Dem•ocracy Project | Part 1 | Where We Are

Essay #1 — Our Current Political Landscape

Let’s not beat around the bush.

Things are bad. Really bad.

On a scale of one to ten — with ten being the United States becoming a full-on Dictatorship — I currently put us at around seven.

Let’s just look at some of the “big” things that have been done in under a month.

Corruption has basically been legalized, if not promoted. Inspector Generals in all the cabinet departments (many from Trump 1.0) were purged. These are the people responsible for stopping governmental waste, fraud, and abuse.

If they are replaced they will be replaced by stooges who look the other way when literal criminals and fraudsters put in throughout the top levels of the Executive Branch take advantage of any “side hustle” they might want while doing their main job of destroying the government from within.

And that’s not just in Washington. The grift is global with Trump killing the law that made being bribed by a foreign official illegal. I’ve yet to hear a defense of that, but know that nearly every Task Force and internal Watch Dog Group to stop corruption throughout the Justice Department and the entirety of the Executive Branch has been killed.

No one has done these things before.

And you just don’t do them unless you’re looking to break the law.

But what is legal and illegal is now up for debate? Trump has proclaimed numerous Executive Orders that before him would always be considered the latter.

He attempted to freeze almost all allocated government spending and closed both the CFPB and USAID, citing completely unproven corruption at both. He’s tried to freeze funding everywhere. These are things that are completely contradictory to our Constitution and the balance set up by our Founding Fathers on the separation of powers.

He is literally taking the Legislative Branch OUT of our three branch system.

Our Judicial Branch — represented by federal judges of both political stripes — have paused many of these Trump power grabs.

But, it is fully debatable if Trump will abide by the courts. Any courts. While that may sound apocalyptic MAGA is laying the groundwork for just that.

We’ve seen the Republican Party (with very few exceptions) completely and utterly capitulating to Donald Trump on anything he says or does. They were purposefully and unceremoniously neutered by being forced to vote for a number of cabinet members that most fully understand are completely unqualified, dangerous, crazy, or all three.

Then there’s Musk and his posse of DOGE douche-kid coders running roughshod through the most sensitive information our government possesses with access to virtually ALL of EVERYBODY’S personal data. It’s all under the guise of rooting out the mythical “waste, fraud, and abuse” which could very well be a Trojan Horse for the biggest cyber-attack in world history.

They are making wild claims about the fraud they are finding and the money they are saving. Trump says “hundreds of billions,” Musk says $55 billion, but in trying to piece together what actual facts are out there, independent analysis says it may be a fraction of that. Maybe $8 billion.

And they’re getting there not by finding and eliminating fraud in any substantial way — there’s been only lies, wild exaggerations, and very little actual proof — but simply killing independent agencies and cutting staff.

And as much as Musk and Trump would like you to believe they’re cutting crazy, idiotic government jobs like Elevator Door Button Pusher, we’re actually seeing cuts in everything from critical safety jobs at the FAA to staff at national parks that are throwing them into chaos.

This whole operation is shrouded in exaggerations and lies and the possible damage and crimes that could very well be happening are staggering on multiple fronts. I’ll spare you even the likely possibilities.

While we’re being distracted by nonsense like the Gulf of America and somehow subjugating Canada, our standing on the world stage has almost completely bottomed out in only a month. We all knew Trump was going to fuck the Palestinian and Ukrainian people, but the degree to which he’s done it is simply shocking. Again, by any normal standards across the political spectrum.

Beyond the countless deaths and real potential of global disaster, we have lost all credibility as a force for good in the world. Our reputation is ruined and we are now more closely aligned with the evil countries in the world than we are the Democracies.

Think about that.

France. Germany. Great Britain. Denmark. Spain. Ireland. Estonia. Finland. Switzerland. Greece. Italy.

Name your European ally.

Then add every other Democracy in the world.

We are about to be on the other side of that equation.

But, the potential global catastrophe is further down the road. Right here, we are right there on the bad side.

We haven’t yet had the mass deportations that Trump promised.

Likely because he’s unable to shift the funds and/or purge the military of leadership that might not go along with soldiers being turned on Americans. Because, make no mistake, there’s going to be a major social upheaval if something on the scale of what Trump has promised comes to pass.

While we don’t know the numbers, there have been raids across the country, with the Trump regime claiming that they are detaining and deporting gang members and criminals. Are some of those migrants who have been shipped to black boxes in Panama and Cuba actual criminal gang members?

Maybe.

But we’ve seen no proof and are being asked to trust a man who lies almost constantly. And that’s not an opinion. It’s a fact. So, that possible flash point remains to be seen. I wrote about the worst-case immigration and legal scenario here.

But, make no mistake. There are multiple paths through the jungle here that are being hacked that get us to the last Constitutional guardrails — the courts and the military. Nothing tells me that we are going to avoid that.

Trump fired all three JAG heads from the military branches Friday night.

I wish I was wrong, but I don’t think I am.

Take A Deep Breath

I’ll stop there because it’s a lot. I’ll skip plans to kill the Post Office and what that could do to our elections.

Sorry.

Just know that this is not about making government smaller or more efficient. I don’t know anyone who isn’t for that. No. It’s a purposeful destruction and dismantling of both our government and our Constitutional Republic.

But, it’s not going unnoticed, and the Trump regime and Republicans are standing on the edge of a minefield bigger than anything in Ukraine.

The stuff they’re doing now is supposed to be popular with a big chunk of the population that has been conditioned for generations to think of the federal government as an evil monolith.

But DOGE efforts and the white nationalist intensity on rooting out Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and going after trans people isn’t really popular. It’s even more unpopular in the context of what they’re not doing — bringing down prices and any other bread and butter (and egg) issues that Trump promised he would make disappear.

We’re seeing historic lows in polling before they get to the issues that really matter in the lives of millions of Americans. And let me tell you, what they’re going to try to do is going to be wildly unpopular with majorities rarely seen in out polarized politics.

This is no spoon full of medicine, Mary-Poppins shit here.

Most of this comes down to the budget and starts in the House — the same Republican House that has barely been able to name a Post Office let alone pass a budget — even under Biden when that budget was DOA.

They have an even slimmer majority now, and there are open seat Congressional elections coming up that could make that even tighter.

To find the money to cover massive tax cuts for the rich means deep, painful cuts to very popular programs. The outlines of a plan emerging from the R House is literally political suicide. We’re already seeing street protests on mainly theoretical issues by activists who are into politics. Just wait until they attempt to take away programs that literally keep people alive.

I know in our own family my developmentally disabled sister-in-law is completely dependent on SSI and Medicaid. Taking that away or cutting it substantially would ruin her life, and throw ours into chaos.

Now take that anecdote and spread it across millions of people depending on a myriad of programs Republicans want to cut.

So, what about the Democrats?

After the Inauguration I was really worried.

All the dire things they campaigned on last fall, the things that were coming to pass, seemed to go by the wayside with a number of them reverting to common ground when we can find it language.

That is exactly NOT what we need right now.

What we need is what Republicans have always been willing to do in “normal” times under Democratic control.

That means using every trick in the book to slow down legislation and jam anything possible into the gears of government. It means protests, highlighting real, human stories, and coming up with consistent and constant messaging to counter the disinformation.

After that initial flat-footedness — and a real outcry from out base — I think they are on track. And I think one of the most important things we can do in the short term is to keep applying the pressure to make sure they stay on it.

Republicans haven’t been able to pass a budget in years without Democratic support. They always give in because, frankly, they don’t want people to suffer if the government shuts down.

Those days are over.

The American people need to feel the effects of what Republicans do. It reminds me of the scene in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom when Short Round had to burn Indy’s hand to bring him out of the evil spell.

Or maybe it’s a bucket of ice water and we call it the Democracy Challenge?

Those are the marching orders as I see them right now: Holding Democrats feet to the fire to not avoid a showdown, but welcome it.

In the essays ahead, I hope I can bring not just some context and insight to this fight, but more concrete examples and resources that will help people like you and me be part of this fight of our lives. I have some experience, but I’m on that learning curve too.

And I really mean the fight of our lives with every fiber of my being. We are in a battle in this country between Democracy and Dictatorship.

And we have to win it.