks on a seemingly endless number of people—politicians, journalists, celebrities, ordinary Americans—ensure that the hatred he spews is returned in kind. And this makes him all the more desperate to feel adored.
Thus, enter Natalie Harp.
Ossoff’s comment has clearly touched a White House nerve. And it couldn’t have happened at a worse time for Trump.
He’s an 80-year-old, easily distracted man who repeatedly falls asleep in public events—such as during White House meetings or a World Cup game. He launched a losing war on Iran, predicted it would be over in four to six weeks, and has seen it spiral into six months with no end in sight.
Meanwhile, Iran continues to control the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 million barrels of oil used to pass each day. That flow has been reduced to between two million and six million barrels each day.
Strait of Hormuz
This has created a worldwide spiral in oil prices—and fueled inflation in the United States and other nations. But as prices for housing, energy and food soar in the United States, Trump claims that “affordability” is a “Democratic hoax.”
Like Adolf Hitler contemplating architectural models while Nazi Germany neared destruction, Trump focuses on vanity projects like a 90,000 square foot White House ballroom and a towering “Victory Arch” overlooking Arlington Cemetery.
Trump is haunted by the fear of a third impeachment action against him if Democrats retake the House of Representatives in the fast-approaching midterm elections scheduled for November 3.
Speaking at a rally in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to support Senate candidate Darline Graham, sister of the late Senator Lindsey Graham, Trump warned: “If we lose the midterms, I am going to be impeached. They are going to impeach me. They have no idea why!”
His Republican accomplices in Congress fully understand this as well. Most of them now hold their positions to his support—or by not daring to cross him in any way.
And they fear that his current unpopularity—at 33% to 39%—will upend their own chances for re-election.
ADOLF HITLER, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BARACK OBAMA, BARBARA TUCHMAN, BBC, BLOOMBERG, BLUESKY, BUZZFEED, CANADA, CBS NEWS, CNN, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOS, DAN SCAVINO, DARLINE GRAHAM, DAVID AXELROD, DAVIS INGLE, DEMOCRATS, DOGE, DONALD TRUMP, ENGLAND, EPSTEIN FILES, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FREDERICK WELLMAN, GREENLAND, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HEINZ GUDERIAN, HUFFINGTON POST, IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT (ICE), IMPEACHMENT, IRAN, JAMES COMEY, JAMES TALARICO, JOHN F. KENNEDY, JON OSSOFF, Kamala Harris, KIM JONG-UN, LEE HARVEY OSWALD, LETITIA JAMES, LINIDSEY GRAM, MAGGIE HABERMAN, MARCO RUBIO, MEDIA MATTERS, MICHAEL WOLFF, MICHELLE OBAMA, MIKE JOHNSON, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NATALIE HARP, NBC NEWS, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, NPR, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAFAEL "TED" CRUZ, RAW STORY, REGIME CHANGE (BOOK), REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, SALON, SCOTT BESSENT, SCOTT JENNINGS, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, STEPHEN MILLER, STEVEN CHEUNG, STRAIT OF HORMUZ, 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, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, UPI, USA TODAY, VICTORY ARCH, VLADIMIR PUTIN, WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM, X, XI JINPING
In Bureaucracy, Business, History, Medical, Military, Politics, Social commentary on August 31, 2026 at 12:10 am
Letter #1: “I never want to bring you anything but joy. I’m sorry I lost my focus. You are all that matters to me. I don’t want to ever let you down. Thank you for being my Guardian and Protector in this Life.”
Letter #2: “I miss the days when you used to call, during my talkshow days, and we’d talk about everything and nothing. I want to get back to that synergy. We shouldn’t have to talk about work all the time! !
“And please, when I fail, will you tell me? You have the absolute right to cuss me out, if need be, when I deserve it, because no one knows or cares about me more.”
These weren’t the gushings of a starry-eyed high school girl toward a beloved object of affection.
They were the gushings of 35-year-old Natalie Harp, special assistant and executive assistant to the President of the United States since 2025. And the object of her affection is an 80-year-old married man with a notorious history of adultery.
Natalie Harp was born in 1991 and raised in California. She graduated from Point Loma Nazarene University in 2012, and from Liberty University in 2015 with an MBA.
By 2017, Harp began suffering from chronic pain and complications incurred by a medical error involving intravenous therapy for stage II bone cancer.
In 2019, Harp praised then-President Trump for signing a federal right-to-try law which allowed her to access experimental treatments which she credited with saving her life.
Trump invited Harp to speak at the 2020 Republican National Convention She compared Trump to the sympathetic character, George Bailey, of It’s a Wonderful Life.
Trump also asked her to serve as a member of the advisory board for his 2020 Presidential campaign. Harp worked for the Right-wing television channel One America News Network from 2020 to 2022.
She later became an aide to Trump for his 2024 Presidential campaign as a key figure in his communications efforts.
In January 2025, Trump appointed Harp to the position of special assistant to the President and executive assistant to the President, with a government salary of $150,000.
Natalie Harp
She worked intimately with Trump and other national security figures for more than one year minus a security clearance. One national security official warned that this position gave her access to more sensitive information than any other Trump associate.
One White House staff member said that she “plays into the less productive and more troublesome parts of his nature, putting things in front of him that aren’t vetted.”
Dan Scavino, a political advisor and former golf club manager who had handled Trump’s social media accounts, largely gave control of Trump’s Truth Social account to Harp.
She used it to post a racist video depicting former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as apes. She also posted an AI-generated image of Trump as Jesus.
Among her duties: Posting remarks Trump dictates to Truth Social, texting on his behalf, and sporting a portable printer to feed him documents, praise and upbeat news articles. This last task has earned her the nickname: “The human printer.”
No doubt to Trump’s humiliation, Harp has also been dubbed as his “diaper nurse.” Some former associates and critics have claimed or joked that he uses adult diapers due to age or health. But there is no evidence that Harp serves in any nursing, medical or caregiving role.
Still, the rumors persist.
Donald Trump
And Trump appears flattered by her devotion. He calls her “sweetie” and “my Natalie.” And he’s told other aides that “Harp is the only one who loves him as much as his wife and children,” the New York Times reports.
Only recently has her role as Trump’s groupie-turned-government employee become widely known. And the man responsible is Georgia United States Senator Jon Ossoff.
At a campaign rally in Atlanta on August 16, Ossoff, a Democrat, said of Trump: “While the sailors on the [USS Abraham] Lincoln fight his war, while he fruitlessly drains our munitions and oil reserves, the president sleeps through his meetings.
“He golfs and trades stocks. See, he doesn’t want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar.”
A clip of this remark was widely shared on social media.
Jon Ossoff
The week before the rally, Harp was among a small group of aides who joined Trump when he switched airplanes in Turkey to thwart a possible Iranian missile attack.
Those who were not allowed to board the decoy plane included:
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio;
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent;
- White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller;
- White House Communications Director Steven Cheung.
Ossoff’s comment immediately brought Harp—and Trump—a burst of thoroughly unwelcome publicity.
Maggie Haberman, a New York Times reporter and the author of Regime Change, a scathing profile of the Trump administration, called her Trump’s “binky…a comfort blanket.”
Natalie’s estranged brother, Preston, laughed on CNN when he learned that his sister had jumped into the trunk of a Trump motorcade SUV when there wasn’t room for her to sit during a trip to court in 2023.
ADAM KINZINGER, ADOLF HITLER, AL CAPONE, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, ANTHONY FAUCI, AP, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BBC, BERNIE MORENO, BLACK DEATH, BLOOMBERG, BLUESKY, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (CDC), CHINA, CNN, CORONAVIRUS, COVID-19, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOS, DAVID SCHERTLER, DEMOCRATS, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, DONALD TRUMP, ELLIOT NESS, FIFTH AMENDMENT, FINAL SOLUTION, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK, FOX BUSINESS THURSDAY, GARY PETERS, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HUFFINGTON POST, IVANKA TRUMP, JOACHIM VON RIBBENTROP, JOSEPH BIDEN, JULIUS STREICHER, MAFIA, MARIA BARTIROMO, MASKS, MEDIA MATTERS, MEIN KAMPF (BOOK), MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES (NIAID), NAZI PARTY, NBC NEWS, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NPR, NUREMBERG WR CRIMES TRIALS, PARDONS, PBS NEWSHOUR, PERJURY, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, PROPAGANDA, RAND PAUL, RAW STORY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, RICHRD 111 (PLAY), ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., ROBERT H. JACKSON, Ronald Reagan, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SOCIAL DISTANCING, SOVIET UNION, SUSAN GLASSER, 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 UNTOUCHABLES, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UNITED STATES SENATE, UPI, USA TODAY, WASHINGTON WEEK, WILLIAM SHKESPEARE, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, X
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on August 28, 2026 at 12:07 am
During 2020—the last year of the first Trump administration and the worst year of COVID—President Donald Trump offered 11 different steps for defeating COVID-19.
Nine of those steps have been revealed. Here are the last two:
11. Learn to Live With It: According to a July 3 story by NBC News: “Eager to move forward and reopen the economy amid a recession and a looming presidential election, the White House is now pushing acceptance. ‘The virus is with us, but we need to live with it.’”
12. Victory Over Coronavirus:“ “Advisor to the President” and First Daughter Ivanka Trump wrote: “Over the past four years, President Trump’s policies and investments in science and technology ensure that America stands ready to solve America’s most pressing problems and that our workforce is prepared for tomorrow’s innovations.”
Ivanka Trump has absolutely no scientific or technology background.
And Trump’s fellow Republicans proved just as anti-science and anti-education as himself.
Donald Trump
In March, 2020, as COVID-19 raged unchecked throughout the country, an NBC News poll found that that only 30% of Republicans said they would actually listen to the advice of doctors to stay away from large, crowded areas to avoid Coronavirus.
By 2026, 23% of Republicans expressed confidence in higher education, while 50% of Democrats did.
Peter Baker. the chief White House correspondent for the New York Times, appeared on the July 31 episode of Washington Week. Offering his own commentary on Republicans’ attempt to shame and destroy Anthony Fauci, he said:
“I think they’re making an awful lot out of, you know, what would be pretty normal in those early days when we did not know a lot, right? Scientists were of multiple opinions about the origin of it, they were of multiple opinions about how it was transmitted, and there were multiple opinions about what the best course of action was….
Anthony Fauci speaking to the White House press corps
“It’s not just that he was wrong, it’s that he is evil, and that he….should go to jail. I mean, he’s literally compared to Hitler and Mengele. This isn’t a scientist who just got things wrong, and maybe he did get something wrong. This, in this case, in Rand Paul’s world, it’s good and evil.”
* * * * * * * * * *
On July 26, 1946, Chief United States Counsel Robert H. Jackson delivered his closing remarks against the major Nazi defendants for war crimes at Nuremberg. He might as well have been speaking about Donald Trump and his cheerleading—and misleading—chorus on Coronavirus:
“Lying has always been a highly approved Nazi technique. [Adolf] Hitler, in Mein Kampf, advocated mendacity as a policy. {Foreign Minister Joachim] Von Ribbentrop admits the use of the ‘diplomatic lie.’
“….Nor is the lie direct the only means of falsehood. They all speak with a Nazi double talk with which to deceive the unwary….’Final solution’ of the Jewish problem was a phrase which meant extermination. ‘Special treatment’ of prisoners of war meant killing. ‘Protective custody’ meant concentration camp.
Robert H. Jackson
“Besides outright false statements and double talk, there are also other circumventions of truth in the nature of fantastic explanations and absurd professions.
“[Rabid anti-Semite Julius] Streicher has solemnly maintained that…his reason for destroying synagogues…was only because they were architecturally offensive….
“This was the philosophy of the National Socialists. When for years they have deceived the world, and masked falsehood with plausibilities, can anyone be surprised that they continue their habits of a lifetime in this dock?
“It is against such a background that these defendants now ask this Tribunal to say that they are not guilty of planning, executing, or conspiring to commit this long list of crimes and wrongs.”
Citing William Shakespeare’s play about the murderous Richard 111, Jackson concluded:
“They stand before the record of this trial as bloodstained Gloucester stood by the body of his slain king. He begged of the widow, as they beg of you: ‘Say I slew them not.’ And the Queen replied, ‘Then say they were not slain. But dead they are…’
“If you were to say of these men that they are not guilty, it would be as true to say that there has been no war, there are no slain, there has been no crime.”
If Americans find Donald Trump blameless for refusing to take decisive action against the Coronavirus threat, they might as well say there was no plague, there were no thousands of dead Americans, there was no dereliction of Presidential responsibility.
It remains the mission of Right-wing Republicans like Senator Rand Paul to ignore Donald Trump’s unforgivable responsibility for the deaths of more than 400,000 Americans. Even worse, they seek to blame heroes like Anthony Fauci, who, fighting an unprecedented enemy, sought to save lives.
The advent of COVID-19 was the 21st century’s version of the Black Death. No one could agree on its origins, how it was transmitted, or the best ways to prevent or cure it. But at least there were doctors who desperately tried to find answers to these questions.
ADAM KINZINGER, ADOLF HITLER, AL CAPONE, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, ANTHONY FAUCI, AP, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BBC, BERNIE MORENO, BLACK DEATH, BLOOMBERG, BLUESKY, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (CDC), CHINA, CNN, CORONAVIRUS, COVID-19, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOS, DAVID SCHERTLER, DEMOCRATS, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, DONALD TRUMP, ELLIOT NESS, FIFTH AMENDMENT, FINAL SOLUTION, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK, FOX BUSINESS THURSDAY, GARY PETERS, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HUFFINGTON POST, IVANKA TRUMP, JOACHIM VON RIBBENTROP, JOSEPH BIDEN, JULIUS STREICHER, MAFIA, MARIA BARTIROMO, MASKS, MEDIA MATTERS, MEIN KAMPF (BOOK), MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES (NIAID), NAZI PARTY, NBC NEWS, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NPR, NUREMBERG WR CRIMES TRIALS, PARDONS, PBS NEWSHOUR, PERJURY, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, PROPAGANDA, RAND PAUL, RAW STORY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, RICHRD 111 (PLAY), ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., ROBERT H. JACKSON, Ronald Reagan, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SOCIAL DISTANCING, SOVIET UNION, SUSAN GLASSER, 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 UNTOUCHABLES, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UNITED STATES SENATE, UPI, USA TODAY, WASHINGTON WEEK, WILLIAM SHKESPEARE, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, X
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on August 27, 2026 at 12:12 am
Imagine this:
For two and a half years—1929 to late 1931—Elliot Ness and his special unit known as “The Untouchables” conduct Intensive operations, surveillance and brewery raids against the criminal empire of Al “Scarface” Capone.
Six years later, a Senate subcommittee subpoenas Ness and brutally grills him on how his unit carried out those raids:
“Why did you target Al Capone—did you have something personal against him?”
“You never did convict him, did you? That was done by the IRS for tax evasion.”
“Capone was just a businessman. He never hurt anybody.”
“Your unit is famous for not taking bribes. Wasn’t Capone offering enough?”
“There’s no such thing as a Mafia.”
Imagine, also, how such a brutal attack on a celebrated lawman would have damaged the morale of countless other lawmen—and would-be lawmen.
Elliot Ness
So it’s easy to imagine how Republicans’ brutal attack on Anthony Fauci affects current members of the medical profession—and would-be members of it.
Fauci is an American physician-scientist and immunologist who served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infections Diseases (NIAID) from 1984 to 2022 and as Chief Medical Advisor to the President–—Joseph Biden––from 2021 to 2022.
So what did this man—who has dedicated his entire adult life to protecting Americans against infectious diseases—do to ignite such hatred?
He had merely spoken the hard medical truth about Coronavirus. In doing so, he had at times contradicted then-President Donald Trump’s ignorance- and lie-riddled statements.
For example: Trump had loudly touted hydroxychloroquine, used for treating malaria, as a miracle cure for the Coronavirus.
Yet Fauci dared to point out there had been no scientific trials of the drug for its effectiveness against Coronavirus. Moreover, given the medical condition of some patients, it could even prove fatal.
Statements like this infuriated Trump’s base of—at best—half-educated fans.
Donald Trump
On July 31, Susan Glasser, a journalist who writes a column for The New Yorker, appeared on Washington Week, a PBS public affairs television program.
Commenting on the “death match” between Fauci and Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), Glasser said: “Yes. I mean, look, the historical analogy that leaps to mind is not a reasonable bipartisan commission to look at lessons learned from a national tragedy. It’s a witch hunt. It’s McCarthyism.
“You know, we do, unfortunately, have a long history of that as well. And to see an 85-year-old public servant who spent 50 years of his life combating terrible diseases in this country and around the world, you know, it was a painful sight.
“You know, especially to see a bunch of senators accuse Fauci of the best they could come up with, you know, was a diary in which he was dazzled, you know, to meet celebrities and, you know, admitted that he butt-dialed Barbra Streisand….
“The person who was accountable ultimately for America’s failed initial handling of the pandemic in 2020 was someone named Donald Trump.”
Susan Glasser
During 2020—the last year of the first Trump administration and the worst year of COVID—Trump offered 11 different steps for defeating COVID-19:
- Denial: COVID entered the United States on January 19. By January 27, Trump didn’t think the virus had spread widely throughout the United States.
- Lies: On January 22, Trump said “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China.” By March 10, he was saying: “It will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.”
- Republican subservience to Trump’s denial and lies: During the vital months of January and February, Republicans refused to challenge Trump’s unwillingness to take the virus seriously—before it gained a foothold in the United States.
- Chaos: Like Adolf Hitler, Trump likes to pit individuals and organizations against each other. This creates needless duplication of efforts and wastes resources. But it ensures that Trump—like Hitler—remains the final voice of authority, since so many others are competing for his favor and direction.
- Extortion: Trump and Republicans used a deadly plague as a weapon against those Americans they hate. This included seizing medical supplies slated for Democratic states and sending them to Republican ones.
- Propaganda Disguised as News: Since Easter weekend, President Donald Trump held almost 50 daily press briefings at the White House. Their purpose: To serve as a substitute for Trump’s hate-filled political rallies, which had been canceled and have been likened to those staged by Germany’s Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, at Nuremberg.
- Quackery as Medicine: On April 23, Trump raised the possibility of preventing or curing the Coronavirus by use of ultraviolet light—or even injection of disinfectant.
- “Reopen the Country”: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urged Americans to wear masks and keep at least six feet from their fellows. And most of the nation’s governors issued stay-at-home orders that banned large gatherings—including visits to parks and beaches. Yet Trump openly encouraged defiance of those orders.
- Ignore the Danger: Although health experts expressed fears about large gatherings during the Coronavirus pandemic, Trump and his Republican allies—such as South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem—held tightly-packed, mask-free political rallies.
ADAM KINZINGER, ADOLF HITLER, AL CAPONE, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, ANTHONY FAUCI, AP, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BBC, BERNIE MORENO, BLACK DEATH, BLOOMBERG, BLUESKY, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (CDC), CHINA, CNN, CORONAVIRUS, COVID-19, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOS, DAVID SCHERTLER, DEMOCRATS, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, DONALD TRUMP, ELLIOT NESS, FIFTH AMENDMENT, FINAL SOLUTION, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK, FOX BUSINESS THURSDAY, GARY PETERS, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HUFFINGTON POST, IVANKA TRUMP, JOACHIM VON RIBBENTROP, JOSEPH BIDEN, JULIUS STREICHER, MAFIA, MARIA BARTIROMO, MASKS, MEDIA MATTERS, MEIN KAMPF (BOOK), MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES (NIAID), NAZI PARTY, NBC NEWS, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NPR, NUREMBERG WR CRIMES TRIALS, PARDONS, PBS NEWSHOUR, PERJURY, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, PROPAGANDA, RAND PAUL, RAW STORY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, RICHRD 111 (PLAY), ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., ROBERT H. JACKSON, Ronald Reagan, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SOCIAL DISTANCING, SOVIET UNION, SUSAN GLASSER, 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 UNTOUCHABLES, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UNITED STATES SENATE, UPI, USA TODAY, WASHINGTON WEEK, WILLIAM SHKESPEARE, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, X
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on August 26, 2026 at 12:05 am
Days before grilling Anthony Fauci at a Senate hearing, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) released more than a thousand pages of Fauci’s personal diary entries and work records.
These had been made available to him by Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.—a notorious foe of vaccines.
Fauci blasted the move by the senator as an attempt at “embarrassing and intimidating” him.
As a result, Fauci did not answer a single question from any lawmakers during the entire three-hour hearing, invoking the Fifth Amendment 111 times: “On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.”
Republican senators, in turn, attacked Fauci over COVID-19 pandemic guidance—and his refusal to testify.
Senator Bernie Moreno (R-OH) gave voice to that antagonism:
“It was about six years ago today that I decided I’m going to give up my businesses, sell them all, run for office, run for United States Senate. And here I am sitting in front of you six years later, saying who the fuck do you think you were for doing that? It is a total disgrace what you did to this country.”
Moreno called Fauci a criminal and said he was more concerned about being a celebrity than helping the American people: “There is no defense of what you did. You may have had a 50+ year legacy of public service, but it ends in total and complete disgrace.”
Bernie Moreno
Moreno asked Fauci to apologize to people, business owners and military members the Senator said were harmed by COVID restrictions.
As if inconveniencing business owners was a far greater sin than taking steps to save lives.
Others blasted Moreno for his questioning, with several pointing out how he had largely remained silent when his daughter accused her ex-husband, Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), of physically abusing her. Moreno had called it a “private, personal matter.”
“Did Senator Bernie Moreno call out his son in law who beat his daughter with any of the same vigor as he did fauci?” former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger wrote in a social media post.
Senator Gary Peters, (D-MI) the top Democrat on the committee, looked beyond the hearing to its impact on history and science:
“It’s tempting to turn one person into the scapegoat for a crisis that hundreds of officials across both the Trump and the Biden administration were responsible for handling.
“This is only going to, unfortunately, deter other scientific experts from public service to understand that this is what they would have to go through as they provide their advice to us.”
Gary Peters
Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said that the hearing was an effort “to rewrite this history” of the pandemic: [“it is] shameful that in a country like ours, a dedicated public servant like Doctor Fauci has experienced persistent threats to his life since the pandemic because of the lies that are told about him.”
And he called the proceeding “an insult to the memory of more than one million Americans who died from COVID-19.”
Paul challenged Fauci over his Fifth Amendment right, warning him: “It’s against the law to obstruct an investigation of Congress. There will be repercussions for your refusal to testify.”
Fauci’s attorney David Schertler called the hearing part of Paul’s “public crusade” against the scientist. And he repeatedly tried to speak up after Paul threatened Fauci but was silenced by Paul.
PAUL: “You will respect these proceedings. You were told not to sit at the table. You insist on sitting at the table and we told you you would not be recognized. You are not invited here for testimony, sir. You are being disruptive.”
Schertler continued to speak with Paul, and Senator Gary Peters asked for the attorney to be given an opportunity—but was denied.
PAUL: “There’s a row behind you, sir. That’s where you were told to sit … and now you’re disrupting the proceedings.
“That’s the way you want to be remembered, and that’s what you’re going to do. You are not recognized, sir. Security, please remove him from the room.”
Upon exiting the hearing room, Schertler told reporters that Fauci “has a valid Fifth Amendment privilege and he has the right to assert it and that’s what I was trying to tell the committee.”
After the hearing, Paul told NBC News that the committee would vote next week on holding Fauci in contempt of Congress.
“We will schedule a vote. It’s already been scheduled for next week, for a vote on contempt of Congress, referral of contempt of Congress. If the vote is affirmative, it will be sent to the Department of Justice, and they will have to make a decision whether to pursue this.
“We believe that with his liability, his immunity from criminal liability, that he didn’t need to hide behind the Fifth Amendment, and that maybe the Fifth Amendment doesn’t attach when you have a pardon in place.”
The vote was expected to occur at a Department of Homeland Security business meeting scheduled for 10:00 a.m. on August 5.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on August 25, 2026 at 12:10 am
In contrast to Anthony Fauci, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) has repeatedly attacked efforts to lessen the spread of COVID and spread factually incorrect information about the virus.
In August 2021, Paul stated in a video that “most of the masks you get over the counter don’t work” and that “cloth masks don’t work” to prevent infection.
YouTube suspended Paul for seven days following these remarks, stating the content violated their COVID-19 medical misinformation policies.
in November, 2021, Paul claimed that: “Most of the masks you get over the counter don’t work. They don’t prevent infection. Trying to shape human behavior isn’t the same as following the actual science, which tells us that cloth masks don’t work.”
This contradicted the results of a scientific study from Denmark, which showed that mask usage helped to mitigate the spread of the virus.
On December 17, Paul said on Fox Business Thursday: “There’s no science to keeping schools closed, and there’s actually no good science to keeping restaurants closed, in fact there’s no good science that anything we’ve done has changed the trajectory” of the pandemic.
“Every one of the mandates—and you look in country after country, state after state—you look at when the mask mandates went in—the incidents went up exponentially after the mandates. Restaurants, nobody can eat in a restaurant, there’s no science behind any of that,” Paul told Breitbart News at the Turning Point USA convention.
Anti-lockdown demonstration at the Ohio Statehouse
Becker1999 from Grove City, OH, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Paul claimed that high school graduation ceremonies and possibly wedding anniversaries even a decade later would be banned by the government if “we’re not careful” to protect our individual freedoms.
Mocking masks as “face diapers,” Paul said: “It’s like wearing your underwear. You might as well cut your underwear up and wear your underwear as protection. It doesn’t work.
“None of it really makes any sense, and there’s no epidemiological evidence. You know, it’s like, ‘Wash your hands, stand six feet apart.’ There’s no evidence that that slowed down the [spread]. The trajectory of the virus hasn’t been altered at all by any of these things.”
N95 mask
Republicans contend that because President Joe Biden gave Fauci a pardon, he cannot claim fear of prosecution for questions about the time the pardon covers.
But Fauci could theoretically face state or local prosecution, as well as federal prosecution for making any false statements to the panel. And Fauci said he was convinced Paul’s goal was to trip him up and trigger a perjury allegation.
Fauci said in his opening remarks that he welcomed congressional oversight, pointing to the more than 200 times he appeared before Congress over his more than five-decade career with the federal government.
But he stated his belief that this hearing was being held in bad faith:
“Given Senator Paul’s obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution, his repeated slanderous comments about me and recently his publicly releasing my unredacted personal diary aimed at embarrassing and intimidating me, the only conclusion I can reach is that the sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something, anything, that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, ‘behind bars.’
“Any reasonable person who has followed his unhinged obsession with me would readily come to the same conclusion.
“Therefore, although it pains me to do so because of the respect I have for the legislative branch of government and my decades-long record of cooperating with Congress, under the advice of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under the 5th Amendment of the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions.”
Anthony Fauci and President George W. Bush
In the days before the hearing, Paul had released more than a thousand pages of Fauci’s personal diary entries and work records. These had been made available to him by Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.—a notorious foe of vaccines.
Among the diary entries, released by Paul in an attempt to damage Fauci, were those showing Fauci’s growing disillusionment with President Donald Trump in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic.
These described Trump as “rambling”, “crazy”, “desperate”, “bumbling”, “incompetent”, “an idiot”, “a true embarrassment”, “totally nuts” and “truly an obnoxious adolescent.”
Trump’s lies about the dangers of COVID and his fake cures for it—such as drinking bleach and shining UV light up a patient’s anus—ultimately resulted in tens of thousands of American deaths.
Fauci’s disillusionment with Trump clearly rested on a firm foundation. But Paul obviously believed that Fauci’s disgust with Trump reflected badly on him, not the President.
Fauci blasted the move by Paul as an attempt at “embarrassing and intimidating” him.
As a result, Fauci did not answer a single question from any lawmakers during the entire three-hour hearing, invoking the Fifth Amendment 111 times: “On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.”
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WHEN AMERICA IS THE TARGET FOR “REGIME CHANGE”
In Bureaucracy, History, Military, Politics, Social commentary on September 7, 2026 at 12:10 amThe CIA, FBI and National Security Agency (which cracks codes and listens to the telephone conversation of foreign leaders) unanimously agree: Russian trolls and Intelligence agents played a major role in subverting the 2016 Presidential election.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller III, assigned in May, 2017, to investigate charges of Russian interference, believed there was collusion. He indicted or obtained guilty pleas from 34 people and three companies.
Robert Mueller
And about 58% of Americans believe that President Donald Trump tried to obstruct the investigation.
Apparently, most Americans don’t like having their elections subverted by enemy nations.
Subverting the governments of other countries is a right that Americans have long reserved for themselves. Among those regimes that have been toppled:
Allied troops parading in Vladivostok, 1918
Ernesto “Che” Guevera
And how did Americans react to all these attempts—successful and unsuccessful—at regime change?
Through indifference or outright support.
The popular 1960s TV series, “Mission: Impossible,” regularly depicted a CIA-type agency supporting regimes “we” liked or toppling those “we” didn’t.
Americans generally assume their Presidents and Congress know best who is a “friend” and who is an “enemy.” America’s friends usually turn out to be Right-wing dictators like Chiang Kai-Shek, Fulgencio Batista, Augusto Pinochet and Mohammad-Reza Shah Phlavi.
And its enemies often turn out to be liberal reformers like Augusto Sandino, Mohammad Mosaddegh and Salvador Allende.
Americans tend to favor intervention for the flimsiest of reasons. In 2003, President George W. Bush claimed Iraq’s dictator, Saddam Hussein, had plotted 9/11 with Osama bin Laden. There was absolutely no proof to substantiate this, yet Americans overwhelmingly supported Bush’s unprovoked invasion of Iraq.
But now the shoe is on the other foot.
Except for President Donald Trump and his fanatical supporters, Americans became furious that a foreign power dared to install “regime change” on them.
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