Activism

It just may be possible that the reason for this newest incursion into international law-breaking and senseless murder has more to do with Trump’s personal issues than any international political problem. Talks were in process with Iran and there surely was no imminent threat to the U.S. or Israel. So why start a war now?

Here is my analysis that may seem a stretch, but keep in mind that we are dealing with a president who is showing more severe signs of mental illness every day. When he bombed Venezuela and kidnapped Maduro and his wife the media was focusing more and more on the details of the Epstein case. It is clear that Trump most likely committed serious crimes during his friendship with Epstein. If any situation is capable of bringing down Trump it is his behavior in the Epstein world.

The Venezuela incursion forced the media to change focus. That lasted for awhile until more of the Epstein files were released and a New York Times reporter found out that files relating to Trump had mysteriously gone missing.

In our world of celebrity worship, you can garner mainstream media attention if you are famous or a close relative of a famous person. That means that ordinary people who are not considered newsworthy by the media can wallow in obscurity even if they suffer indignities that media attention could help relieve.

Case in point is the incessant media attention that the kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie, mother of news celebrity Savannah Guthrie, is receiving. She was kidnapped on February 1 and, as of this writing, she is still missing. There are few clues to her disappearance, but the mainstream media and law enforcement have given her case an inordinate amount of attention.

Protests in this country are escalating, yet the illegal violence against citizens continues. The Trump sandbox mentality of having the big guns makes him feel that no laws apply to him, so he continues to trample on the rights of Americans as well as some people in other parts of the world.

Most of us are feeling helpless, but the question in my mind is whether or not people will move their protests closer to the level of a civil war. We are losing the democracy that many of us have believed in, and we are being mentally and physically tormented on a regular basis just for trying to stand up for the rights that have been guaranteed in the documents that are supposed to guide the people who run this country.

Most reasonable people assume that governments exist to support people and provide the infrastructure to make sure commerce provides whatever is needed to keep people safe and healthy. Sadly, a lot of people who are not reasonable, ethical and moral tend to rise to the top of the power structure in many countries.

When that happens, all of the documents and policies in place become meaningless. The founding fathers of the American experiment wrote a number of documents to guide the new country that was breaking away from the tyranny of King George III. The hope was that they could provide more freedom for people in a new country.

It’s not the first time in the history of the world that a power-hungry deranged head of state is trying to take as much of the world as he can grab. It is the first time this type of leader is from the United States. It makes me sick, and it is not only causing Americans to be fearful in their own country, but it is also causing the rest of the world to worry if their country will be his next target.

Fear is the weapon of dictators and autocrats, and Trump is using it here to make people feel unsafe in their own country. If we really had a functional system of checks and balances the legislative branch would have the ability to be guided by a moral and ethical compass. Instead, Washington republicans are following a severely mentally ill leader in lockstep for fear of personal retribution. The lock on domestic power is almost complete.

I have been reading Russian dissident Alexei Navalny’s memoir and the similarities between Russian and American politics are frightening. It’s no surprise to anyone in this country that we are living under a repressive regime that disrespects free speech and the rule of law. That is the case in many countries around the world today, but I believe most Americans never thought it could get this bad here.

As Navalny outlines political events during his short life, it becomes clear that Putin and Trump have a lot in common. They both are intolerant of any viewpoint not supporting them and they both will do anything to hold on to and increase the power and wealth they have.

When egomaniacal oligarchs assume power they are not satisfied simply bending their own people to their will. Their disease compels them to move to the next level. That means trying to take over countries beyond their borders and starting wars for no other reason than to give them more personal power.

When fighting an unconventional war you have to think out of the box and develop new strategies to defeat the enemy. The war that is being waged in this country by Trump and his people defies logic, morality, ethics and common sense. But he has the ultimate power and, so far, he has been able to do whatever he wants. The only sensible counterattack requires new strategies.

One of the impediments to having a government that should be fair and just for the majority is the two-party system.

The world is hardly black and white, yet we expect our country to operate within an unrealistic system that only offers binary choices. Life is not like that.

This country has faced a critical nursing shortage for years. The situation was made worse as a result of the COVID pandemic when health care workers were burned out and left professions that already needed to increase their numbers. Now, the Trump administration has created a new threat to the nursing profession by changing its definition of a professional degree to exclude nursing.

This a gut punch to the 5.86 million nurses in this country. Of that number, 920,000 are LPNs and 5 million are RNs. These are significant numbers, and I hope that all nurses are reminded of the disrespect that this Republican administration is showing to nurses when it comes time to vote.

The day that the government shutdown of 2025 ended was the day that any hope for preserving the quality of life of millions of Americans ended. On the surface, the shutdown was presumably about extending subsidies for the Affordable Care Act. But there was a lot more at stake.

The Republicans had already had success in shredding the Medicaid program by making sure that millions of people will not be able to access the program. Those changes have not played out yet. When they do, there will be a new epidemic of untreated disease that will have consequences throughout the entire health care industry.

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Just in case the rest of the world needed affirmation, it is now crystal clear that the President of the United States is an arrogant, stupid fool who is in love with himself. There are other mental health issues as well, but his speech in front of the United Nations was painful to listen to, even for a few seconds. It sounded as though there was a lot of derisive laughter as he spoke. As an American, it was an embarrassment. Nothing new.

Trump’s madness is escalating because he has become completely intoxicated with his power. He is able to do whatever he wants and no one else in power is stopping him. There have been a few legal challenges and a few high level politicians have railed against him but, for the most part, his power is unfettered.

A lot of American’s brains have been invaded by a new brain worm that creates a host of symptoms that just won’t go away. You won’t find this disease in any medical book because it has not yet been widely recognized, yet too many of us have felt its effects.

What I am referring to is the unrelenting occupation of our thoughts by the biggest bully and newly anointed American king, Donald Trump. Like it or not, he has been able to weasel his way into almost every aspect of life and, unless you are living under a rock, you are not immune to this infection.

When I was growing up I was bullied a lot. I think it was mostly because I was a fat kid and the bully types looked at me as an easy target. This went on for a number of years until I finally decided to fight back. In the late fifties and early sixties the culture was different than today and when I went to my father to tell him about kids picking on me his only reaction was to tell me to fight back. I don’t think most parents would say that today.