Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has equated opposition by state leaders and demonstrations with domestic terrorism and insurrection.

ICE’s budget tripled and its force doubled  in 2025 and will double again in 2026. There’s little doubt that Trump pardoned and recruited the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers to carry out ICE executions. Who else would willingly and handily execute innocent Americans? They will continue to kill without cause.  

Martial law means the suspension of rights, lower bars for arrests, curfews, checkpoints, restricted travel and surveillance of anybody Trump and odious Stephen Miller want to know more about. Make no mistake, both of them are basking in the chaos and savoring the outcome. Don’t default to an oh-that-will-never-happen safe harbor. Aren’t you closer that you ever thought you’d be? 

The law prohibits bringing in the military and its consequences. But, tragically, we can’t rely on the Supreme Court’s Trump-favoring majority to stop him.

Even more unlikely is that Trump will act rationally – that’s because he’s emotionally unable of being rational. He checks all the boxes that mental health professionals use to diagnose a sociopath: He’s incapable of experiencing guilt, shame, remorse, or empathy. He exhibits aggressive behavior and verbally attacks his critics and won’t admit mistakes. He intimidates and threatens to maintain control, disregards rules and laws, has difficulty controlling impulses, acts without considering the consequences and his dreams are his realities and frequently nightmares for others.

So how do we stop the carnage? We can’t count on the Republicans that Trump has enslaved. There are however solutions. Voters could replace Trump-enslaved Republicans with Republicans not tethered to him in primaries. Democrats can help here. 24 states allow them to vote in Republican primaries.  Democrats can threaten sitting Republican seats more than Trump by threatening to vote for non-Trump primary candidates (and still vote for Democrats in national elections). If sitting Republicans feel the way the wind blows, they’ll seriously consider leaving Trump’s ship.

Twitter (X) https://x.com/ChaosPolicy/status/2016231295282774147?s=20

The post DON’T RULE OUT MARTIAL LAW. WE’RE CLOSER THAN ANYONE THOUGHT  first appeared on Inside The Political Chaos.

The European Union has added to the pressure. It threatened to target $107 billion of U.S. goods with higher retaliatory tariffs and start a World Trade Organization challenge to Trump’s tariffs, including his duties on European cars and car parts. The EU has already approved tariffs on $23 billion worth of American goods in retaliation to Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs.

Also, Trump’s needs to boost his lowest approval ratings on the economy —43% approval and 55% disapproval — since he took office. Although blue-collar workers remain positive, their disapproval numbers have shot up by 14% since his first term. And 54% of independents see the economy getting worse. Even in safe harbor Texas, 39% strongly disapprove of the Trump’s performance as President.

These results reflect the pressure on him to convince more than his base that his economic policies will work overtime.

Trump officials have predicted for weeks that the first trade deals to result from his tariff strategy would likely come from India, Japan and perhaps South Korea, but the financial markets are still holding their breath.

And there is limited reason to cheer about the trade agreement Trump announced with the UK. Britain was already in the lowest group for the “Liberation Day” across-the-board tariffs, already facing a 10% tariff rate. And negotiators representing both countries ignored long-standing disputes such as a digital-services tax that Britain levies on tech giants and its food-standards that block “chlorinated chicken” and the like from entering the country.

Less than one-third of U.K. respondents and 44% of Americans believed Trump would abide by the U.K. deal. A 42% plurality of British respondents said China would be a more reliable trading partner than the United States.

GOP China hawks told the country that the Chinese leadership would be desperate to negotiate a trade deal to avoid economic pain that could threaten their hold on power. They were wrong. Some mistakenly believed Treasury Secretary Bessent’s false rhetoric that China is suffering from a “severe recession, if not depression.” So, Xi’s caustic denial of Trump’s claim that he was in trade talks with China revealed the Trump administration’s negotiating and guile.

Moreover, Beijing had prepared for the trade war. It pushed businesses to strengthen supply chains and cultivate overseas markets, implemented monetary measures to support small businesses and boosted consumer demand to mitigate any reduction in exports. China has also discouraged companies from complying with U.S. sanctions by making it Illegal to do so. Xi’s stunning ability to organize and prepare his country compared to Trump’s impulsive and thoughtless decisions explain China’s advantage.

Although U.S. and Chinese officials (without Xi) will meet in Switzerland later this week, the any real progress is impaired by the lack of trust in Trump. They recall how he launched a trade war following a friendly and productive meeting in Beijing in 2017.

Shortly after Trump unfurled his April 2 tariff barrage, China began a marketing offensive with other countries to proove itself as a better trading partner. He visited several Asian countries to discuss economic partnerships and made overtures about expanding trade ties with the European Union. 

Trump has repeatedly bragged about his negotiating skills, telling America he’s “the best deal maker.”   As for his tariffs, he’s claimed that world leaders  are “kissing my ass to negotiate and pleading ‘I will do anything, sir.’” Where are the deals? What has he accomplished? The answer: Trump’s gifted many of our trading relationships to China, where negotiating skills were most needed.

The post TRUMP CAN’T WIN A TRADE WAR WITH CHINA first appeared on Inside The Political Chaos.

Worse, for the following reasons, Trump could mismanage a recession into another depression:

First: It was international cooperation with other countries that prevented the Great Recession of 2008 from becoming another depression. There will be none of that this time. Trump has alienated our trading partners with his tariffs. And his allegiance to Putin threatens all of Europe. So, they don’t trust him, and the cooperation he’ll need won’t be there. Moreover, Trump’s  not one to compromise – only his opinions have any value.

Second: It was Presidents Bush’s and Obama’s cabinets and advisors, who helped save us from a depression in 2008. They were expert and experienced in international economic and monetary policy. Trump’s cabinet has no such expertise or experience. They are more like school children planning mischief, and they are there only to condone Trump’s every decision.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is he only expert available to advise Trump (because Trump can’t fire him). Powell wouldn’t accommodate Trump by lowering interest rates to boost the economy because it would also boost inflation. Quite predictably, Trump tore into him. Just hours after Powell announced the Fed would pause interest rate cuts, Trump absurdly posted on Truth Social, “If the Fed had spent less time on DEI, gender ideology, “green” energy, and fake climate change, inflation would never have been a problem.”

Third: Congressional Republicans lack the courage to push back on Trump’s dangerous decisions. They’re afraid that they’ll lose their seats to a primary challenger backed by Trump and financed by Elon Musk (they’ll be more likely to lose their seats to a primary candidate not afraid of Trump or to a Democrat). So they don’t dare oppose him.

Fourth: When 1929 depression hit, the US was a large creditor nation. We’re now a large debtor nation, having reached our debt ceiling of $31.4 trillion. The US will have a much tougher time borrowing to spend itself out of a recession, and the higher risk of a default will increase interest costs.

A default on U.S. Treasury debt remains unlikely only if you assume: a rational President that follows decision-making protocol and prioritizes good national and global outcomes, a Republican party that has the courage to remove a president if necessary, and if you assume a qualified cabinet that will push back on a president’s dangerous decisions. Sadly, none of those luxuries exist today.

But no worries, Trump will assure us that the any depression is “going to disappear. It’s like a miracle — it will disappear.”

Fifth: The root cause of the high likelihood of a recession that can lead to a depression is that we turned an emotionally and psychologically dysfunctional president loose in the White House. Trump checks all the boxes psychologists use to diagnose sociopaths and a narcissists,  including:

• excessive self-focus,
• feelings of entitlement,
• a constant need for admiration,
• lack of empathy, incapable of experiencing guilt, shame, remorse,
• conscious decisions to harm others,
• verbally attacks and insults their critics,
• never admit mistakes
• intimidate and threaten others to maintain control
• disregard social norms, rules, protocols and laws, 
• can’t control impulses,
• their fantasies are their realities.

It’s urgent that the Congressional Republicans who helped put him there and who confirmed the most unqualified and dangerous cabinet in our history, recognize – or admit – that Trump is dysfunctional and dangerous, and that they remove him, including by impeachment if necessary, before we suffer a depression and other irreparable catastrophes.

The post THE CHANCES OF A WOLDWIDE RECESSION LEADING TO A DEPRESSION JUST SKYROCKED first appeared on Inside The Political Chaos.

The post Listen to RFK Jr., Trump’s pick to run our Health Department, sing about the evils of vaccines. Trump said he’ll let him run wild. first appeared on Inside The Political Chaos.

His lawyer petitioned the government to revoke its approval of the polio vaccine – a vaccine that protected millions  from a virus that paralyzes and kills. He discourages the use of the Covid vaccine with his false claims that they cause autism, even though unvaccinated adults were 97 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than fully vaccinated. According to the Center for Disease Control the death rate among the vaccinated is 5 times lower than among the unvaccinated. 

And don’t think this will never happen. Trump announced that he’ll “let RFK Jr. go wild on health … and medicines,” which will allow him

to, as he’s promised, purge entire groups from the Health Department if necessary to realize his agenda.

Donald Trump Jr., warned  that Elon Musk will finance a primary against any Republican that won’t confirm his nominees. So they have a choice: stay obedient to their lord and master or be complicit in the predictable sickness and death that JFK Jr’s dangerous actions will cause. 

The post Trump’s Pick to Run Health Department  first appeared on Inside The Political Chaos.

Donald Trump Jr. said we want people in the cabinet who “don’t think that they know better than the duly elected president of the United States.” To the contrary, America needs experts around Trump who will stop him from imposing his blueprint on America and making uninformed decisions out of anger. So Republicans must fulfill their sworn responsibility to the country instead of kowtowing to Trump.

Anti-vaxxer John F Kennedy Jr. is Trump’s choice to head the Department of Health and Human Services. He has openly spewed false claims about the seriousness of the Covid vaccine’s side effects, including death, and is more than likely to discourage their use. He vowed to purge entire departments at HSS in order to employ his priorities and he’ll be enabled by Trump who promised to let Kennedy “go wild” with health. They could kill countless Americans. The risk is undeniable. CDC statistics show that the unvaccinated are 68 times more likely to die from COVID than those who are fully vaccinated and boosted.

Lee Zeldin: A Setback for Environmental Protection

Lee Zeldin is Trump’s choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Zeldin received the worst score of the entire New York delegation to the League of Conservation Voters. He’s promised on “day one and the first 100 days to roll back environmental regulations.” He rejects claims of climate change. His confirmation would weaken measures to prevent or mitigate it.

Pete Hegseth: Unqualified Leadership for Defense

Pete Hegseth is Trump’s choice for Secretary of Defense. He’s a Fox News host who’s never managed an organization of any size, let alone a military of 1.3 million active-duty members. He was chosen because he’ll accede to or encourage Trumps military decisions. Remember that it took Trump’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Milley to prevent him from misusing the country’s nuclear arsenal during the last month of his presidency, presumingly out of anger at losing the 2020 election and to manufacture a crises that would keep him in office. Milley had to call the head of China’s military and assure him there was no plan to attack in order to prevent a crises. Trump also told Republican donors that he wanted to bomb North Korea with a plane he’d put a Chinese flag on. Trump and Hegseth are planning to form a board to purge generals, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who push back on Trump’s decisions. There will be no Milley to stop Trump next time – only a Fox News co-host.

Matt Gaetz is Trump’s choice for Attorney General. He’s has less legal experience than most law firm associates. He’s an ultra-Trump loyalist, and will use the Department of Justice as an AK-47 against Trump’s enemies. He warns that there needs to be a “full court press against this [DOJ that’s been weaponized against Republicans] … And if that means abolishing the FBI, I’m ready to get going!”  That Gaetz’s is an urgent priority for Trump demonstrates his obsession with retribution. The FBI’s arrested millions of criminals and saved countless American lives. Republicans need to ask themselves, who will pick up the job if Gaetz is in charge?

John Ratcliffe is Trump’s choice for Director of the CIA which Trump accused of being part of the “deep state” — a term that describes a secret network within the government in pursuit of their own agenda that is inconsistent with the President’s. We must remember that Trump is driven by a need for adulation. He has already disclosed classified information to people without security clearance to impress them, saying “It’s so cool” and that the information was classified and “highly confidential.” The CIA needs a strong leader to stop Trump from repeating his transgressions and from exploiting secrete information for financial gain. Watch Reagan return to say Trump tailored foreign policy with China, Turkey and Saudi Arabia against bipartisan to enrich himself. He will emulate his idle, Vladimir Putin who has founded an entourage of corrupt oligarchs to enrich themselves at the expense of his people.

Stephen Miller, who  shouted at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally that “America is for Americans only” plans to make it so by deporting undocumented, documented and naturalized citizens who have been in the US for decades. Although impossible financially and practically, the cost of any significant deportation and the resulting labor shortage would result in a surge in inflation.

Trump’s choices expose his contempt for America’s institutions and its entire framework of government. He now has control over the legislature through obedient Republican majorities, and the Supreme Court has already joined his team. Now, through his proposed appointments, he will subjugate Congress to his will.

If the Republican Senate confirms Trump’s choices, they will be tragically complicit in the results. The only hope left will be that the electorate will realize the importance of facts and truth, and not tolerate or reelect Trump.

The post This is the Republicans Last Chance to Show Up first appeared on Inside The Political Chaos.

Disinformation spread by Fox News, Sinclair Broadcast Group and social media controlled enough of the electorate to seal Trump’s win. Social media reached many more viewers than Fox, CNN & MSNBC.

False Claims

For example, they claimed that hordes of migrants are responsible for brutal crime waves, which is totally false — native-born Americans commit three times the crimes that immigrants commit. Fox and Sinclair also expressed  damning opinions about inflation and the overall economy that were the opposite of what the positive figures show on actual inflation, unemployment, and GDP.

Europeans, who have not been assaulted by reams of disinformation, are understandingly perplexed by Americans’ dismal views of the economy. The Economist magazine  published a cover story reporting that the U.S. economy was the envy of the world. But, sadly, the misinformation eclipsed the truth and misled many into voting for Trump.

Unscrupulous but effective strategies

Sinister strategies have been employed to reach American voters. Jared Kushner told donors that “the Trump campaign cut a deal with Sinclair [in which] Kushner would allow extensive coverage of Trump interviews…. In exchange, Sinclair would broadcast the Trump interviews across the country without commentary, noting that Sinclair, in states like Ohio, reaches 250,000 listeners when networks like CNN reach somewhere around 30,000.”

So Sinclair aired Trump interviews without any commentary or fact-checking. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Sinclair conducted zero interviews with Clinton but aired 15 exclusive interviews with Trump alone throughout its 193 stations and more than 100 markets, which makes it the second-largest television station operator in the US by number of stations, reaching 40 percent of Americans.

Increased coverage in acquired broadcasters

To help Sinclair achieve its dominance, Trump appointed Ajit Pai as head of the FCC who relaxed its limits on Sinclair’s ability to expand. At the expense of its local news and number of viewers, Sinclair increased its coverage of national over local politics by 25%, and launched its acquired outlets into ultra-conservative reporting. Sinclair TV anchors recited the Trump-like rant of bashing the media for “fake news.”

So Sinclair’s motivation likely is spreading right wing ideology instead of increasing viewership and revenue. And there’s no evidence that Sinclair was responding to more demand for national news.

FCC

According to a senior attorney at Georgetown’s Communications and Technology Law Clinic, “The most important force shaping public opinion continues to be local, over-the-air television [like Sinclair]. That’s the underlying premise of the FCC” to regulate broadcast ownership.”

The FCC prohibits broadcasters licensed to use the airwaves from intentionally distorting the news. But cable news networks and social media, like Fox, don’t use the air waves, so they are outside of the FCC’s jurisdiction. Unlike broadcasters, they need not provide reasonable or equal access to candidates throughout their campaigns.

Sinclair however, which is subject to the FCC’s news, is likely violating the FCC’s distortion rule which prohibits a broadcast news station from intentionally “rigging or slanting the news as a most heinous act against the public interest.”

A solution could be in the hands of local communities that grant franchises to cable companies. They could hold them more responsible for distorting the news. The Supreme Court has held that such regulations of broadcasters is allowed under the First Amendment.

Social media

In a case involving Twitter, the Supreme Court also protected social media companies from challenges under the Anti-Terrorism Act because they could not be shown to “aid and abet” terrorists by hosting their content.”

Sinclair and social media reach a multiple of the viewers reached by CNN, MSNBC and FOX news.

• Fox reaches 2.505m prime time viewers.
• MSNB  reaches 1.430m primetime viewers. CNN reaches 180,000 primetime viewers.
• Social Media — 54% get there news often or “at least” sometimes from social media
• Sinclair —   Number of primetime new viewers is unavailable, but Sinclair reaches 80m unique monthly visitors and  40 percent of Americans.

What can be done?

Remedial legislation is unlikely to evolve during a Trump presidency and while his obedient Republicans control either chamber of Congress. It could happen in the next administration, but only if voters focus on facts instead of falsehoods and only if Trump hasn’t obliterated the relevancy of the truth.

Fox news

Read What We’ll Learn About Fox Viewers from the 2024 Presidential Election to learn why they voted for Trump.

The post Many Americans Based there Votes on Fictions first appeared on Inside The Political Chaos.

The post Trump reappears as Fat Elvis to sing his new version of Heart Break Hotel. first appeared on Inside The Political Chaos.

If Iran weren’t close to a nuclear bomb it wouldn’t have the leverage to support terrorists & further destabilize the Middle East. But it does bc Trump left the deal that froze Iran’s nuclear program, as noted in this interview of Trump .

The post How Ending the Nuclear Deal Empowered Iran’s Influence in the Middle East first appeared on Inside The Political Chaos.

The justices noted but didn’t disagree with two Colorado courts’ factual findings that Trump had “engaged in insurrection.” SCOTUS had previously held that a state court’s factual findings must be accepted by federal courts unless they’re clearly erroneous. No factual error was found. Yet SCOTUS chose to let a judicially determined insurrectionist run for President. 

To justify this decision, the majority relied on Section 5 of the 14^th Amendment, which provides “Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article,” which Congress has not done. But it is Section 3, not Section 5, of the 14^th Amendment of that gives Congress the power to ban from or restore candidates to state ballots by a two-thirds vote by removing a disqualification. Inexplicably, the majority held that Section 3 merely “reinforces” Section 5, which empowers Congress to “prescribe” how determinations of eligibility should be made. 

Curiously, the word “prescribe” is nowhere in Section 5. The majority opinion’s focus on Section 5 constitutes an end-run around Section 3. It’s common sense that the more demanding exercise of power (a two-thirds vote) would replace — not “reinforce” — the easier one (a simple majority). As the Court’s minority’s opinion put it, “It is hard to understand why the Constitution would require a Congressional supermajority to remove a disqualification if a simple majority could nullify Section 3’s operation.” 

Although there was no dissent, the minority accused the majority of being gratuitous in an attempt to insulate Trump and all other insurrectionists from future challenges to their eligibility for federal office. 

This was just one Supreme Court holding that stretched the Constitution to protect Trump. Here are others that are equally or more egregious 

Why We Need to Recuse the Whole Supreme Court Majority

The Manipulated Path of Conservative Justices to the Supreme Court

For Donald Trump, Undue Delay Is the Name of the Game | Opinion

The post The Supreme Court Majority is Really Trump’s Majority first appeared on Inside The Political Chaos.

This is not political BS. Trump’s decisions are unrelated to America’s needs. They are triggered by random anger. No one, including MAGAs, want him anywhere near the nuclear button! He had to be stopped from using it by the military in his last presidency.

President Trump told  Republican donors the US should put the Chinese flag on military planes and “bomb the sh-t” out of Russia and blame China.

He suggested using nuclear weapons against North Korea and blaming someone else. His Chief of Staff, John Kelly had to bring in the military’s top leaders to explain the disastrous consequences, including millions of deaths.

Trump didn’t care. It took the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, to prevent  him from misusing the country’s nuclear arsenal during the last month of his presidency, likely out of anger at losing the 2020 election and to manufacture a crises that would keep him in office.

Milley received intelligence that China thought the U.S. was going to attack. He called the head of China’s military to assure him there was no such plan and prevented the crises. There will be no Milley there to stop Trump next time. And the consequences will not discriminate among Democrats, Republicans, MAGAs or Independents.

Another Trump-created crisis will reach all party affiliations. His promised 10 to 100% tariffs will lead to a recession. They will pressure US profit margins, lead to job loss, weaken wage growth, and lower consumer spending – all classic causes of a recession.

Worse, Trump is likely mismanage it into another depression, and all party affiliations, including MAGAs. Will suffer. We came close during the Great Recession of 2008, but Presidents George W. Bush’s and Barak Obama’s cabinets had qualified and experienced advisers who saved us . Both Presidents tapped Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson (previously Goldman Sach CEO), Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, and NY Fed President Tim Geithner to convince an unwilling Congress to pass a $700 billion bank bailout and an economic stimulus package. All of them had extensive experience in the US and international monetary policy.

They coordinated  the major central banks to announce that they’d lower interest rates and followed by cutting them by 50 basis points. Even China was persuaded to join in. Then the Fed and five other central banks announced cross-border dollar liquidity through currency swaps.

Who will advise Trump in another recession? We know he’ll pick loyalists and sycophants who won’t dare push back on his majesty’s decisions. His VP, JD Vance, who admitted lying that Springfield legal Haitian immigrants eat peoples pets and that childless “cat ladies are “sociopathic” is emblematic of his choices.

It doesn’t matter whom else Trump says he’ll choose; he’ll do whatever he wants. We can, however, speculate whom he’ll employ (at least for a while (only six of the 24 cabinet members lasted through his term.) Before Vance, he considered Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene as running mates, and Stephen Miller, who isn’t a lawyer, as Attorney General.  They are informative of a Trump cabinet: Carlson to misinform, Greene to spin conspiracy theories, and Miller to attack Trump’s opponents and critics.

Then there’s Ukraine … and the existence of  democracy in in Europe. Trump refuses to say he wants Ukraine to win, and says he’d encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to any NATO member country that doesn’t meet spending guidelines. Given Trump’s adoration of and financial reliance on Putin, he will claim that certain NATO members have fallen behind and give Putin a green light. There’s little doubt that NATO members Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia would be easy targets for Putin. Like Ukraine, they were formerly part of the Soviet Union and are home to many ethnic Russians. All three fear an invasion.

Although 60 percent of Americans generally support sending troops to defend NATO members, their support varies depending on which member is attacked. Only 35 percent support using military force to defend Latvia and Croatia. Less than half support a direct military confrontation in all other NATO members except the Germany, France and Great Britain.

As former Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned, “to avoid confrontation with Russia in the future is to help Ukraine push back the invader now … If this lesson is ignored and Ukraine is defeated, Russia will almost certainly … attack NATO member countries.” What will our President do then?

All voters, including MAGAs, need to compare Harris’s answer with Trump’s. And ask themselves, if Trump were elected, how would we stand in the winds that would blow then?

MAGA voters, this is not political rhetoric. It is a dismal reality backed by Trump’s own words and the words of his enslaved Republicans in Congress. If there ever were a time for MAGAs to keep an open mind, it is now.

The post MAGAs Beware: 3 Trump Crises That Won’t Spare You first appeared on Inside The Political Chaos.

It took the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, to prevent then-President Donald Trump from misusing the country’s nuclear arsenal during the last month of his presidency, presumingly out of anger at losing the 2020 election and to manufacture a crises that would keep him in office. Milley received intelligence that China believed the U.S. was going to attack. He called the head of China’s military and assured him there was no such plan and prevented a crises. There will be no Milley there to stop Trump next time.

Trump had a pattern of making decisions that triggered by anger regarding events unrelated to America’s needs. For example, against advice from nearly all economists, he sprung his 2017 tariffs on our allies out of outrage over Hope Hicks’ testimony regarding Russia’s election interference and the treatment of his son-in-law by his chief of staff. He gave no vetted explanations, had no plan to alert foreign trade partners or Congress. No one at the State, Treasury or Defense Departments were told that a new policy was about to be announced.

The tariff’s results were, predictably, higher cost of imported components, lower profit margins, weaker wage growth and greater job loss. China found companies in Europe, Canada and South America  to replace commodity sales from U.S. farmers, including soy beans. And two thousand U.S. pecan growers saw their sales hit hard by Chinese retaliatory tariffs which also cut pork sales by 65%.

To punish Barak Obama for mocking him at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ dinner, Trump criticized and abandoned Obama’s multi-country agreement with Iran to curb its nuclear progress. Before abandoning it, Iran was many years away from developing enough fuel for a bomb, now it’s only months away, which gives them the leverage to incite and support terrorists in the Middle East. Without that nuclear threat, the middle East would be a more stable region today.

In another move to erase Obama’s accomplishments, Trump exited the Transpacific Partnership (TPP), an agreement with eleven Pacific rim countries that excluded China and would have eliminated 18,000 tariffs on American exports and established stronger labor standards and environmental protections that would have put state-owned enterprises on a level playing field with U.S. businesses. After Trump pulled out, China stepped in and took our place. The result: Trump  gifted one-third of global trade to China. Again, the decision had nothing to do with what was best for America. It was motivated solely by anger from being mocked by Obama.

Trump also tried to overturn Obamacare, which would have lost 23.1 million Americans their health insurance and no one would be covered for preexisting conditions. Because he didn’t have the votes in Congress, he sabotaged it by cancelling a provision that lowered premiums and halved its enrollment period, and more than 2 million people including 700 children lost their insurance.

Add to Trump’s aberrant motivations that he’s less coherent and far from the same Trump who seduced his base in 2016. His narrative has plunged to new depths of absurdity and incoherence. He increasingly slurs or stumbles over his words, signaling cognitive decline and the inability to reason or process reality, leaving him controlled by random anger and self-aggrandizement. 

Donald Trump is not a person we want anywhere the nuclear button.

The post It took General Milley to stop Trump from misusing the country’s nuclear arsenal during the last month of his presidency. There’ll be no General Milley to Stop him Next Time – only Yes Men and Women. first appeared on Inside The Political Chaos.

Previously published in The Hill on 09/25/24 and edited by Neil Baron

In the wake of the only presidential debate, Vice President Kamala Harris is leading nationally. But the Electoral College race is still close.
Recently she’s has been doubling down on the same tactics that worked for her win, taunting Trump and baiting him. But that may not help her to win. In fact, it could stiffen support for her opponent.

Voters tend to seek consistency with their beliefs. Pummeling them with facts and criticisms inconsistent with their beliefs may actually cause them to dig in. Democrats might want to reconsider their strategy and learn from an experiment that a team of Israeli psychologists conducted during the 2013 Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

To get beyond intractable, hardline support for the conflict, the researchers proposed a fruitful approach they called “paradoxical intervention.” Instead of bombarding Israeli hawkish voters with facts and opinions that challenged the Israelis entrenched support for continuing the war, they validated it, but with information that led the Israelis to discover for themselves what would be perilous about doing it. As Kahlil Gibran wrote in “The Prophet” a century ago, the teacher “does not bid you enter [his] house of…wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.”

In the experiment, hawkish Israeli Jews were shown 30-second videos. Instead of asserting that the conflict threatened peace in the region and should stop, the videos argued Israel couldn’t afford to discontinue the conflict because continuation demonstrates the morality of Israel’s position and encourages their unity. This counterintuitive approach did what more conventional messages couldn’t: It unfroze the Israelis’ insistence that the Palestinians were exclusively to blame for continuing the conflict.
That prompted center and right-oriented Israeli Jews to vote for more dovish political parties, and made them more open to compromise in order to reach a peaceful resolution, including eliminating Jewish settlements in the West Bank. These changes were remarkably long-lasting, especially given the intense counter-messaging voters were subjected to during the period.

“Paradoxical intervention” might also help the 85 percent of white evangelical voters who identify with the GOP to drop their fealty to Trump by leading them “to the threshold of their own knowledge”– that Trump’s professed devotion to the Bible and personal relationship with God is disingenuous and false campaign rhetoric.

This process could start with messaging that respects evangelical beliefs and their desire to have a devoted Christian in the White House. Then it could revisit videos like Trump discusses the Bible, Trump the Bible Salesman or Trump’s personal relationship with God. Validating their beliefs might take them to a threshold where they can recognize Trump’s palpable ignorance of the Bible and disrespect for Evangelical beliefs.

This counterintuitive logic could help unfreeze conservatives’ obsession with smaller government and their support for hamstringing or dismantling most of the 439 federal agencies created by Congress.
In this case, the “paradoxical intervention” would start by agreeing that abolishing or undermining federal agencies restores the balance of power and checks and balances among the three branches of government required by the Constitution. It would also concede the point that allowing administrative agencies to make and enforce their own interpretations of the law (a hot topic given the recent Loper Bright decision) subjects the country to rulings by unelected bureaucrats whose decisions can be influenced by whoever is in the White House at the time.

Then, taking these views to their logical conclusion, it would propose federal courts hire the expertise they need to address the thousands of diverse, complex, pressing public interest issues Congress entrusted to the federal agencies. That should help Republicans recognize what they may already know deep down: This is an impossibility.

It’s like the Aesop’s Fable about the old man who wants to be released from his difficult life and comes face to face with the Grim Reaper. Confronted with death, he learns the moral: “Be careful what you wish for.”
It’s a lesson evangelicals and conservatives might learn. But before that can happen, Democrats need to learn how to curb their knee-jerk opposition and show that they can appreciate the reasons of the other side.

The post KAMALA IS AHEAD NATIONALLY BUT IT’S STILL CLOSE IN THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE RACE. MAYBE THIS DIFFERENT APPROACH WILL HELP HER first appeared on Inside The Political Chaos.

Hurricane Helene left a trail of destruction across North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida.

President Biden and Harris reacted by deploying 1,000 soldiers to support search and rescue operations and deliver essential commodities to the states, and had FEMA ship over 8.5 million meals, more than 7 million liters of water, 150 generators, and over 220,000 tarps to aid response efforts 

Biden also sent more than 4,800 personnel from the federal workforce to support state response efforts. And the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) established medical treatment sites at hospitals in North Carolina.

Restoring Power and Communications

Federal efforts to restore power cut the number of outages by 65% from its peak of 4.6 million. FEMA, the FCC, and private telecommunications providers are establishing temporary cell sites to allow roaming.

Financial Assistance

President Biden has approved Major Disaster declarations for North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Virginia, allowing individuals to apply for FEMA assistance.

Trump Tries to Capitalize Politically from Helene by Claiming Biden gets Poor Reviews

Yet Donald Trump is seeking to capitalize politically on the devastation by falsely claiming  that Biden and Harris “are universally being given POOR GRADES for the way that they’re handling the Hurricane, especially in North Carolina.”

Trump’s wrong. Biden’s response to the hurricane has received bipartisan praise from political leaders in affected states. Trump lied that Georgia GOP Gov. Kemp couldn’t get Biden on the phone, though Kemp said  that he had already spoken to Biden.

Praise from Republican governors

Republican governors in the states hit by Helene praised Biden’s response. Republican South Carolina Gov. McMaster said federal assistance had “been superb,” noting that Biden and Transportation Secretary Buttigieg called and told him to let them know whatever the state needed. “So we’re getting assistance, and we’re asking for everything we need,” said McMaster.

Republican Virginia Gov. Younkin said  “I’m incredibly appreciative of the rapid response and the cooperation from the federal team at FEMA.” He specifically thanked Biden, among others, in a press release.

Republican Tennessee Gov. Lee said  the response to his emergency declaration “was quick from the federal government.” At a Tuesday press conference, Lee spoke of a “rush” of federal officials to local emergency management agencies, local officials said, with tears in their eyes.

One would think that, if there ever were ever a time for bipartisan support of an all-out effort to help victims of a devastating multi-state disaster, as from the destruction caused by hurricane Helene, it would be now; but shamefully, not for Donald Trump.

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Is Political Anxiety Fueling Fear Over Trump’s Actions?

What will President Trump do if special counsel Robert Mueller gets close to finding a smoking gun? Is Trump impulsive, unstable, desperate, and self-serving enough to bomb North Korea in order to distract Americans from the investigation? Maybe not, but the fear that he might creates political anxiety and  stress among many Americans.

The Impact of Trump’s Policies on Political Anxiety

The jury may still be out on the impact of Trump’s policies, but the stress and anxiety created by his behavior is real and widespread. Many have lost sleep, suffered from headaches and stomach pain, and harmed relationships over political differences, due to Trump-induced anxiety.

Political Anxiety Escalates: Comparisons to Authoritarian Leaders

{mosads}His abrupt firing of FBI Director James Comey and reports that he asked Comey to drop the Flynn investigation are reminiscent of the way Vladimir Putin disposes of his critics. His false claim that Comey exonerated him, and his conflicting explanations of why he fired Comey are unsettling. But giving Russia classified information about ISIS that we received in confidence from Israel, our only Middle East ally, is alarming.

How Trump-Related Political Anxiety Impacts Mental Health

We’ve watched as Trump degraded his office, threatened relationships with our allies, lost their respect, and made America a laughing stock. Since the election, our connection to politics has become increasingly one of stress, anxiety, fear, and shame. Trump-related anxiety is so common it’s been given an unofficial diagnosis: post-election stress disorder.

Rising Levels of Political Anxiety Across America

The American Psychological Association recently reported that two-thirds of people are stressed about the future of the country, including nearly 60 percent of Republicans and 76 percent of Democrats. Mental health professionals nationwide are seeing a steady stream of patients that suffer from anxiety, depression, and sadness related to daily news about the Trump administration’s behavior, according to Kaiser Health News.

Symptoms of Political Anxiety in Patients

Nancy Molitor, 28 years a psychologist, says many of her patients are having trouble sleeping and focusing at work or are fighting more with family members. Other psychologists say patients are concerned about maintaining civil relationships with friends and loved ones with different political opinions.

Political Anxiety Eroding Trust Among Friends and Family

Psychologist Angela Londoño-McConnell notes, “People seem to be looking at those they know and love and wondering if they really knew them and if they can trust them.” “There has been nothing like this,” says William Doherty, a therapist for 40 years. “Nothing close.”

The Foreign Press and America’s Political Anxiety

Esther Lerman Freeman, clinical psychologist at Oregon Health & Science University said, “Patients report nights of shattered sleep.” She added, “when something is not predictable, it makes people more anxious.”

The foreign press has observed America’s anxiety. Die Zeit, a German national weekly newspaper, reported that many Americans “aren’t sleeping well, they are suffering from frequent headaches or stomach pains, they are nervous, suspicious and afraid.”

Political Anxiety Intensifies Over Trump’s Russian Connections

Concerns over Trump’s Russian connections intensified when he fired Comey and gave the Russians confidential information he received from Israel. Why does he cozy up to a man who strips Russian companies of their wealth to enrich his oligarchs and his ex-wife and daughter with multimillion-dollar mansions in France, and jailed his opponents?

Does Trump hope to lift sanctions to finally build Trump Tower in Moscow? After all, he’s been trying for 10 years and predicted in a 2007 deposition, “Russia is one of the hottest places in the world for investment,” and that, “We will be in Moscow at some point.” Is there a hidden agenda to sacrifice U.S. interests for personal gain?

Perhaps not, but can we be blamed for wondering? Trump asserts all such questions are part of an unprecedented “witch hunt.” But how can we believe anything he says? He has falsely claimed that he had a record electoral win and a record crowd at his inauguration, that he knows more about ISIS than our generals, that he can’t release his tax returns because he’s under audit and that President Obama tapped his telephones in Trump Tower.

He has also said, “I have nothing to do with Russia, for anything … to the best of my knowledge, no person that I deal with does.” What about Paul Manafort, Carter Page, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, and Betsy Devos’s brother, Erik Prince, the billionaire founder of Blackwater?

The Urgent Need to Address Political Anxiety Through Investigation

It’s frustrating and depressing that Americans can’t believe what the President says. That lack of credibility also creates anxiety and frustration over his policy positions. He recently pivoted to less outlier, more mainstream positions on NAFTA, NATO and trade, but who knows if he’ll pivot back? Will he make good on his campaign threat to throw tariffs on Chinese imports to distract us from the Russian probe? That would start a trade war and throw the U.S. into recession.

Conclusion: Political Anxiety as a Call to Action

Damage done by bad policy, whether it’s healthcare, tax reform, or immigration, is palpable — it can be observed. But the damage done to the American psyche is insidious — not obvious. Consequently, it is not a motivation to act, but it should be. It is urgent that the special counsel and Congress, including Republicans, get to the bottom of the Russian investigation and finally determine if Trump should be removed. In the meantime, Republicans need to do a better job of reining him in.

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Arizona Republicans’ comically slapdash audit of Maricopa County’s 2020 election results is the latest attempt to reinforce the “big lie” that the election was stolen through massive voter fraud. Incredibly, This effort exemplifies Republican manipulation, as it seeks to undermine trust in democratic institutions. Incredibly, recent polls show 56 percent of Republicans believe it. 

Trump’s Big Lie and Its Enduring Impact

Trump and his congressional enablers have succeeded in promoting the lie, even though it was rejected by more than 50 courts including the Supreme Court (three times), state election officials in every state, and all federal election officials and agencies, including Trump’s own Attorney General, William Barr.

The Founders’ Concerns

The persistence of the big lie despite this is disgraceful. But the greatest disgrace is not that Trump and congressional Republicans propagated the lie; it’s that a majority of Republican voters adopted it.This situation reflects a broader pattern of Republican manipulation that undermines democratic norms.

And the Founding founders saw it coming.

Historical Context of Electoral Authority

The framers of the Constitution worried that a “mob” of uninformed voters would elect a “tyrant” who would steer the country astray and command dangerous amounts of power with dangerous results. That’s why they gave state legislatures — not the public — the authority to choose electors that would vote for the president. Later, state legislatures gave control back to the public by choosing electors who would cast their vote for whomever won the state’s popular vote. 

Trump’s Claims and Republican Manipulation

Hence, the founders’ nightmare came true. In 2016, voters elected a candidate who deceived the electorate with a fountain of lies, eventually including the big one. Trump planted its first seeds on May 11, 2017, when he claimed he would have won the popular vote as well as the electoral college if it hadn’t been for voter fraud. On Nov. 4, 2020, he claimed the presidency was stolen from him by massive voter fraud.This effort is a clear example of Republican manipulation aimed at undermining democratic processes.

From Fringe Beliefs to Mainstream Acceptance

At first, the “big lie” attracted a fringe of believers among Trump’s more extremist base, but he sought — and eventually found — wider validation. In time, Trump and Republican strategists had a misinformed and growing mob to work with, and the lie culminated in the insurrection at the Capitol, where a mob attempted to stop the certification of the election.

Republican Manipulation and the Capitol Insurrection

Even half a year later, eight Republican Senators and 139 Republican Representatives continue to validate the lie, and many of them soft-pedal the insurrection, because they need the mob to keep their seats.

Psychological and Behavioral Insights

How did Trump and his Republican accomplices convince so many that the election was stolen? How can so many believe something that is so blatantly and undeniably false? Psychological studies provide some clues. The effectiveness of Republican manipulation in spreading Trump’s big lie can be attributed to several psychological factors that exploit the vulnerabilities of individuals susceptible to misinformation.

The footage of the storming of the Capitol showed a crowd of angry, violent social outliers, 532 of whom have been charged with crimes. Researchers have found that people with this profile typically feel alienated from mainstream society, suffer from low self-esteem and try to resolve both problems by identifying and joining with a group, no matter what it preaches. That makes them easy prey.

The Role of Anger and Misinformation

Studies show anger often has no specific identifiable source and can be undirected, so it manifests in rage, which drives protest. But undirected anger needs an object, which can be selected and targeted by groups that seek to validate and channel it.  In this case, Trump and his Republican allies directed it toward Congress and Vice President Pence, alleging they were allowing the election to be stolen.This manipulation of anger is a key tactic in Republican manipulation.

Conclusion: The Persistence of the Big Lie

Trump’s big lie is perhaps the most debunked claim of our time and, therefore, needs tenacious defense to be maintained. Behavioral scientists point out that makes such false claims harder to abandon. Defenders shun contrary facts and cling to conspiracy theories such as QAnon, or that voting machines are manipulated, or that Antifa staged the Capitol insurrection.

Unencumbered by truth, keen to prey on the disaffected and uninformed, Republican leaders have manipulated and exploited the mob to harvest their votes and their donations. Their manipulations proved wildly successful, just as the founders feared. The effectiveness of Republican manipulation underscores the profound impact of deceit in politics.

Not only do 56 percent of Republicans say they believe the election was stolen, they have bought into the false hope of overturning the result and have donated hundreds of millions to that end: In the eight weeks following Trump’s loss — as he continued to propound the big lie and promised to overturn the election — $255.4 million was raised for Republican candidates. Voters contributed another $207.5 million to a fund disguised as an effort to overturn the election, but nearly all the money went to Republican campaign groups, to pay Trump’s campaign debts, or to his Save America PAC, which can be used for personal expenses. This financial manipulation reflects how Republican manipulation has successfully exploited the belief in Trump’s big lie to fund political efforts and personal gains.

It’s shocking, but also so familiar that it fails to surprise anymore.

It’s hard to accept that a lie so big, blatant, pernicious and damaging can prevail over intelligence, truth and conscience. But as the founders anticipated,

Trump and his Republican allies have tapped into the power of the mob that the founders feared could subvert democracy through systematic Republican manipulation.

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How Trump Swindles Exposes Republican Fraud in Politics

The Electoral College confirmed the victory of Joe Biden this week. Yet Donald Trump continues his efforts to overturn the results with fruitless litigation.Why do Republicans refuse to admit he should halt his efforts? Many think it is because they need his endorsement in the future when they face an election even after he leaves office as president. This situation highlights how Trump swindles are intertwined with Republican fraud to manipulate political outcomes.

The Trump Swindle: Misleading Donors with False Promises

But another reason is to have millions of small donors send money to his defense fund, which has collected more than $200 million since after the election.Donors are told that these contributions will be used to overturn the results. If they believe that, they have another thing coming. Contrary to its stated purpose, the defense fund is a slush fund that exemplifies Trump swindles and Republican fraud. It can pay for his personal expenses and also finance campaigns in the future.

The Role of Republican Fraud in Trump’s Fundraising

Trump and his team know that the legal battle is hopeless. They suffered litigation losses which culminated in the Supreme Court decision against their election case. They failed to convince state officials to overturn the results. Even Attorney General William Barr debunked their arguments as he declared there was zero evidence of massive voter fraud. This is a prime example of Trump swindles and Republican fraud in action.

How Trump Swindles and Republican Fraud Influence Future Elections

But Trump continues to ask donors to finance his fight to overturn the results. His team has sent more than 200 emails with subject lines that claim “the recount results were bogus” and “will you allow the corrupt Democrats to try to steal this election?” The website states the money would “ensure we have the resources” to defend “the integrity for our election” and not “allow the left wing mob to undermine” it.

The Complicity of Republicans in Trump Swindles and Republican Fraud

That is not how the dollars are used because 60 percent of defense fund contributions are sent to Save America, established by Trump, and about 40 percent are given to the Republican National Committee. Supporters would have to donate more than $8,000 before any dollars head toward litigation and recounts. Any contributions under that amount are sent to Save America and also the Republican National Committee.

Trump can use Save America dollars to pay family members and finance travel, hotel stays, and costly events in fancy venues. The donations sent to the Republican National Committee can be used for candidates in any race, even that Georgia runoff election that will determine control of the Senate and likely the future of initiatives and cabinet choices of the next administration. The defense fund is the latest cheat by Trump.

Republicans in Congress have mostly turned a blind eye with his previous infractions. This time they are complicit in misleading Trump loyalists into spending money they cannot afford to lose, in the midst of a pandemic, to reverse an election that has been decided, when they know much of it will head to their pockets. This Trump swindle is a clear example of Trump swindles and Republican fraud. It is the perfect parting shot from an administration that was built on fraud and contempt for our laws and citizens.

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Voter Suppression: The Republican Strategy

Of the 25 states that adopted voter restrictions since 2010, 22 are controlled by Republicans, and their laws target Democratic-leaning voters. Voter suppression is Donald Trump’s best — perhaps only — chance of winning in November. Democrats need to gear up to fight it or risk another four years of Trump.

Republican Tactics to Suppress Votes

Although voter suppression measures have been struck down by the courts in some states, Republicans continue to try them in others. Democrats should focus especially on eight battleground states, plus Texas, Minnesota, and Alabama, all of which have voter suppression measures in place.

In the courts as well as on the ground, Democrats will need to fight the many ways Republicans are trying to render votes for Democrats moot, particularly those of people of color. Their tactics include:

• Changing mail-in ballots to substitute Republican candidates for Democratic candidates while “helping” voters fill them out.
• Closing polls in predominantly black or Latino areas.  
• In some cases, prohibiting the use of mail-in ballots by voters under 65, and in others, attempting to prohibit the use of ballot drop boxes.
• Nullifying mail-in ballots received after election day.
• Requiring photo ID to vote at polling places.
• Requiring witnesses, notaries, and photo IDs to vote by absentee ballot.
• Limiting the ways organizers can help voters get to polling places or submit absentee ballots.
• Prohibiting voting by felons who served their time.
• Purging ballots of voter suppression who fail to update their addresses, whose signatures don’t match those on file with state officials, whose votes are cast at other than at their assigned polling places, or who skipped six years of elections.

Combating Voter Suppression: What Democrats Can Do

There are ways to combat these tactics. For example, Trump has tried to engineer delaying the receipt of mail-in ballots and not counting those that arrive after the election. The administration has apparently backed down on this, but we still need to be vigilant and protect voting by mail; 31 states don’t allow ballots received after election day to be counted even if they’re postmarked before then. Democrats should push them to enact laws allowing ballots to be counted as long as they’re postmarked on or before the election. Red states should cooperate. After all, Republicans, like Democrats, want their votes counted.

The Role of the Supreme Court in Republican Tactics

To re-enfranchise voters, Democrats will not only have to fight Republican legislatures and elected and appointed officials; they will also have to fight the U.S. Supreme Court. Chief Justice Roberts has been lauded for keeping the Court from becoming too political by sometimes siding with liberals. Yet he has broken the promise of the 15^th Amendment that the “right … to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color…” Roberts has been the tiebreaking vote upholding Republican voter suppression efforts in nearly every case that has come before his Court. That includes a decision that thwarted the federal Voting Rights Act. The Court ruled its formula for determining which states must first clear any changes in voting laws with the Department of Justice or a federal district court to ensure they wouldn’t disadvantage minorities was unconstitutional. The decision facilitated purging an estimated 16 million voters between 2014 and 2016.

Justice Roberts and Justice Gorsuch, who has joined Roberts in such decisions since being appointed to the court, were both members of the Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) – an organization which reportedly has helped states suppress minority voting for decades. There is currently no code of ethics for Supreme Court Justices to help determine whether they should recuse themselves from cases because of their prior affiliations. The late Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) introduced the Supreme Court Ethics Act several times to change that, and Congress should revive and pass it.

Legislative Actions Against Voter Suppression

Republicans are trying to thwart the core of our democracy: the right to vote. As Barack Obama warned when he eulogized John Lewis, “those in power are doing their darnedest to discourage people from voting.” Democrats must stand up to them to defeat Donald Trump and restore integrity to the White House.

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