Category: Politics

He and his words are despicable

There was a tragedy in Los Angeles last weekend. It was followed hours later by a tragic expression of hate on Truth Social.

I struggled over whether to blog about this. I concluded that if I remained silent, I was complicit. I concluded that if I did not speak out, I was giving the President of the United States permission to continue to demonstrate his lack of humanity.

I am aware that he does not need my permission to do anything. I am merely one citizen. One voter. He does not answer to me. He has proven repeatedly since January 20, 2025, that he does not answer to anyone. I hope that sometime in the next 37 months, he will be answerable to someone. If he will not be held accountable for his behavior by the United States Congress in the next 37 months, he will eventually be held accountable by our Creator.

His words about the murder of Rob and Michele Reiner were shocking but not surprising.

Rob and Michele Reiner were Hollywood icons. As far as I know, neither of them ever hurt anyone. They loved their son and had, no doubt, done everything in their power to help him with his addictions.

Photo of the Seal of the President of the United States.
Photo by Sean Foster on Unsplash

But when “the leader of the free world,” “the most powerful man in the world” due to the political office he holds responded to the news the Reiners had been found murdered in their Los Angeles home with vitriol, I was shocked.

It is shocking that a human being can be so callous and devoid of empathy. It was shocking, but it was not surprising. (Yes, I’ve already said that, but it bears repeating.)

As the current President of the United States always does, he made light of these murders AND he made it all about him. Not only did he say despicable things about the Reiners, he said they were murdered because they had Trump Derangement Syndrome.

I find him so repulsive that I refuse to mention his name today except when I have to.

He more than insinuated in his social media post that the Reiners were murdered because they did not like him. (Can you spell narcissist?)

It turned out that they were apparently murdered by their son, who has a history of drug addiction. We might never know what triggered these acts of violence, but it is doubtful it had anything to do with the Reiners’ political opinions.

As everyone who knew Rob and Michele Reiner or appreciated their work has mourned their untimely deaths and the profound tragedy of the indications that they died at the hands of their son, we are also left to once again deal with the embarrassment caused by the words of the President of the United States.

The President of the United States is supposed to be a person of integrity and character. It is not spelled out in the job description, but in the 236 years we have had a President, it has been or at least evolved into a position in which we expect a level of respect, empathy, leadership, and encouragement. Until 2025. We would like to have it in 2025, but we no longer expect it.

What we expect from the current United States President is disrespect, ridicule, mean-spirited words and actions, name calling, belittling, racism, and a total lack of empathy for anyone in the nation or the world who is struggling, suffering, or grieving.

Therefore, what he said about the murder of Rob and Michele Reiner was shocking, but it was not surprising.

How many more despicable things must he say before someone in a position of authority does something?

How many more despicable things must he say before some people who claim to be Christians stop defending and supporting him?

His behavior would not be tolerated if he were an employee in any other job in America, so why is it tolerated when he has the job of United States President?

Then, the plaques about the former U.S. Presidents

Mr. President, the fact that this week you added plaques under the photographs of yourself and other former U.S. Presidents along that wall you’ve tackied-up at the White House, goes right along with the way you started the week by saying hateful things about Rob and Michele Reiner.

The little bits I’ve heard of what you said about President Biden and President Obama on their plaques are so far beneath the dignity of the office you hold, words fail me. Only a very tiny, insecure person does such a thing.

You have turned the wall beside an outdoor walkway leading to the Oval Office into a Wall of Horrors. We can only hope it and the Oval Office can be returned to their former simple elegance when you are gone.

Then, there was your nationally-televised yell-fest

Wednesday night, those of us who tuned in out of curiosity, heard and watched the U.S. President have a yell-fest. For 18 minutes, you talked yelled as fast as you could. It was a bizarre display, even for you, and you have set the bar incredibly low with your earlier speeches and “weavings” you are so proud of.

Considering the purpose of the yell-fest was apparently to tell us how great you think you are and how cheap groceries are thanks to your leadership, you certainly sounded angry.

If you were lucky enough to not hear Wednesday night’s tirade live, it is quoted in its entirety here: ttps://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/17/read-donald-trumps-speech/87820921007/. To really appreciate it, though, you needed to hear it live with all the anger his tone of voice showed. He was practically gritting his teeth at the end when he spit out, “To each and every one of you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. God bless you all.” He was obviously too angry to even fake a smile.

You are not great, Mr. President. You are a sorry excuse. You are a profound embarrassment to all reasonable Americans.

The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Yesterday, Trump claimed to be “surprised” when the trustees he appointed to the board to which he named himself the chairman renamed The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center of the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Since he has been referring to it as the Trump-Kennedy Center for several weeks, claiming it was a slip of the tongue, why would he say it was a surprise yesterday? The truth just is not in him.

Congress named it as a memorial to President John F. Kennedy in 1964, so it is questionable that the Trump-appointed trustees have the authority to change the name. As long as there is a Republican majority in this do-nothing Congress, though, nothing will probably come of this.

This isn’t the first thing Trump has named for himself, of course.

Last week he renamed the United States Institute of Peace the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace and had his name chiseled into the entrance to the building.

The White House ballroom that originally was going to cost $200 million, he now says just months later, will cost $400 million. There is speculation that he will name it The Donald J. Trump Ballroom. Why wouldn’t he?

He’s going to build an arch in Washington, D.C. that will supposedly dwarf the one in Paris. After all, the bigger, the gaudier, the better in Trump World.

It is surprising he renamed the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. I wonder why he didn’t name it the Gulf of Trump?

It will always be the Gulf of Mexico to me. And it will always be the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Anything he names for himself can be changed back to its rightful name when he is gone.

Only 37 more months? Unless he renames the Constitution of the United States of America the Constitution of Donald J. Trump. He said when he was campaigning that he thought the U.S. Constitution should be abolished.

Buckle up, folks, it’s going to continue to be a rough ride. We’re only 11 months in. It just seems like 11 years.

Janet

Trump’s National Security Strategy – The Eastern Hemisphere

Yesterday, I primarily blogged (https://janetswritingblog.com/2025/12/10/trumps-national-security-strategy-the-western-hemisphere/) about the Western Hemisphere portion of the Trump Administration’s National Security Strategy which was released last Friday, although it bears a November 2025 date. It was quietly released and posted on the White House website: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025-National-Security-Strategy.pdf. I encourage you to read the document and draw your own conclusions. Yours might not align with mine.

In addition to the Western Hemisphere, the document addresses Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa – in that order.

Photo of a map of the Old World Eastern Hemisphere
Photo by The New York Public Library on Unsplash

Asia

As only a document coming out of the Trump White House can say, the Asia portion of the strategy begins with the words, “President Trump single-handedly reversed more than three decades of mistaken American assumptions about China: namely, that by opening our markets to China, encouraging American business to invest in China, and outsourcing our manufacturing to China, we would facilitate China’s entry into the so-called ‘rules based international order.’ This did not happen. China got rich and powerful, and used its wealth and power to its considerable advantage. American elites—over four successive administrations of both political parties—were either willing enablers of China’s strategy or in denial.”

That’s rich, coming from Trump who had so much of his Trump brand merchandise manufactured in China! And his daughter had her line of jewelry made in China! The Trump family took full advantage of the “mistakes” of precious U.S. Presidents and got richer and richer at the expense of the American factory worker.

The document goes on to state, “… the Indo-Pacific is already and will continue to be among the next century’s key economic and geopolitical battlegrounds. To thrive at home, we must successfully compete there—and we are. President Trump signed major agreements during his October 2025 travels that further deepen our powerful ties of commerce, culture, technology, and defense, and reaffirm our commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. America retains tremendous assets—the world’s strongest economy and military, world-beating innovation, unrivaled “soft power,” and a historic record of benefiting our allies and partners—that enable us to compete successfully. President Trump is building alliances and strengthening partnerships in the Indo Pacific that will be the bedrock of security and prosperity long into the future.”

Several hundred words later, the Asia section of the document ends with, “We will also harden and strengthen our military presence in the Western Pacific, while in our dealings with Taiwan and Australia we maintain our determined rhetoric on increased defense spending. Preventing conflict requires a vigilant posture in the Indo-Pacific, a renewed defense industrial base, greater military investment from ourselves and from allies and partners, and winning the economic and technological competition over the long term.”

It appears that Australia was thrown into that last paragraph as an afterthought.

Europe

The European section of the National Security Strategy begins by throwing Europe under the bus, as Trump likes to do. He is critical of every country, including his own. Nothing is good enough. After laying out some supposed statistics (I say supposed because, sadly, I don’t believe anything the Trump Administration says), the document says if the current trend in Europe continues, “the continent will be unrecognizable in 20 years or less. As such, it is far from obvious whether certain European countries will have economies and militaries strong enough to remain reliable allies.”

The paper goes on to address the threat Russia poses with its nuclear weapons and the need to “reestablish conditions of strategic stability across the Eurasian landmass, and to mitigate the risk of conflict between Russia and European states.

I find the following statement in the NSS interesting, considering the Trump Administration’s propensity to make it more difficult for U.S. citizens to vote and its blatant efforts to prompt states to gerrymander Congressional district lines to assure him of retaining the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

That statement: “A large European majority wants peace, yet that desire is not translated into policy, in large measure because of those governments’ subversion of democratic processes. This is strategically important to the United States precisely because European states cannot reform themselves if they are trapped in political crisis…. Not only can we not afford to write Europe off—doing so would be self-defeating for what this strategy aims to achieve. American diplomacy should continue to stand up for genuine democracy, freedom of expression, and unapologetic celebrations of European nations’ individual character and history….  Our goal should be to help Europe correct its current trajectory. We will need a strong Europe to help us successfully compete, and to work in concert with us to prevent any adversary from dominating Europe…. We want to work with aligned countries that want to restore their former greatness.”

The document then addresses NATO and its future as “certain NATO members will become majority non-European.”

The Middle East

This section of the NSS begins by addressing energy and how the Middle East is not as important in that arena as it was for decades. It touts the fact that the U.S. is now an energy exporter. It also boasts that Trump has “revitalized” U.S. alliances in “the Gulf.” It says the threats to peace in the Middle East are not as strong as the news headlines indicate. It brags about the U.S. June 2025 Operation Midnight Hammer attack on Iran’s nuclear program.

Africa

The NSS document starts this section by criticizing past American policy in Africa as spreading liberal ideology. Instead, the Trump Administration seeks to partner with “select countries” to create trade to replace the foreign aid of the past.

This section of the document ends with, “The United States should transition from an aid-focused relationship with Africa to a trade- and investment-focused relationship, favoring partnerships with capable, reliable states committed to opening their markets to U.S. goods and services. An immediate area for U.S. investment in Africa, with prospects for a good return on investment, include the energy sector and critical mineral development. Development of U.S.-backed nuclear energy, liquid petroleum gas, and liquified natural gas technologies can generate profits for U.S. businesses and help us in the competition for critical minerals and other resources.

In other words, what’s in it for Trump? He can only see the world through the lens of business. That lens only sees how he can personally benefit financially.

I hate to have such a distrust for and poor perspective of a U.S. President. I don’t enjoy writing any of this.

Janet

Trump’s National Security Strategy – The Western Hemisphere

What we have here in the United States is obviously a Wizard of Oz situation.

The White House quietly released the November 2025 National Security Strategy (NSS) and posted it on the White House website. Since it is the announcement of the official U.S. foreign policy, there is usually a bit of fanfare with its release, but not this year.

Most Americans will never hear about it, much less read it.

It begins with a letter signed by Trump but obviously written by someone else. Probably Stephen Miller. Why do I say that? Simple. It is written in complete sentences.

The letter

That letter is enlightening because it does list the “eight raging conflicts” Trump claims to have put an end to in “just eight months” this year. In case you’re having trouble keeping up with the wars Trump has ended, here’s the list as found in this letter: Cambodia & Thailand, Kosovo & Serbia, the Democratic Republic of Congo & Rwanda, Pakistan & India, Israel & Iran, Egypt & Ethiopia, Armenia & Azerbaijan, and Israel & Gaza, although Israel is not named in the letter. (He wouldn’t want to show the government of Israel in a bad light, would he?)

The letter is full of bluster and boasts of all the amazing things Trump has done and all the “weakness, extremism, and deadly failures” of the Biden Administration. As only Trump can boast, the letter states, “Over the past nine months, we have brought our nation — and the world – back from the brink of catastrophe and disaster.”

The NSS document

The NSS document itself contains 29 pages of details of what the United States wants and what the United States wants from the world.

Some of the introductory remarks would be laughable if they weren’t so sad. For instance, “We want to maintain the United States’ unrivaled ‘soft power’ through which we exercise positive influence throughout the world that furthers our interests” rings hollow considering the Trump Administration obliterated USAID.

The sudden obliteration of USAID not only resulted in the starvation of hundreds of thousands of children but also their preventable deaths by the withholding of medical treatments – not to mention how the cessation of the food aid programs hurt the American farmer terribly.

The paragraph that really made me gag, though, was this one:

“Finally, we want the restoration and reinvigoration of American spiritual and cultural health, without which long-term security is impossible. We want an America that cherishes its past glories and its heroes, and that looks forward to a new golden age. We want a people who are proud, happy, and optimistic that they will leave their country to the next generation better than they found it. We want a gainfully employed citizenry – with no one sitting on the sidelines – who take satisfaction from knowing that their work is essential to the prosperity of our nation and to the well-being of individuals and families. This cannot be accomplished without growing numbers of strong, traditional families that raise healthy children.” (Notice the subtle reference to “traditional families.”)

Dear Leader Kim Jong Un of North Korea couldn’t have written that paragraph better! Delete the words “American spiritual” and I would swear I was reading a translation of a statement by Kim or Xi.

A paragraph that sent chills down my spine, though, was this one: “We want to ensure that the Western Hemisphere remains reasonably stable and well-governed enough to prevent and discourage mass migration to the United States; …we want …; we want … ; and we want to ensure our continued access to key strategic locations. In other words, we will assert and enforce a “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine;….”

It was “Trump Corollary” that got to me. Why does his name have to go on every cotton-picking thing?

The document goes on to delineate U.S. policy by region: The Western Hemisphere, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Introductory remarks that preface the regional details include, “The United States is by every measure the most generous nation in history – yet we cannot afford to be equally attentive to every region and every problem in the world.”

The Western Hemisphere

Photo of an Old World drawing of the western hemisphere
Photo by The New York Public Library on Unsplash

The so-called “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine involves making new partners and reconsidering our military presence in the Western Hemisphere. This seems to involve beefing up our Coast Guard and Navy presence “to control se lanes, to thwart illegal and other unwanted migration, to reduce human and drug trafficking, and to control key transit routes in a crisis.” It also includes “targeted deployments to secure the border and defeat cartels, including where necessary the use of lethal force to replace the failed law enforcement-only strategy of the last several decades.”

Also, “…as we prioritize commercial diplomacy, we will work to strengthen our security partnerships – from weapons sales to intelligence sharing to joint exercises.” This is in response to non-Western Hemisphere nations’ incursions of influence in recent years.

But the National Security Strategy goes on from there and seems to concentrate on the economy and what’s in it for United States companies. As a student of political science, it reads to me as a complete overhaul of the U.S. State Department and the responsibilities of our diplomats and State Department employees out in the field. This makes me cringe.

The U.S. “will reform our own system to expedite approvals and licensing – again, to make ourselves the partner of first choice. The choice all countries should face is whether they want to live in an American-led world of sovereign countries and free economies or in a parallel one in which they are influenced by countries on the other side of the world….

“All our embassies must be aware of major business opportunities in their country, especially major government contracts. Every U.S. Government official that interacts with these countries should understand that part of their job is to help American companies compete and succeed.

“The U.S. Government will identify strategic acquisition and investment opportunities for American companies in the region and present these opportunities for assessment by every U.S. Government financing program, including but not limited to those within the Departments of State, War, and Energy; the Small Business Administration; the International Development Finance Corporation; the Export-Import Bank; and the Millennium Challenge Corporation.

“We should also partner with regional governments and businesses to build scalable and resilient energy infrastructure, invest in critical mineral access, and harden existing and future cyber communications networks that take full advantage of American encryption and security potential.

“The aforementioned U.S. Government entities should be used to finance some of the costs of purchasing U.S. goods abroad. The United States must also resist and reverse measures such as targeted taxation, unfair regulation, and expropriation that disadvantage U.S. businesses. The terms of our agreements, especially with those countries that depend on us most and therefore over which we have the most leverage, must be sole-source contracts for our companies. At the same time, we should make every effort to push out foreign companies that build infrastructure in the region.”

The part about U.S. State Department – or any other U.S. Government employee – who interacts with countries in the Western Hemisphere to understand that it is “part of their job to help American companies compete and succeed” is a 180-degree change in the purpose U.S. Government employees. It is not part of the job of a State Department employee to promote American companies! At least, it wasn’t part of their job until last Friday. That is absolutely not the job of the U.S. diplomatic corps!

I suppose this being put in writing by the Trump Administration should come as no surprise. After all, the U.S. State Department no longer makes “peace agreements;” it makes “deals” because Trump has an overwhelming lack of understanding or appreciation for the traditional functions of government in a democracy.

Western Hemisphere Command

It was not a coincidence that we learned on Thursday or Friday that two U.S. military command centers will be moving to Fort Bragg here in North Carolina over the next year as a new “Western Hemisphere Command” has been announced.

Possible blog post tomorrow

If I can recover from reading the Western Hemisphere portion of the National Security Strategy, I will blog tomorrow about how it addresses Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

I invite and encourage you to read the complete NSS document for yourself and not to take my word for it at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025-National-Security-Strategy.pdf.

Janet

Another Trump Nail in the Coffin of the CDC?

The advisory committee on vaccinations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were hand-picked by notorious vaccine-denier Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. He just happens to be Trump’s pick for U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. He received the blessings of and confirmation by the U.S. Senate to serve in that capacity.

Photo of gloved hands holding a hypodermic needle
Photo by Mufid Majnun on Unsplash

There are things I would like to say to and about the Senators who voted to approve Kennedy for that Cabinet position, but I will temper my remarks here. To give a person who for decades has promoted conspiracy theories about vaccines to Secretary of Health and Human Services was a travesty.

When the U.S. Senate approved the likes of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense, and Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security… we get what they voted for: dangerous incompetence.

When people held their noses and voted for the likes of Donald J. Trump for U.S. President, we got what they voted for: dangerous incompetence and a colossal hatred for anyone who isn’t a rich, white male.

What we have now is a growing avalanche of physicians and other medical professions telling us not to trust anything that comes out of the CDC, the Federal Drug Administration, or Health and Human Services. Let that sink in!

On December 5, Trump said he supported the recommendations of the CDC vaccine advisory committee (many of whom are known vaccine deniers) in their recommendation that we abandon the 1991 CDC recommendation that all newborn babies in the U.S. receive the hepatitis B vaccine.

Apparently, Trump knows just as much about immunology as the quacks and Republicans on the advisory committee. Having a medical or any level of a health degree was not a prerequisite to be on the committee. Let’s just let any person off the street who supports Trump form new vaccinations policies and schedules for all Americans. What could possibly go wrong?

The hepatitis B vaccine decision flies in the face of medical data. In 1990, approximately 20,000 infants in the U.S. got hepatitis B. In 2020, twenty infants in the U.S. got hepatitis B. The vaccine not only prevents the liver damage caused by hepatitis B. It also prevents the liver cancer that can result from that liver damage.

It remains to be seen how this ill-advised new CDC policy will play out over the coming years. Will pharmaceutical companies limit production of the hepatitis B vaccine? Will parents who want their newborns to be protected from this highly-contagious disease be able to get the vaccine for their children? No one knows the answers to those questions.

A memo that Trump signed on Friday praised the new CDC recommendation and went on to endorse the new policy that instead of leading the world in health science, the CDC will now follow the lead of “peer, developed countries.”

I guess it’s fortunate that Trump’s children and grandchildren were all vaccinated as newborns before this 34-year-old mandate got scrapped last week. His future grandchildren and great-grandchildren might not be so fortunate.

When Trump promised to “drain the swamp,” we didn’t know he thought the CDC was part of the swamp.

We are left to wonder if the CDC will survive three more years of attacks by Trump and Kennedy.

Meanwhile, in Washington, DC last week…

In a move that is so blatantly racist and narcissistic, the Trump Administration removed Martin Luther King Day and Juneteenth as days that all our national parks could be visited for free and replaced them with… you are not going to believe this… Trump’s Birthday!

This is not a joke. This is the truth. You can’t make this stuff up!

Janet

Report about “Alligator Alcatraz”

The United States of America used to be a nation of laws, or am I naïve?

I did not plan to blog today, but something came to my attention that I can’t let slide.

Amnesty International has issued a 48-page report. I thought it was going to be a report on the organization’s findings throughout the world but, no, it is a report on detention facilities in the State of Florida. 48 well-documented pages.

This is a photo of a hand-held sign that says, "Human Rights For Future - Amnesty International"
Photo by Christian Lue on Unsplash

The name of the report is “Torture and enforced disappearances in the Sunshine State: Human rights violations at “Alligator Alcatraz” and Krome in Florida AMR 51/0511/2025” and can be found at https://www.amnesty.nl/content/uploads/2025/12/AMR_51_0511_2025-Torture-and-enforced-disappearances-in-the-Sunshine-State-vf.pdf?….

Photo of an alligator showing his teeth
Photo by Gabriel Soto on Unsplash

The U.S. Detention Center dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” due to its location in the Everglades and the manner in which it was publicized by the Trump Administration and the early reports that came out of there, has completely fallen off the radars of news organizations. With Border Patrol and ICE activities in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte, New Orleans, and Minneapolis-St. Paul dominating the news cycles along with the Epstein Files and whether the United States is going to bomb Venezuela and force a regime change in that country… “Alligator Alcatraz” cannot compete for attention.

Thank goodness it hasn’t fallen off Amnesty International’s radar. The organization’s report this week paints a horrible picture of conditions at “Alligator Alcatraz.”

I know there are Americans who glibly turn a blind eye to any reports that put the Trump Administration in a bad light. They seem to think it’s acceptable for the U.S. to bomb boats in international waters and launch multiple attacks to kill any survivors. They also tend to agree with Trump that anyone who ends up in a detention center is sub-human and deserves horrible treatment. Many of these people also claim to be Christians. This baffles me, but that isn’t the purpose of today’s blog post.

(And why is Trump’s good buddy, Steve Witkoff, giving Putin advice on how to negotiate with Trump? But I digress.)

PHoto of fingers gripping a wire fence
Photo by Mitchel Lensink on Unsplash

I cannot easily summarize the report in this blog post, but here are a few highlights:

Lights are on around-the-clock;

Although the United Nations considers solitary confinement lasting more than 15 days to be torture, but at “Alligator Alcatraz,” some detainees have been in solitary confinement for more than 100 consecutive days;

Inadequate/ill-maintained plumbing results in toilets overflowing and flooding cells;

Detainees are allowed one five-minute shower per week;

Mold, insects, and rodents abound;

Food is often spoiled or maggot-infested;

Medical and mental health care are often withheld;

At least four detainees have died due to medical neglect;

Detainees are effectively dropped from the immigration court system because ICE and GEO Group refuse to report them to other government authorities;

Guards have used pepper spray in closed cells and then denied decontamination;

Sexual assault is occurring;

Detainees are punished if they complain about conditions;

Force-feeding has been used without proper medical oversight

There are 1,400 detainees being held there now at a facility built for 700;

ICE renewed GEO Group’s contract to operate the facility inspite of all the evidence that the company is not maintaining current standards of incarceration in the United States; and

The Department of Human Services Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties has not inspected “Alligator Alcatraz” since July 2025.

My thoughts

Call me a “bleeding heart liberal” if you wish, but I would ask you if this is now the acceptable penal standard in the United States of America? Do we aspire to be a “Third World” country?

Is anything on the above list making “America Great Again” or did I misunderstand Trump’s campaign promise?

If you are all right with our country treating detainees horribly, then you and I have fundamental differences in how we interpret the teachings of Jesus Christ as well as the letter and spirit of the United States Constitution.

The sobering lines of Martin Niemoller’s much-quoted “First they came” statement/poem come to mind.

A meme that reads, "First they came for the immigrants, but I wasn't an immigrant."

They haven’t come for me yet, but I feel compelled to speak up for the least of these among us and alleged atrocities committed by the United States Government or its private contractors such as GEO Group.

I love my country. That is why it hurts so much when we fall short of our potential and our history.

Janet

When the BBC bends a knee to Donald Trump

When the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) bends a knee to Donald Trump, we should all sit up and take notice.

Photo of a cell phone displaying the letters BBC.
Photo by appshunter.io on Unsplash

It came to my attention this afternoon that BBC Radio 4 censored a sentence out of a Reith Lectures presentation by Rutger Bregman. The BBC invited Mr. Bregman to give a series of lectures in the highly-touted Reith Lectures. The Reith Lectures have a 77-year history and have been known for being champions of free expression.

According to https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/v78MKsCWHxw0l0PwMn4R0R/bbc-reith-lectures-2025-moral-revolution, “The Reith Lectures were inaugurated in 1948 by the BBC to mark the historic contribution made to public service broadcasting by Sir John (later Lord) Reith, the corporation’s first director-general.

“John Reith maintained that broadcasting should be a public service which enriches the intellectual and cultural life of the nation. It is in this spirit that the BBC each year invites a leading figure to deliver a series of lectures on radio. The aim is to advance public understanding and debate about significant issues of contemporary interest.”

Writer and historian Rutger Bregman was invited to deliver a series of four lectures for the 2025 Reith Lectures in London, Liverpool, Edinburgh, and the United States. Under the umbrella theme of Moral Revolution, his four lectures were “A Time of Monsters,” “How To Start a Moral Revolution,” “A Conspiracy of Decency,” and “Fighting for Humanity in the Age of the Machine.”

On November 25, 2025, Mr. Bregman (@rutgerbregman) posted on Instagram his shock that BBC Radio 4 removed a sentence from the broadcast of a lecture he delivered a month ago.

I quote from @rutgerbregman on Instagram

Mr. Bregman wrote on @rutgerbregman on Instagram:  “The BBC has decided to censor the opening lecture of a series they invited me to deliver. They removed the sentence in which I describe Donald Trump as ‘the most openly corrupt president in American history.’

“This line was taken out of a lecture they commissioned, reviewed through the full editorial process, and recorded four weeks ago in front of 500 people in the BBC Radio Theatre.

“I was told the decision came from the highest levels within the BBC.

“This has happened against my wishes, and I’m deeply troubled by it. Not because people can’t disagree with my words, but because self-censorship driven by fear (Trump is threatening to sue the BBC) should concern all of us.

“This isn’t about left or right. It’s about the health of our democratic institutions. For decades the Reith Lectures have been one of the BBC’s most important platforms for open debate and free expression. That’s why this really matters.

“In this video, I explain what happened, why it’s important, and why we should remain calm but clear-eyed about the pressures facing our public institutions.

“I share this with respect for the many excellent journalists at the BBC. And with the hope that transparency helps strengthen, not weaken, our democratic culture.”

In Mr. Bregman’s Instagram video clip

In Mr. Bregman’s video on Instagram, he explains that the irony is that the title of his lecture was “A Time of Monsters.” The lecture was about the cowardice of today’s elites and elitist institutions – “bending the knee to authoritarianism.”

In the video on Instagram, Bregman said, “They deleted the sentence in which I said, ‘Donald Trump is the most openly corrupt president in American history.’”

He said, “It was a defensible and plausible statement. It’s well known that Donald Trump and his family are personally profiting from the presidency to a degree we haven’t seen before. According to a major investigation in The New Yorker published last August, the total gain, the personal gains, already exceed roughly $3.5 billion from real estate deals to meme coins.”

Mr. Bregman went on to say that this isn’t about him – “It’s about something much bigger. When institutions start censoring themselves, because they’re scared of those in power, that is the moment we all need to pay attention. Democracies don’t collapse overnight. They gradually erode in acts of fear. Let’s not be afraid to name what’s happening, and let’s not be afraid to tell the truth.”

In closing

I couldn’t have said it better myself, so I’ll just leave it for you to draw your own conclusions about the state of the world.

I wish my fellow Americans a Happy Thanksgiving Day tomorrow.

Janet

I’m back!

When I blogged on November 7, I had no idea I would not blog again until November 22. My sister is recovering nicely from her surgery. The jury is still out on the condition of her sole caregiver. (LOL!) The main reason I haven’t blogged in 15 days is that my desktop computer went rogue on November 11. I did not have time to call for help for it until late yesterday. My new best friend/computer guy came today and I am now back in business as a blogger and a writer.

The timing couldn’t have been worse for computer problems with my new book, Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories, just being released. All the publicity memes and ads I created in advance on Bookbrush.com (I love Bookbrush!) could not be accessed and posted on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, or Bluesky. I can still use them, of course, but the dates I labeled many of them with have now passed. I’m living in a time warp of sorts.

Photo of the paperback of Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories, by Janet Morrison
Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories, by Janet Morrison

I have not been able to mail 85 book publicity postcards in the metro area because the local independent bookstore has not received her shipment from IngramSpark yet. Another case of hurry up and wait.

I’m not one to always look for the silver lining in a black cloud, but (1) my sister is improving each day and (2) I’ve gotten some much-needed exercise putting ice packs on her wound every 20 minutes all day every day. I’ve averaged walking more than three miles-a-day, which is probably 2.5 miles more than my usual.

All of this came at an inopportune time. Some of you have, no doubt, missed my daily political rants. Others of you have probably thanked God for the absence of them.

“Let them eat cake!”

During my absence from the blogosphere this month, President Marie Antoinette ordered the U.S. Border Patrol to leave Chicago and descend upon us here Charlotte. I watched local and national news programs as the masked and heavily armed Border Patrol Agents roamed Mecklenburg County and beyond (including very small mountain towns more than 100 miles to the west) and randomly round up anyone who looked or sounded Hispanic — regardless of their citizenship status.

They came without coordinating or communicating with the Sheriff of Mecklenburg County or the Charlotte Chief of Police. Standard protocol is that a federal law enforcement agency alerts local law enforcement of their operations so local police do not interfere with the operations. It just helps for local police to be aware of what the feds are doing, but that’s not how U.S. Border Patrol works.

They pointed high-powered weapons at unarmed men, women, and children, broke out car windows, and detained people for days without their families knowing where they had been taken. I understand some were taken hundreds of miles away to Georgia.

Photograph of Charlotte skyline at dawn or sunset with light shining yellow and purple through clouds
Skyline of Charlotte, North Carolina. Photo by Daniel Weiss on unsplash.com.

The general terrorism in sections of Charlotte with high Hispanic populations resulted in Hispanic- and Latino- owned businesses closing shop all week in an effort to keep their customers safe. Grocery stores and other businesses offered home deliveries to customers who were afraid to leave their homes.

Some 30,000 Charlotte-Mecklenburg school students stayed home from school out of fear of either being picked up in transit or out of fear that if they went to school their parents would be arrested and taken away before they got home from school that afternoon.

A teacher at East Mecklenburg High School was interviewed. She eloquently described what last week was like in the school system with 21 percent of the students being afraid to go to school. She did not use the word “terrorized” lightly. She spoke of teachers making home visits to their scared students to reassure them and to deliver food and toiletries to their homes.

What we have now in America is students not only having to worry that a shooter is going to come into their school and murder students and teachers, they also have to worry that the United States Government is going to send men in unmarked vehicles and wearing full military garb plus masks and sunglasses that completely hide their identities to harass them and possibly zip tie them and haul them away to parts unknown as they just attempt to attend school.

It did not help the situation for Assistant White House Chief-of-Staff Stephen Miller to announce that those 30,000 school students stayed home this week because they were all illegal aliens. Stop lying, Mr. Miller! Most of those students are American citizens. They just don’t have a white face like you have, Mr. Miller. That’s all they are guilty of. Since you don’t appear to be Native American of indigenous ancestry, Mr. Miller, I assume that you have immigrants in your family tree. Most Americans do.

When all was said and done in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, in less than a week, more than 370 individuals were arrested out of a population of 1.2 million. President Antoinette enjoyed his Great Gatsby-themed party in Florida as he sent Border Patrol Agents here under the guise of arresting “the worst of the worst.” The final report isn’t out yet, but the last I heard only two gang members were arrested. Of the first 170 people arrested, only 44 had police records (including such things are parking tickets and speeding tickets.)

At least one U.S. citizen’s truck window was broken out by Border Patrol. He was taken miles away. Border Patrol kept his truck keys. At least two women from Puerto Rico were accosted, questioned, zip-tied, and led away to an unmarked vehicle. The Trump Administration hasn’t learned yet that Puerto Rico is a U.S. Territory. Its residents are U.S. citizens. I can’t un-see the video of Trump throwing paper towels at Puerto Ricans after Hurricane Maria in October 2017. It was when Hurricane Maria hit that Trump told us that Puerto Rico is an island surrounded by water. Duh!

Before I close, I want to emphasize how the U.S. Border Patrol Agents are dressed. The word “mask” is woefully inadequate to describe what they are wearing. These so-called masks are heavy knit fabric. It reaches from their throats to their eyes and encircles their heads. Dark sunglasses cover their eyes. They wear hats. (I can’t help but compare them to the Ku Klux Klan… cowardly white people afraid to show their faces.)

They are dressed in fatigues with bullet-proof vests. Wads of zip ties hanging from their belts or one of their numerous pockets. They are heavily armed. They appear to be very short on patience and totally void of empathy for their fellow American citizens. They have been filmed stopping in the street in a residential neighborhood, jumping out and accosting two Hispanic-looking men who were hired to put lights on a resident’s outdoor Christmas tree.

It has come to this: random racial terrorism being practiced by the United States Government at the direction of the United States President.

They seem to have left Charlotte, although the website of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security indicated they would be here until December 4. Is that a trick?

New Orleans, apparently you are next on Trump’s hit list. Remain calm and vigilant. Remain calm and vigilant. Be on the lookout for unmarked SUVs bearing Illinois license plates.

Update from Chicago

Marimar Martinez, the teacher in Chicago who was shot five times by U.S. Border Patrol, is recovering from her injuries and is returning to the classroom. She had been called a “domestic terrorist” by Border Patrol after she blew her vehicle’s horn to warn residents that the agents were in the neighborhood, but all charges against her were suddenly dropped this week.

Border Patrol accused her of ramming their vehicle, but video of the incident proved it was their vehicle that sideswiped her care. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security continues to publish falsehoods about her though, even as the department has dropped all charges after their case fell apart in a hearing.

Trump calls for execution of lawmakers

In other news here in America, when six Democrat lawmakers dared to make a video to remind all U.S. citizens that members of the U.S. military are not required to obey an illegal order, Trump called for the six to be arrested and executed.

Republicans told us that Trump did not mean it, and that’s supposed to make it okay.

As a writer, I know that words are more powerful than the sword. It is frightening and embarrassing that we have a U.S. President who is reckless with his language. It is also frightening that no one in a position of authority is holding him accountable for anything he says or does.

Resignation of U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene

Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia surprised everyone last night when she announced her resignation from the U.S. Congress as of January 5, 2026. Trump calling her a “traitor” was a bridge too far for this staunch ex-supporter of him and his administration. Perhaps other politicians who have sold their souls to the devil should take note. When he turns on you, you are dead to him.

This gives me a glimmer of hope that there are cracks in Trump’s armor.

Mozambique

It is being reported that ISIS has quickly gone into Mozambique since USAID has halted. ISIS is not filling the gap in aid. They’re filling the gap of influence. They’re recruiting the young men. They are beheading people who don’t comply with their demands.

People with decades of experience in the U.S. State Department warned us that in addition to millions of people starving to death, the halting of USAID would result in radical terrorist groups rushing in to take our place. It appears those decades of government service meant they knew a lot more about international relations than Trump and his minions will ever know.

All Trump could see was we were spending money to help Third World countries and he detested that policy. He couldn’t be bothered to understand that much of that food aid was a product of American agriculture. Even in his second term in office, Trump doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.

All those people who thought it was not in our national interest to ship American grain and other agricultural products to other countries, how do you like the prospect of ISIS spreading its hate for America among “the least of these.”

Most Trump supporters pride themselves in being Christians. This continues to baffle me. What version of the Bible tells you to hate the foreigner? I’ve never read that version.

In closing

That’s my rant for today. Maybe it’s a good thing I haven’t been able to watch or listen to as much news this month as my usual! I hope to blog about my new book in a couple of days.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog.

When you have a minute, please look for my books on Amazon.

Remember the brave people of Ukraine, as it appears Trump has been played like a fiddle by Putin.

I am fortunate that the U.S. Constitution protects my right to criticize the U.S. President.

The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America

Janet

It’s been one of those weeks

Sometimes the best-laid plans just don’t pan out. Such is life.

This is Janet’s Writing Blog, so today I start my post with a behind-the-scenes glimpse into my life this week as a self-published writer.

If you read my blog on Tuesday, Traveling Through History is released today!, you know I was celebrating the release of the e-version of my new book, Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories, but I mentioned that the paperback was not being released that day as planned.

Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories, by Janet Morrison

I thought I had everything in place for the paperback’s release worldwide by Ingram-Spark.

I sent handwritten notes to various independent bookstores along with a detailed information sheet about the book. I told them they would be able to order the book from Ingram-Spark and have it in stock in their stores on November 4 or very shortly thereafter.

The e-book is available – and I’m over the moon about that! But as of today, I still don’t know what the hold-up is for the paperback. Perhaps I will learn something today.

I decided to go ahead and self-publish the paperback on Amazon in the United States, and I expect it to be available here on November 11. I hope Ingram-Spark will release it for worldwide distribution next week – which will include Amazon in countries other than the U.S. — but that remains to be seen. Bookstores will not order it from Amazon. I needed Ingram-Spark for that.

Such is the life of a self-published author! This glitch is not the end of the world. It was just something I had hoped to get checked off my to-do list on November 4.

Thank you to those of you who have congratulated me on the release of the e-book. And a huge thanks to those of you who have purchased the book! I understand that Ingram-Spark has distributed the e-book to Amazon.UK, so I assume it is also available on the worldwide e-markets of Amazon.

Meanwhile, in Washington, DC…

The government shutdown continues as I write this on the night of November 6. One result of the shutdown is that the air traffic controllers and TSA agents who keep the flying public safe are not being paid. They are expected to show up for work and give their undivided attention to all the details their jobs entail… without pay.

To try to force Congress to do its job and pass a federal budget, the White House gave the airlines less than 24 hours’ notice that they had to start cancelling flights at the forty busiest airports in the country. A certain percentage of flights must be cancelled with each passing day beginning today.

But none of this will interfere with Trump’s weekly trip to play golf in Florida.

Since an alleged “businessman” is President of the United States, it baffles me that the order came from the White House (or what’s left of it) with no regard for the chaos such a sudden order will cause airlines, airports, passengers, and the employees of the airlines and airports.

It appears “President Marie Antoinette” knows no more about business than he knows about a democratic government. Throwing a Great Gatsby-themed party at his mansion in Florida last week while federal employees are not receiving paychecks is the height of being tone deaf. He is completely out-of-touch with the average American.

President Antoinette says commercial aviation in the U.S. is “100% safe,” even though air traffic controllers work without pay and some have had to take a second job and are working exhausted.

And why was a large “The Oval Office” sign installed at what’s left of the White House this week? Can President Antoinette not find his office?

Yesterday, the President announced that he will force the price of weight-loss drugs down because they are too expensive. Dr. Mehmet Oz, head of the Medicare and Medicaid programs announced that Americans will lose 135 billion pounds before the mid-term elections next November. I’m not good at math, but the population of the United States is around 343 million. That means every American would have to lose 394 pounds to make Dr. Oz’s statement true.

Something is very, very wrong in Washington, DC, and it is being denied by the members of Congress and by what’s left of the White House.

A cheaper Thanksgiving Dinner?

Trump and various Republicans in Congress have bragged this week that they talked to the CEO of Walmart and he told them that everyone’s Thanksgiving Dinner will be 20% cheaper this year than it was last year while Joe Biden was US President.

What Trump and none of the Republicans have explained is that the Walmart CEO based that on the fact that this year Walmart decreased the number of items it considers to be a Thanksgiving dinner. Slick move, Walmart!

Of course, Trump has changed the 20% to 25% because that is what he does. He exaggerates or decreases statistics in whichever way serves his purpose.

The Walmart CEO’s hocus-pocus with the facts has led many Republican lawmakers who have never set foot in the grocery store to announce that grocery prices have plummeted since Trump took office on January 20, 2025. They really do think American citizens are stupid and will believe the politicians instead of their own wallets.

Until my next blog post

I will be caring for my sister as she recovers from surgery over the coming weeks, so I might not blog as often as I have in the recent past. We expect everything to go smoothly, but I will have added responsibilities vying for my time and attention.

The time you take to read my rants and blog posts is appreciated more than you know. Your “likes” and comments are what keep me going.

The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America

I’m grateful that I still have the freedom of speech guaranteed to me by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. I am very aware that some of the people reading my blog in other countries cannot imagine having the freedoms we have in America. Even though our form of government is under attack from within, I believe there are enough of us who love democracy to save our country and put things right someday.

Janet

I’m not represented in the U.S. House of Representatives

I may as well live in the 7th Congressional District of Arizona.

I’m not represented in the U.S. House of Representatives any more than the residents of the 7th District of Arizona. That’s the district in which Adelita Grijalva was elected on September 23, 2025, but Speaker of the House Mike Johnson refuses to install her because she is a Democrat and she will vote to have the Epstein files released.

Johnson might lose his position as Speaker of the House if he allows the truth to come out. At the very least Trump will have him “primaried” in 2026. But that’s enough about him.

Photo of dark clouds over the dome of the US Capitol Building
Photo by Kyle Mills on Unsplash

My Representative in Congress

Three weeks ago, on October 10, I blogged about some of my frustration with my U. S. Representative: My Congressman sent a newsletter.

I’m still frustrated with him. I requested a response from him when I emailed him on October 10, but I haven’t received a reply yet. Of course, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson gave my Congressman a nice paid vacation the last week of September, all of October, and the foreseeable future.

My Congressman’s newsletters set my hair on fire. At least I know where he stands. He stands with Donald Trump. And he despises the likes of me because I don’t stand with Donald Trump. No doubt about it.

His newsletter on October 18 opened this way: “Dear Janet, Pro-crime Democrats continue to release dangerous criminals onto the streets to roam our neighborhoods.”

This guy represents me in no way, shape, or form.

Any U.S. Senator or U.S. Representative who spews hate against everyone in their opposition political party has no right to “serve.” Such people have lost sight of their job description and oath of office.

My Congressman went on in his October 18 newsletter to call on the City of Charlotte to ask for the National Guard to descend upon us.

The subject line of his October 25 newsletter was “The Democrats are Using the Troops as Leverage!” That pretty much set the tone for the entire newsletter.

In the meantime, I will not receive a response to my October early October letter to him. My Congressman will keep preaching. (Jesus must be so proud!) After all, that’s his “calling” and I guess he will represent the people of the 8th District of North Carolina in his spare time or whenever he decides to take that $174,000-a-year job which also gives him a $79-per-day food allowance and lifetime retirement and health insurance seriously.

I don’t think the mothers with young children or the elderly individuals who get the equivalent of $6.00-per-day in SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits are the problem – especially since SNAP benefits end at midnight tonight, thanks to President Trump refusing to turn loose the $6 billion “rainy day” fund Congress earmarked for SNAP in the event of a government shutdown.

I don’t think the members of Congress know how disgusted Americans are. This “Mexican Stand-off” between the Republicans and Democrats must stop! I think both parties are to blame for the shutdown.

Starting tomorrow, a lot of people aren’t going to have any money for food, here in the richest nation in the world. The “Pro-Life” Republican Party is obviously only interested in babies being born. They don’t care whether they have anything to eat once they exit the womb. We’ve always known that, but starting tomorrow it will be blaringly obvious for the whole world to see.

I wonder what my Congressman and President Trump are eating this weekend.

Janet

More brazen attacks on the U.S. Constitution

The Constitution of the United States of America is a living, breathing document. It is at the same time sacred yet amendable.

However, we ignore it at our own peril.

The 2028 Presidential Election

Donald Trump started handing out “Trump 2028” baseball caps a few months ago. His supporters think things like that are hilarious. On Tuesday, he said on Air Force One that he might run again. He claimed he hadn’t thought about it, so what are the “Trump 2028” baseball caps about?

Trump and his supporters have a strange sense of humor. It would be unconstitutional for Trump to be elected three times. Keep in mind, they already think he has been elected three times. He and they are in denial that he lost the 2020 election.

When he took the oath of office on January 20, 2025, he swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, so running for a third term as President would break that oath.

The only ways Trump and his supporters knew to react to more than seven million Americans protesting in the streets on October 18 was the (1) call it “fake” news; (2) claim they were being paid to protest; (3) call them names like “left wing lunatics” and “ANTIFA”; and (4) support an AI-generated video put out by the White House in which a crown-wearing Donald Trump piloted a fighter jet that dumped feces on American protesters.

Photo of peaceful demonstrators carrying "No King" signs in Brooklyn, New York
“No Kings” protest in Brooklyn, NY. Photo by Bradley Andrews on Unsplash

All that was easier than taking the protests seriously. All that was easier than giving just one day of respect for the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. You know the one. It’s the one that gives U.S. citizens the right to exercise free speech. That includes peacefully assembling and protesting. It also guarantees that we have a free press, even though we no longer have a free press at The Pentagon. It also guarantees that we are free to practice any religion or no religion at all and our government will make no laws regulating religion.

The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America

Everything that’s being said and done is to distract us from the destruction of the East Wing of the White House and the fact that the Epstein files, which were on the desk of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi months ago, have not been released

Then comes Steve Bannon

Last Thursday, Steve Bannon, who likes to think he is responsible for getting Trump elected in 2016, said that Trump will be elected President again in 2028 and will serve a third term. In other words, — the United States Constitution be damned. He said, “We have a plan.”

I guess he had plenty of time to think and make plans while he was in prison for Trump.

You remember Steve Bannon — the Steve Bannon who went to prison for defying a subpoena in the Congressional investigation of the attempted coup on January 6, 2021, and the Steve Bannon who misled thousands of Trump campaign donors into thinking they were paying for the wall along our border with Mexico. That’s not where their contributions went. Bannon got caught and charged, but Trump pardoned him.

That’s what Trump does. We’ve lost count of how many criminals Trump has pardoned and put back on the streets all while accusing other countries of emptying their prisons and sending their criminals to America.

No, Mr. Trump. A lot of those criminals are your friends, and you are a felon.

So now, what better way to get in the good graces of Trump but to start in 2025 proclaiming that he will be re-elected U.S. President in 2028 even though that’s unlawful.

The law means nothing to these people and it, apparently, means nothing to their supporters. Otherwise, their supporters would be up in arms. Otherwise, their supporters would have been demonstrating in the streets. Otherwise, their supporters would be doing something beside happily going along with everything and anything Trump and the likes of Steve Bannon do or say.

Everything that’s being said is to distract us from the fact that the East Wing of the House was demolished last week and the Epstein files, which were on the desk of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi months ago, have not been released.

Then comes U.S. Representative Randy Fine of Florida

Congressman Randy Fine, who represents the 6th district of Florida is calling for the 22nd Amendment to be repealed for Donald Trump because he brokered a peace settlement in Gaza.

I guess any excuse will do.

Everything that’s being said and done is to distract us from the month-long federal government shutdown, the demolition of the East Wing of the White House, and fact that the Epstein files, which were on the desk of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi months ago, have not been released.

Wording of the 22nd Amendment

Section 1 of the Twenty-Second Amendment to the United States Constitution is easy to understand. It reads as follows:

“No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.”

The Twenty-Second Amendment was ratified on February 27, 1951, so it has been the law of the land for nearly 75 years.

Where we are

So here we are. We have a sitting U.S. President talking about breaking the Constitution by running for a third term.

We have a sitting U.S. President who took a wrecking ball to the East Wing of the White House just because he wanted to destroy it.

Everything he destroys is a test. If he gets away with it, he destroys something bigger the next time.

Everything that’s being said and done is to distract us from the month-long federal government shutdown, the bombing of boats in international waters, the demolition of the East Wing of the White House, and fact that the Epstein files, which were on the desk of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi months ago, have not been released. In other words, the men and women in charge of our government couldn’t care less about the trafficking of girls and women by the rich and famous for the purpose of sex.

They are all counting on us not paying attention. They are throwing so much at us every single day that they think we will stop watching and listening. Well, they don’t know me!

Trump is calculating, but he is also a loose cannon. No one knows what he’ll do or say next. It is all a game to him. It is the way he has conducted business all his life. He just runs over people. He makes empty promises.

He says he cares about the poor and the middle class as he laughs all the way to the bank. He says he cares about the American farmer as he slaps tariffs on foreign governments and overnight cut off the farmers’ markets and laughs all the way to the bank.

He sees no difference between business and government – and that, my friends, is the root of the problem. Too many American voters in 2016 and 2024 did not grasp the difference between business and government. They said, “We need a businessman in the White House.” How’s that working for you?

Business is profit driven. Government is not.

Business is by the owner, for the owner, of the owner.

Our government in the United States of America is by the people, for the people, of the people.

Anyone who does not see the difference between business and government in America is woefully uneducated. (Trump famously said, “I love the uneducated!”)

Anyone who thinks the federal government can operate like a business is shortsighted. Show me where in the Declaration of Independence or the U.S. Constitution where it says the purpose of government is to make a profit.

Sadly, his followers also see it as a game. They have no respect for the 249 years it took our ancestors to build this nation. No respect.

They value nothing but the laughs Trump can supply them with today. They gleefully repost the ludicrous and disgusting AI-generated memes Trump and his minions post on social media, not caring for one minute the hurt and damage those memes are doing to their fellow Americans. They repeat his lies, never questioning the validity of anything he says.

Little-by-little, our rights are being eroded. Laws are ignored. We have a sitting U.S. President who believes and operates as if he is above the law, and his followers think that’s wonderful. No matter what he does or says, they stand by him.

How they have such little regard for their children and grandchildren is beyond my imagination but, since I have no children or grandchildren, I have been told more than once that I do not understand such things, I have no responsibilities, and I do not have a right to an opinion.

As a single woman with no children or grandchildren, I say the U.S. Constitution was nice while it lasted. I’m really going to miss the 22nd Amendment. I’m already missing the promise of The Preamble, most of the 1st Amendment, and many of the guarantees promised in the 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendments.

And in my heart, I miss the East Wing of the White House even though CNN Chairman and CEO Mark Thompson has been quoted as saying that CNN viewers like me are not interested in that story.

I have said it before and I will say it again: I used to wonder how Hitler brainwashed the people of Germany in the 1930s and accomplished what he did. I no longer wonder. I don’t say that lightly.

I don’t say any of this lightly.

Janet