Grief and fear, apathy and outrage, cynicism and hope, resignation and bewilderment all boil together in an iron cauldron hanging by weak chains above a nation on fire. No sharp, clean Sword of Damocles either. Just a rusty cauldron full of boiling toxic slop. Metaphors of lamentation, these terrible words.

Nearly half of my fellow citizens who voted in the November 2024 Presidential Elections voted for MAGA cult leaders Donald Trump and J.D. Vance and their acolytes. The Far, Far Right thus completed its hijacking of the Republican GOP. This odd MAGA movement, a decentralized yet loyal movement that’s an odd mix of mafia familial mindsets, fascism, libertarianism, and Christian nationalism, has kicked out the “regular” Republicans of Lincoln and Reagan. MAGA gave the dirty boot to both he TradCons and the NeoCons. They forced out common sense, pro-business, low tax, pro-strong defense (but not necessarily pro-war) blocs. They antagonized Evangelical and Mormon Christian blocs. All the anti-Trumper GOP factions ridiculed and dismissed the old school Republicans as RINOs, Republicans In Name Only. Those RINOS were so dismayed and felt so abused by the Trump cult many of them held their noses and voted for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz as well as for other Democrats in the 2024 Elections. Many choose not to vote at all, at least not for president.

Evidence has emerged one of the primary reasons Trump legally won election this time is the Republican push to disenfranchise nearly 4 million Americans of their voting rights in the so-called Battleground States. Most of this disenfranchisement was allegedly over “stupid stuff’’ such as misspelled names and addresses, sloppy writing with illegible signatures, people moving without timely notification of address changes, fear for their safety, and confusion with various misunderstandings among those for whom English wasn’t yet their primary language. This strategic push targeted poorer people, often of color, with less education. Migrants were also among those targeted, even legal immigrants. This push is nothing more than ugly voter suppression. Voter suppression is a direct and dire threat to any democratic republic. Continue reading →