Squealing GOP hypocrites know they aided a coup — only relentless truth will expose them

Everyone remembers. We watched it live on TV. After a fairly mundane election, in which Donald Trump simply wasn't capable of accepting a loss, he chose instead to fire everyone who dared to tell him he came up short, fair and square, then proceeded to collude with others to attempt to overthrow the government. Trump set his sights on the Capitol in a last-ditch attempt at a coup, attacking Congress just as it certified that pathologically intolerable loss.

Trump's utterly reckless and brazen behavior on January 6th, 2021, led even some of his most hardened supporters to shake their heads. Some resigned their positions. He was done, finished. Finally, everyone agreed the man wasn't fit, a threat to all the nation holds dear. Social media banned him: too dangerous. The world crawled across the line, finally able to see it all clearly. The movement was exposed.

That lasted for about a month, in which Mitch McConnell stood at the podium of the Senate and waved away his "not guilty" vote on the second impeachment, ensuring us Trump was now a matter for law enforcement, not voters.

Subtext: "Trump will be investigated and perhaps indicted."

History will come down hard on former Attorney General Merrick Garland for unforgivably slow-walking the investigation, leaving sufficient time for the great whitewashing that started with small meetings at Mar-a-Lago with Kevin McCarthy, then GOP leader in the House, and from that seed growing to a forest of outrageous and self-righteous rallies. In just two-and-a-half years, January 6th went from MAGAs' lowest moment, a national timeout, to a rallying cry, setting the stage for Trump's reelection in 2024. (Also as an anti-vax movement, anti-science, anti-modernity, anti-NATO, pro-Russia...)

It was only about three years in that Special Counsel Jack Smith and the Department of Justice finally got around to filing charges. Unbelievable. The moment had passed.

Now, with the release of files showing that Smith subpoenaed telephone records from various members of Congress, the right feels at home as the ultimate victims, crying that Smith was "tracking calls," as if the goal was blackmail and not to investigate a possible conspiracy on January 6th — remember, the crime we saw on TV?

Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) is just one of many crying out:

Jack Smith tracked my private communications and those of my colleagues during his witch hunt to investigate [Trump]. This is exactly the type of political weaponization of the federal government under Presidents Obama and Biden that Republicans and President Trump have been calling out for years. We will get to the bottom of this, but every American should be shocked to see what happened here."

"Witch hunt?" He means the investigation of the vicious attack on Congress, of which he's a member, now subject to a whitewash so shameful that his memory seems wiped politically clear.

Again, Hagerty is just one of many.

Left unsaid is that Smith investigated many reports that members of Congress both knew of the "alternate electors" and the plan to attack the Capitol. And yet Hagerty is here acting as though Smith "tracked his calls" to set the senator up.

Brazil went through something similar — it imprisoned its president for years. It is a more mature democracy.

In Washington, the monstrous crime necessitated a massive investigation. This wasn't some spontaneous uprising, with Congress hapless bystanders. No, Trump invited everyone to congregate and asked members of Congress to speak. The Electoral College had voted, it was over, and yet Trump continued to hold rallies, promising this one would be "wild," with a wink.

People like Hagerty and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) conveniently forget that MAGA "troops" were in position on January 5th. Steve Bannon (who refused to testify to Congress about the plot), all but laid out the scene:

“All hell is going to break loose tomorrow. It’s all converging, and now we’re on, as they say, the point of attack.

“I’ll tell you this: It’s not going to happen like you think it’s going to happen. It’s going to be quite extraordinarily different, and all I can say is strap in.”

But this is a hoax witch hunt, according to many.

Everyone close to Trump knew the attack was coming. "Strap in" leaves no room for doubt, and surely some in Congress knew. Hawley wasn't pumping his fist about a vote. This was an attack on Congress, an attempt to steal the presidency, a crime at the absolute highest possible level. It would have been malpractice had Smith not sought the phone records of damn near everyone, Democrats included.

So powerful is Trump's ability to reverse reality, so willing are the followers to absorb an alternate history, the subpoena revelation has become a rallying point, crying about the fact that Garland's Justice Department took action against them, and yet Obama, Hillary Clinton, Smith, and other usual suspects remain free.

The MAGA crowd likes to spout out, "What if Trump and Pam Bondi 'tracked' the calls of Democratic senators?" To which the obvious retort is, "Had Democrats attacked the Capitol and a later Democratic president pardoned them all, Democrats wouldn't have a lot to complain about."

Therein lies the difference. The right is ever willing to bend reality to fit their need to prosecute the investigators, their raison d'etre. Prominent Democrats must be imprisoned for reasons traced to conspiracy theories, Pizzagate and Q-Anon. Meanwhile, the left knows that if reality were let loose, nearly everyone in the current executive branch would face a grand jury.

There is an obvious example, one of dozens.

What if Joe Biden was associated with Jeffrey Epstein but had Garland and then FBI Director Chris Wray send 1,000 FBI agents to pore through the records and flag all mentions of Biden? What if Biden then publicly stated there was nothing to see, it's a Republican hoax? What if he then promoted Ghislaine Maxwell to "Club Fed,” a prison way cushier than any sex offender ever would normally see? Oh, and we'd be supposed to ignore the birthday card with a naked woman mentioning friends with secrets, too.

The right would take up pitchforks.

The Epstein matter is a cover-up of the highest order. But January 6th need not even be covered up — it's now a point of pride. They fought the righteous fight, and anyone investigating it is the criminal. We are in upside-down world.

The Republican-controlled government will now investigate the investigators (they have experience with this), and they will assert that criminal Democrats were looking to "trap" innocent Republicans by "tracking" their calls, conveniently forgetting the attempted coup as if it were a wholesome, peaceful protest — or simply never happened, even though we all saw it live on TV.

That is where it gets especially dangerous.

Like so many dictators before him, Trump doesn't even pretend to serve the whole country. He openly leads and favors all who slavishly support him. All others have become "the enemy within." Somewhere, Stalin is nodding.

In 2020, democracy handed Trump a loss he was unable to psychologically process. Democracy itself became his enemy, one to be attacked on January 6th.

He campaigned in 2024 that he would be here to finish the job. He may voluntarily step down in 2028. He will be old. But he'll be damned if he ever subjects himself to democracy again. (You know he plans to run somehow — he's building a ballroom and it's not for JD Vance.)

And so it goes, the right will now initiate criminal investigations into those who investigated them. The key difference is that Trump and his followers committed a real crime. It was live on TV.

After the murder of Charlie Kirk, the right likes to say that only the left resorts to violence. Wrong. In 2000, the Democrat Al Gore had a legitimate case that the Supreme Court cut off counting the vote in Florida that would have made him the next president. Yet Democrats accepted events. They didn't attack the Capitol.

In 2020, Trump clearly lost — it wasn't that close. And yet, as president, Trump literally sought fake votes from a "friendly" Republican Secretary of State in Georgia ("All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, give me a break."). Then he sent the mob to sack the Capitol. The right is not "peaceful" when threatened.

So we're entering even more dangerous territory. Trump must avoid the Epstein issue. So he cries that the enemy within is stronger than any international adversary (Imagine China's smile.) Thus, Texas appears to be on the verge of invading Illinois. The stage is now set for a series of arrests, with Trump criminalizing any opposition to the regime.

Just like any regular dictator — just like Putin.

Changing voting mechanisms, altering districts, eliminating mail-in ballots, having the National Guard at polling stations — all of it tightens the noose. Hopefully, people don't start falling out of buildings. Don't laugh.

Bannon said "Strap in," but now it appears all too likely that Democrats must strap in for a fight to prevent 40 years of Republican rule, taking us straight from the first world to the second, that of Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and India.

We are watching it in real time. The fact the FBI released information already known (the subpoenas for calls from the members of Congress around Jan. 6th) is of no matter. They have the Epstein files from which to distract. It seems to be working all too well.

Trump supporters are demanding investigations — we're used to that, it's a given. But against arrests properly made as a result of a vicious attack on the Capitol, they won't be satisfied. As James Comey can attest, nothing but arrests will satisfy this crowd, nor this president.

Everyone remembers watching the battle for democracy live on TV on January 6th, 2021. But, really, who could've known that we were merely observing the first skirmish in a war?

Left with no choice, we must fight back — but not violently. Fight back with the weapon they most fear. The truth. Sure, they will ignore it. Many in the teetering middle won't. It is not irrelevant. Ultimately, the truth is the toughest army for them to subdue. So get it out there because, setting aside lone-wolf violent attacks, the truth is, actual criminalization of politics is wholly one-sided.

A battle for truth is a fight for democracy, and it also needs to be fought live on televisions, phones, computers, and the streets. No self-respecting democratic resistance would do otherwise.

They will be the ones playing victims, pointing at clouds, always creating a fact-free reality. But have no doubt, the consequences are all too real.

  • Jason Miciak is a former Associate Editor at Occupy Democrats, author, American attorney, and can be found regularly on Politizoom. He can be reached jasonmiciak@gmail.com, Twitter @JasonMiciak, and follow on Bluesky @jasonmiciak.bsky.social

These forgotten Americans hold the key to Trump's downfall — and they'll use it soon

Even at the absolute highest level, at some point, just getting the basic job done — sawing wood, blocking and tackling — is the only means to sway critical elements of the American electorate toward support or disdain for this or most other administrations.

For that reason, and precious few others, it is only a matter of time until the floor drops out from under Trump's MAGA express and its adolescent scorched-earth second run.

Such a low-key, mealy-mouthed pronouncement kind of sounds absurd at first.

After all, at any given point, 35 percent of this country is in a cold civil war with the opposite 35 percent. The red side of that equation believes that Trump's Department of Justice is about to deliver Obama and Hillary's Q-inspired imprisonment, all while they cheer the deployment of troops to Portland. Probably Portland, Maine, given this administration's incompetence.

Meanwhile, many of us on the blue side believe we're a day or two away from Trump passing out on the podium as the Epstein files prove that he played a major role in the most notorious teen sex-trafficking scheme in modern history. (And don't think that he doesn't love the government shutdown as a diversion.)

The reality is likely more in the middle — though that's one hell of a middle, to be sure.

Real hope for moderating or deflating Trump and company will likely spring more from that middle 30 percent, the kind that don't believe that pitchforks are warranted yet, so long as someone answers the damned phone when they call Social Security, gets their tax rebate before Memorial Day, wants FEMA positioned before the storm, and prefers hamburger that is at least cheaper than Bitcoin.

Because Trump et. al. can implement Project 2025 in all its horror, putting troops in American cities, deporting actual American citizens, firing women and POC as presumptive "DEI hires," all of it, with the 35-35 dynamic and a "thirtyish" middle that is practically asleep, just wanting American s––– to work.

To deal with an obvious issue, no, that middle should not be forgiven for being asleep at the wheel as Trump steals American democracy, but that's a topic for another day.

There is reason to believe, however, that the middle is about to lose its precarious tolerance of Trump as his regime continues its nosedive into banana republic despot despair.

First and foremost, there is the fact that no one can afford anything, whether it is groceries, a house, Amazon Prime, never mind health insurance. Trump is in the White House based on one issue — inflation, and not only has he failed spectacularly to bring it down, but there is every indication that it will only get worse. Prices alone will move that middle to disapproval faster than nearly any other factor.

But now watch what happens when air traffic control, or the lack thereof, makes Thanksgiving and next summer an utter nightmare. Yes, that's a "First World Problem" but we are or were "the First World," and very easily angered when such entitlements are threatened.

We got damned lucky this hurricane season. FEMA got "DOGE'd" but wasn't tested in August or September, and good thing too: We could have had a disaster on top of a disaster. But just because the trade winds favored us doesn't mean that a major upheaval, such as an earthquake, fire, or next year's hurricane season, won't expose the breathtaking incompetence we know to be in place.

There is a darker side, too. As the Trump administration fully politicizes the FBI, pulling agents into political conflicts and away from international attacks, all under the leadership of a former podcaster, we are terrifyingly more exposed to terrorist attacks, whether of the old variety, such as bombs, or the newer threats to our networks and grids. The political folly of the FBI, replacing so many honed-in apolitical veterans, can and likely will be exposed in something where minutes matter. It is more likely than not.

And then there is the relatively easy stuff that is already souring, as mentioned: Social Security calls going unanswered, VA appointments dropping off, SNAP dissolving, and Medicaid cuts closing hospitals, all of that toll takes only time — and the administration has lots of it remaining.

It is really easy to spend an hour on X and fully believe that the United States is about to start the Civil War 2.0 — and, no doubt, our democracy is being burgled by the hour, the post-Constitutional America may well be "here." But the administration still has to fear that middle because in this hyper-polarized climate, it takes only a good 15 percent sway in the electorate and very suddenly the administration has little room to move without serious risk.

There is a major, major difference in the authoritarian battlefield between a presidential approval rate of 45 percent versus a true 35 percent, and as has been written here before, Trump has never had to defend his "burn it all down" approach in a souring economy — never mind a wholly dysfunctional government.

This is not a call to sit back and wait. No. The dangers are present and clear, the agenda is damned dangerous, and its implementation is now weekly. Stand and resist, spread the word, don't give an inch, all that. But do not scroll the phone thinking that we're one big revelation away from MAGA implosion.

If we have learned one thing in the Trump era, it is that scandal doesn't touch him ... unless the economy sucks, the phones go unanswered, and a real bomb drops. He has never faced a major revelation with an angry middle.

It is coming. The incompetence can only remain hidden for so long. Just don't count on overwhelming shock about any one revelation, until such time as the middle gets miffed.

At some point, competence matters. The federal government, whether it is TSA, Social Security, the FBI, or FEMA, has actually "worked" fairly well, going back a generation. We have had legions of politically agnostic civil servants earn the expectation that they can be counted on. But most of them are gone, perhaps primarily because they kept politics out of the office, all to usher in just a few "true believers."

And their absence is about to be felt, month by intolerable month.

The somewhat perverted "good news" is that it is coming, and as the middle turns against Trumpism, some of his worst plans will be abated. The bad news is that it cannot come soon enough, and questions linger over whether there will be much left worth saving.

Fight now. Resist today. And know that replacements are coming. Whether they can be forgiven for waiting until abject incompetence set in is a question for history.

But it most certainly is coming — this administration has shown that it cannot be counted on to answer the phone, blocking and tackling, and that's on a nice day. Wait for a real storm and not the "Q" type.

The administration will soon find out that competence matters most.

  • Jason Miciak is a past Associate Editor of Occupy Democrats, American attorney, author, and can also be found on Politizoom. He can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com

This laughable J6 rewrite isn't funny when you see the sinister motive behind it

January 6 was one of the single most devastating days in American history. In the months and years after, Donald Trump and MAGA manufactured a nearly inconceivable whitewashing of the whole insurrection. Now, Trump and his supporters are engineering a direct reversal of the underlying plot, as a further means to criminalize the left, leaving their opponents flailing.

A 21st-century iron curtain is descending on American democracy — but there is little hope for resistance without understanding the gravity of the latest moves.

Trump and MAGA are promoting a cynically manipulated reading of an FBI document pertaining to plainclothes federal agents present at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to claim such agents agitated the crowd in a "fedsurrection."

The now all-too-familiar rewriting of history marches on, unabated.

As most know, FBI agents were present within the crowd on January 6 in order to gather intelligence on potential threats, not to incite violence. Trump and MAGA are using a reverse-reading of an email simply noting that informants provided tips on Proud Boys/Oath Keepers plans. But the FBI never spurned anyone on. Real reports have always shown that only four to eight agents entered the Capitol with the rioters, all passively observing.

But Trump supporters, and Trump himself, are using the misreading of documents to further undermine the FBI as another "deep state" actor attempting to thwart Trump. Of course, Trump et al fail to explain why any anti-Trump agent would help attack the Capitol, thereby hindering Congress's certification of Joe Biden's win in the 2020 election.

The fact that this reading makes absolutely no sense is simply papered over.

On Saturday, Trump posted: “It was just revealed that the FBI had secretly placed, against all Rules, Regulations, Protocols, and Standards, 274 FBI Agents into the Crowd just prior to, and during, the January 6th Hoax.

“This is different from what Director Christopher Wray stated, over and over again! I want to know who each and every one of these so-called ‘Agents’ are, and what they were up to on that now ‘Historic’ Day.

“Christopher Wray, the then Director of the FBI, has some major explaining to do. That’s two [FBI directors] in a row, [James] Comey and Wray.”

Clearly, Trump simply wants his supporters in a rage. The fury-fueled war drums beat to better buttress support for Trump's next step in his personal retribution tour — one that threatens the very foundation of democracy in the United States.

He is doing nothing less than criminalizing opposition, then and now.

After all, Trump already manipulated facts to demand that Comey be prosecuted. This move would have once been seen as automatic grounds for impeachment. Trump has normalized it such that the stage is set for more dictatorial criminal charges by a radicalized Department of Justice.

Rightwing influencers on X are already demanding that Wray and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) (speaker of the House on January 6) be prosecuted.

One guesses that Trump's earlier characterization of January 6 as "peaceful" with "a lot of love in the air" is no longer useful and thus tossed aside as if he never uttered the words.

All of the above is set forth only to emphasize an overriding point. Trump and MAGA are using Soviet-level propaganda to take this country down a dark path, one in which nearly every prominent figure who publicly opposed any Trump narrative is labeled an enemy who must go down. Trump's post expressly states that the country "can never let this happen again." He is saying he wants prosecutions over it.

But what he more fully means is that anyone daring to aggressively oppose his personal ambitions will face the almost unlimited power of his personalized government. It all conjures Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Notice the call to prosecute Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who merely opposed Trump in his work in Congress.

Where we stand now is bad enough, but look to the future.

Democrats and independents place their faith in the 2026 and 2028 elections to reverse course and restore sanity. But given Trump's fact-free war against all opposition, faith in elections becomes terrifyingly tenuous. Is there any indication that Trump and his supporters will allow a mere vote to push them aside? Because that is what this is about, every bit as much as it is a personal vendetta.

Project 2025 was always about laying the foundation for permanent authoritarian one-party minority rule, not unlike Russia. The GOP now controls the entirety of the government. The old maxim that possession is nine-tenths of the law, married to a fact-free movement, and a vindictive president could shatter a lot of hope.

Many might now lose faith that democracy will retake its place in American government.

It is almost comically ironic that the left's best weapon against this foreboding future almost surely includes a partnership with the business elite. In such a desperate hour, Democrats might not so much Occupy Wall Street as hug those rascals. Big Corp. might rebel against such volatile rule, perhaps draining much of the financial support needed to throw the country beyond the point of no return.

There is also the chance that the Trump administration's unadulterated incompetence in governance may sour some MAGA mystique.

And "We the People" are powerful in many unexplored ways, making it absolutely critical to retain conviction and hope no matter how dark reality may be. After all, if history shows us anything, it is that things change. But anyone fully committed to a democratic America better do it with clear eyes.

Such needed vision includes understanding that the full power of the federal government is now utterly twisting January 6th's entire fact-based premise around to support the possible prosecution of people who simply opposed Trump- a blindingly bright light blinking red over the American horizon.

Opportunities to thwart this drive to a Saddam-type future are narrowing. Violence is never acceptable, it is immoral, it is counter-productive, it must be utterly rejected by all. But a near-battle-like conviction better take hold if democracy remains the goal.

We all watched January 6 play out on live television. Trump supporters cheered the attack on the Capitol, hoping it would stop Congress. The level of insanity and the danger it represents in reversing the story, all in order to prosecute more Trump enemies, had better be fully understood to counter this new outrage.

The people must wake, rise, and peacefully partner with all powerful opposition to turn this around. It can be done, but not without fully understanding the MAGA rationale for a breathtaking rewrite of January 6.

  • Jason Miciak is a past Associate Editor of Occupy Democrats, American attorney, author, and can also be found on Politizoom. He can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com

This shocking Trump act spells disaster for our republic

President Donald Trump has done so much damage to the formerly steadfast pillars of democracy that it's often difficult to single out any one disastrous act, other than the obvious, such as January 6 and militarizing the homeland. But the indictment of former FBI director James Comey may break the strongest last wall buttressing one of history's most resilient republics.

There seems to be nothing left, no rule, no law, no moral, no ethic, no obligation — nothing that can restrain Trump's id when free to "rule," as demonstrated by the unprecedented order to charge Comey. Mark this development as his most significant anti-democratic moment in term two, one that might take two generations to overcome.

Perhaps the near-defining characteristic of third-rate dictatorships is the automatic imprisonment of one's political rivals. Just call modern Republicans a "junta," and it all starts to at least sound normal.

Yes, the Department of Justice under President Joe Biden charged Trump and many others with crimes. But Biden did not direct any charges (One might argue, and many have, that he should have been more involved, from very early on.)

There are no allegations that Biden contacted Attorney General Merrick Garland about any one charge or that Garland was politically motivated. Indeed, not only did Garland foot-drag the milquetoast effort, he even brought in a special prosecutor midstream, creating catastrophic delay. And the Right still calls it "lawfare.”

Not it seems to now matter, but it's worth mentioning that Trump and cohorts most certainly did enough to at least be charged with crimes. The federal government pleaded with Trump for years to return critical documents, even sent binding subpoenas as warnings — begging to settle, only to be ignored. Moreover, the attack on Congress on January 6, 2021 and the third-rate conspiracy to vitiate certification of Biden's win were as corrupt as they were unprecedented and should have been far more aggressively prosecuted.

There is simply no comparison. Every objective person, including nearly every Republican member of Congress, knows this to be true. They are simply that beholden to Trump. One man, not a value, idea, or program, one man — a symptom of deep disease in our body politic. MAGAs are absolutely giggling and high-fiving this as if it were a playground scrap.

The Jeffrey Epstein files must be really bad. But that's actually beside the point, which makes this even more destructive.

It all results in what we have now — real "lawfare," because none of these "Trump enemies" committed any crimes in the normal sense, and literally everyone also knows it, with the possible exception of Trump himself, who seems to believe that it is criminal to be his antagonist. Comey didn't even charge Trump!

Making matters even worse, we had Trump issue what might have been an absurd error in tweeting, not texting, Attorney General Pam Bondi, instructing her to indict his "enemies" and then firing his own appointed U.S. Attorney for Eastern Virginia in order to bring about these charges. This jaw-dropping move is actually all out in the open. He announced the f–––––g thing!

All hope to pull Trump back on the Comey matter now falls to the judiciary.

Other than our actual Supreme Court, the district judges and circuit courts have largely been the most stalwart constitutionalists pushing back against the viciously whimsical and deeply personal tyranny from above. “Saving democracy" was never contemplated when drawing up a district judge's job description. Still, there is some hope that the federal judge will throw Comey's case out based on vindictive prosecution. We will see. But without regard to the end result of this case, the damage is done.

The overriding problem here is that the usual "American solution" to insanity is to bide time, wait for the public to regain some sense, find this untenable, and democratically throw all things MAGA out of office. Such a move would allow criminal charges to be brought against Trump for personally directing the "payback" while profiting so handsomely from the office. Except we now face two problems with that scenario, and right about there is where someone starts looking two generations down for a real fix.

First and foremost, if an administration is willing to simply charge enemies with crimes, honest prosecutors be damned, there is absolutely no guarantee that this administration will even contemplate allowing a real election ever again. People rarely consider it, but Russia has elections, too. They just don't mean anything because they're predetermined by Vladimir Putin.

Please look at where we are headed and consider whether Trump will ever allow himself to be exposed to "an outsider" who may review his actions. He is already directing what looks to be elections of the Russian variety.

Second, even if this country came to its constitutional senses, wrestled through real elections, and voted in a Democrat with Trump term-limited out, the fact that "Project 2029" should include putting these people in jail then just continues the pattern. The party in power charges the former with crimes, even when it's obvious that only one party does it in bad faith. Even the good answer is catastrophic.

And that's what makes the Comey indictment such a landmark.

Pretend momentarily that this country actually does return to sanity in 2028 with President Newsom, Buttigieg, or Whitmer. One could make a very persuasive argument that it would actually be better to simply wipe the slate clean and pretend none of this ever happened, rather than bringing yet another round of charges against a former administration. Let history imprison these people.

Sadly, even though that might prove to be the best option, that too is a hallmark of a failed government. Simply ignoring blatant criminality in order to "move on" allows future administrations to push further into abject corruption and self-dealing. A lawless Oval Office may be accepted as the price the powerful pay for being rich, free, and alive, all at the same time.

All that said, it becomes too apparent why this indictment is a bomb of a development.

Noted above, this could easily take two generations to fix, but keep in mind that there's no rule saying it ever must be. And so here we are. As far as critical dates and developments in the Trump attack on real American exceptionalism? This matter is actually every bit as important as January 6th. Don't be fooled.

One could spend all day analyzing and critiquing Comey's tenure as head of the FBI. Some of us fully believe that he had no good choice when presented with Hillary Clinton's emails. But no sane person believes he is a criminal, and even if Comey shaded his testimony in favor of one view, he would be no different, indeed likely less so, than anyone else to ever testify before Congress, especially an independent director answering to hostile political hacks.

It all just makes it worse. Comey is just so obviously not a criminal, but he is equally clearly someone Trump just hates.

Mark this day as the one on which a U.S. president simply called for the head of someone who infuriated him. Know, of course, as history surely will, that Trump did it, almost alone. It took 240 years to get here and one man to bring it all down. But stop licking wounds for a moment and try to track where it all goes into the near future.

Take an honest look at the lay of the land. There doesn't appear to be an off-ramp in sight. Perhaps President Malia Obama and Gen Z can sort this out.

But they'd better start thinking about it now because this is far bigger than even the headlines relate.

  • Jason Miciak is a past Associate Editor at Occupy Democrats, author and American attorney. He can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com

The world watched Trump rave at the UN. What it learned is no laughing matter

It is beyond ironic that Donald Trump names so many of his clubs "Trump International," because he never seems more out of place than when forced to address global matters. His very small world comes across as laughable, but it matters.

Whatever it is that fires up the Trump mystique among the MAGA movement, capturing the support of 40 percent of Americans at any given moment, it certainly doesn't travel. He is never found more wanting than when addressing global matters. The most recent humiliation actually occurred here at home — his home, New York City, but in front of the world at the United Nations.

Standing at the same podium on which Khrushchev banged his shoe, Castro held court for four hours, and JFK aspired to "explore the stars," Trump announced to an attentive world that while he was personally "really good at predicting things," immigration was causing their countries to go to hell. Nice.

It would be almost impossible for him to sound older. While there is room to discuss ways a country keeps its original culture in an evolving world, or the mechanisms for orderly immigration, the very idea that nations can isolate in a connected globe is both mystifying and unwanted. Given that Trump was primarily directing his immigration animosity toward Europe, he's essentially telling them to stay "white" or descend into Satan's flames. Nice.

Were that his only problem.

Not only did Trump float out his ugliest of ideas, the "great replacement theory,” but he also went fact-free in addressing one of the most sophisticated audiences he'll ever entertain, and did so when addressing the topic about which that audience was most interested — trade. He claimed that in his second term so far, the United States has "secured commitments and money already paid for $17 trillion," a statement so laughable as to bring a drink to the nose, given that America's entire GDP last year was $29 trillion.

The laughable lie is akin to telling a domestic audience that drug prices will go down 1,500 percent. If Trump could be believed, Walgreens will now pay us $52.25 to pick up the Klonopin needed to survive this post-fact world. And yet there he is, this time speaking to international leaders, laying out another statistical impossibility. Nice.

Did he whine? Of course, he did. Trump complained that no one has given him any credit for ending wars around the world — he seems stuck on seven, though no one can name them, and then noted that "everyone says I should get a Nobel Peace Prize." He did not say, "After all, they gave a Nobel to the Black president," but he may as well have. This column is more likely to win the Nobel Prize for Literature than this unserious man winning a prize for peace. But he whined anyway. Nice.

Now, do not doubt for a second that despots around the world do tell Trump such stupid stuff and will laud him in private over his powerful UN oratory. No question, when he hears from leaders in the Middle East, Latin America, China, or other authoritarian strongholds, he is showered with praise, told that the United States is "strong again," and most certainly, he deserves that white whale, the damn Nobel.

It is just that easy for other dictators to pick our pockets while filling his with flattery. Nice. To him, at least.

This is all just so awful on so many levels. American foreign policy over the decades, while fallible to a fault, was better than nearly any alternative, largely a force for good. And while that is nice, it also benefited Americans in more ways than we can count. From military bases in the Far East and Europe, to wall-sized televisions for $500, attracting the smartest people on Earth, and cutting-edge tech, Americans benefited tremendously from being "the good guys," the enlightened ones, science-centered, fiscally powerful, with a sensible long-term outlook. No more.

We look as stupid as he sounds.

Many might say, "Well, it's still just a speech and can't matter in the long run," but they're wrong. It does matter. Because the audience extends beyond the delegates. Imagine CEOs in Germany, Korea, or India, power players considering a major infrastructure move in the United States. Big business craves stability. Foreseeability. Reliability. They hear this crazed American and his policy and see only liability.

Banks, too. Entire economies ride the back of the 30-year mortgage, the bet that the next three decades will look "similar enough" to the last three that banks will extend loans, providing the American dream — home ownership. But again, as Wall Street looks on in wonder, muttering "WTAF," moguls here and around the world consider gripping their money tighter, putting our economy in peril, making everything more expensive.

Kind of funny. If the U.S. actually took in $17 trillion "every few months," the federal government could probably buy everyone a house. And that would be nice.

But that won't happen because it's not a serious number, nor based on a serious trade policy. It matters because trade is what underlies the UN's greatest purpose, peace throughout the globe. It is hard to go to war with the country that makes your phone. Simply put, we cannot afford to wage war with China. Global trade is essential to peace and prosperity, but do you suppose that any world leader sitting in that audience believes that he or she can enter into a beneficial, solid trade agreement with the United States?

No, and now your car just got more expensive and the world more unstable. Not nice.

But it certainly is expected when the president of the United States, once considered the leader of the free world, the most powerful man on Earth, takes to the podium whining, lying, and sounding like a petulant man-child, or exactly what happened this week. Skip the horror movie this Halloween and instead watch a side-by-side comparison of a typical Barack Obama UN speech next to that. Then think about the next 30 years.

For the last 30 years, the world has been pretty good to the United States, and the United States has been good to much of the world. Our military owned the seas and the skies, our crops had intercontinental buyers, our stuff was fairly cheap, oil flowed too freely, and economic progress was essentially baked in. Nice.

No longer.

Standing at the same podium from which Ronald Reagan brought along the Soviets, Nelson Mandela fought apartheid, and Pope Francis argued for drastic action on climate change, current American president Donald Trump talked about hats that said he's right about everything, then repeated, "And I don't say that in a braggadocious way, but it's true. I've been right about everything."

Just what the world ordered. The know-nothing playing the know-it-all all. Nice.

Because it is not just a speech. It is a direction, one that encompasses 340 million citizens, a powerful military, backed by a powerful GDP, and against that juggernaut, it is hard for the world not to sit back and think, "That's the wrong direction," and then work around us. Perhaps Americans remain largely unaware of the UN and our global prosperity because of it, in part because we've never had to live without it.

But with speeches like that, laying out a direction as such, we — along with the CEOs, banks, and farmers — may have to now factor in such a world. Unfortunately, it may only hit us when the television is $1,400, a mortgage far out of reach, and our mighty military is fighting at home and alongside despots. Is there any other takeaway from such a speech?

Alas, "Trump International" is now laughable. Sadly, it is more than just another speech and actually does matter. Eventually, the laughter turns to tears. Nice.

  • Jason Miciak is a past Associate Editor at Occupy Democrats, author and American attorney. He can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com

These sinister rants show Trumpworld isn't mourning — it's unleashed

Everyone who follows politics from any sort of middle ground suffered comprehensive dread after Donald Trump's second election. We knew of Project 2025 and its "in your face" drive toward totalitarianism. It was baked in — a guarantee.

The nightmare unspooled as it became all too clear that Trump's new administration wouldn't tolerate minders, deep thinkers, the conscientious. There would be no adults in the room. Trump presented a cabinet of laughably unqualified "loyalists" and America pretended it was normal. Expected as it was, the foreboding was no less real.

However, the last 10 days have taken matters to a new level — one even more extreme, perhaps planned all along, but now most definitely here.

Charlie Kirk's murder, along with some admittedly heartless responses, ushered in a new phase, one for which Trumpworld may have been planning all along, but now set upon us over days. In so doing, they ushered in near zoo-level incompetence from a cabinet picked for loyalty despite abject incompetence. The "in your face" aggression, coupled with newfound confidence, brought about the most dangerous week yet in Trump 2.0.

The White House is emboldened, using Kirk's assassination to unapologetically twist the dial, more aggressively crazed than ever. This is dangerous.

The most obvious newly evolving move is the labeling of the entire left as a terrorist movement that threatens American stability. This is gaslighting so pure as to be almost elegant, coming as it does from terrorists who attacked our Capitol. Opposition to Trump has become that much more dangerous. And if one listens closely, they almost took joy in the killing as leaving them finally "freed." What an opportunity.

Stephen Miller, never more self-righteous and raw, the most openly authoritarian-racist member of the administration, recently said:

"With God as my witness, we are going to use every resource we have at the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and throughout this government to identify, disrupt, dismantle, and destroy these networks, and make America safe again for the American people. It will happen, and we will do it in Charlie’s name."

Sorry, but that sounds less like grief than relief.

There are no left-wing networks. As a member of the Democratic Party, I'd say we probably need more and better-defined networks to spread an anti-Trump message, but they don't yet exist. Not as Miller meant.

No matter, Miller wants an excuse to "attack" the left, wanting to spring loose the semi-fascist brownshirts in Homeland Security and National Guard on anyone they don't like. Breathtaking in its boldness, one can feel his rush to rage-filled hatred, ready for an open-field run.

Watch out.

But Miller is only following the example set at the top. Trump has been all over the place, spitting vitriol at the left, using Kirk's death to go next-level. Post-Kirk, he has a treasured launching pad toward Orwellian control, example "A" being Jimmy Kimmel. Emboldened, Trump went after even bigger game — network news, as evidenced by recent interactions with the media, as reported by Politico:

President Donald Trump on Friday reiterated his claim that critical television coverage of him is “illegal” and pushed back on criticisms that his administration was taking actions that chill free speech.

The administration quickly established the fact-free narrative that the left metaphysically groomed the suspect in the Kirk killing, Tyler Robinson, despite all evidence pointing to an isolated, uniquely sick loner, practically apolitical, a young man who simply hated Kirk's intolerance toward LGBTQ Americans. Hardly a political leftist.

But the idea took hold on the right, an excuse to attack all opposition as terrorists threatening Americans. This is as dangerous as it is self-serving.

Meanwhile, the cabinet seemed newly confident, and with increased energy came new evidence of jaw-dropping incompetence. None is in over their head more than FBI Director Kash Patel. Little more than a flame-throwing podcaster, he appeared in front of Congress backed by a new level of anti-left rage, and promptly humiliated himself as the most hapless, fully politicized, and laughable FBI director in history. As noted by USA Today:

During his equally contentious Sept. 16 hearing before a Senate committee, Patel went off the rails, labeling [Sen. Adam] Schiff “a political buffoon at best” and saying, “You are the biggest fraud to ever sit in the United States Senate.”

Try to imagine Fox News's reaction to a Democratic administration, or simply a normal FBI director, trying that. Despite almost non-existent expectations, Patel managed to still surprise as a newly freed, shameless, hapless, moron. This, of course, after erroneously announcing the arrest of a “subject” in the Kirk killing.

It goes on, even down to the Department of Health and Human Services and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s absurd crusade against vaccines — the single most powerful public health tool in history, short perhaps of proper sewerage. But conspiracy freaks are going to freak, and the "post-science experts" at a key CDC meeting devolved into clueless chaos.

Per a report in The New York Times:

“Thursday’s session ended with the panel members at odds. A hot microphone caught one panelist calling another committee member 'an idiot,' although it was unclear who was speaking.”

Take your pick.

True, the administration was always vicious, uncaring, and self-satisfied, but it went to a new and dangerous level prior to even Charlie Kirk's memorial service at an NFL stadium in Phoenix. State control and censorship reached late-night comedy, leaving those left on air quivering. All over mildly disrespectful talk — but only talk.

It is likely that the plotters in Project 2025 counted on some seminal moments all along, using each to tighten their grip. They surely envisioned protests, some perhaps descending into violence as their launch pad to the next level. Instead, they are rallying around two grotesque but extremely isolated killings: Kirk as "proof" that political violence is the province of the left, and the murder of Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian immigrant, as "proof" that white people are under attack. That incident in Charlotte, North Carolina lubricated a shift to more surface-level racism — always useful to the right.

It all worked better than they could have hoped, and they're showing it with barely suppressed excitement.

The pattern was set in January. Perhaps even ahead of schedule, it is now viciously in your face — a government that is authoritarian, post-law, post-decency, post-unity, in what were the United States. They always fantasized about a war within. Now they get to move, seeing themselves as blameless, responding to a first shot, one taken by "all" Trump opposition. How useful.

MAGA provides its voters self-identity. It's not what they believe. It is shared hatred, never more acute, thus never more united, never more willing to quash all that previously made America great. Those charged with leadership don't need to be good, only "committed."

Unfortunately, the impact will be felt as they move with a greater sense of mission, greater hatred, less confusion, and more dopamine. Never forget: they hate you more than any international faction on earth, more than all of them put together.

Now, though, they have a theme — they're under attack by a violent resistance as a whole. Tragic as one young man's senseless killing may be, they seem more fulfilled, even relieved to have a tragedy transition to a precious tool, never on clearer display than the last week.

And it is just so f–––––– dangerous.

Don't believe me? Listen to them.

“Stephen Miller understands the assignment,” Laura Loomer wrote on Sunday. “Many others don’t. Crush. The. Left. So they never rise again.”

  • Jason Miciak is a former Associate Editor at Occupy Democrats, author, and American attorney. He can also regularly be found on Politizoom.

Spineless Schumer must force a shutdown this time. Here's why

Given Republicans' breathtaking control of the federal government, there are precious few opportunities for Democrats to leave their mark. But a real opening lies just ahead, and Dems must be ready to go to the mat, forcing the GOP to shut the entirety of the government down on Sept. 30 if they don't honor Democratic demands.

Nothing less than the framing of the stakes for the 2026 elections, combined with longstanding expectations for subsidized health care and a minimal social safety net, is at stake. Last time, Dems cratered. They no longer have that luxury.

Back in March, as the current spending bill approached, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), along with Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), John Fetterman (D-PA), and a few others, made almost no effort before caving in to Republican demands, out of fear of what President Donald Trump and Elon Musk (and DOGE) might do with "emergency powers" that might flow from a shutdown.

The bill went through with nearly every Republican cut in place. Since then, and as Project 2025 unfolds, we've been given a masterclass in how fiercely Trump seizes shocking levels of executive power even absent an emergency.

Trump is going to Trump without regard to exigencies. Inaction in hopes of normalcy is dangerously naive.

The current Republican bill guarantees cuts to Obamacare subsidies, Medicaid funding, FEMA funding, and other cuts that hurt poor and middle-class Americans. If Republicans stay in line, the bill will pass the House. It must be stopped in the Senate.

This gives the Democrats a unique opportunity to invest heavily in the right messaging, starting now to get out in front.

This week, Rep. Rose DeLauro (D-CT) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the leading Democrats on spending matters, said Republicans “walked away from negotiations and are now threatening a shutdown by trying to jam through a funding bill on their terms alone.”

That was a good start. From here, Team Blue must stand firm, with resolute focus on our increasingly expensive American lives.

It is the right time to do it. Trump is still polling poorly at about 43 percent approval and has been seen as "extreme" throughout his second term. Team Red on Capitol Hill is nothing more than a distribution center for Trump Inc., headquartered just down Pennsylvania Avenue. The GOP is Trump. The coming shutdown is about him, period — not Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) or John Thune (R-SD), or House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).

It is about "the Trump cuts" or the "Trump money grab." Brand it. Personalize it. He deserves it.

To be sure, one takes a massive risk in shutting the government down during a period of economic uncertainty. A shutdown could slow the economy further. Thus, Democrats must stand tall and say that they must stop cuts to these social programs precisely because the economy is slowing and may turn downward in the near future.

Lingering economic worries will make Trump's cuts that much more devastating. Hold the line.

What Democrats can't do is get into a fight that looks like they are shutting the government down over politics. Playing the usual politics, whether about issues such as Voter ID or just obstructing to obstruct, is a loser. Dems must singularly and clearly stand their ground over the cost of the Republican bill to ordinary Americans, and not get into the weeds.

The GOP "money grab" must be the sine qua non of the Blue.

It will not be easy. But this is the perfect opportunity to paint Trump as an extremist, one trying to tear every remaining shred of government support from Americans' hands. Note the economic risk by screaming that Trump is doing all he can to run the economy into the ground as it is, with tariffs, layoffs, inflation — especially grocery prices. Pound on the need to help Americans, "more now than ever."

What Democrats cannot do is fold again, as they did in March. Chances to really improve American lives are so rare in this political dynamic that they must be seized when presented.

It will take some real political skill, but it most certainly can be done. Simply message that Dems won't consider anything that hurts ordinary Americans. Don't even mention any potential riders. Color Trump as the bad guy, stealing from the poor, willing to shut the government down to grab even more.

Trump owns the GOP with a totality that takes one's breath away, but that allows the Dems to make this personal. Whatever happens, it will be them against "Trump" and his demands. Talk about hospital closures, rising health care costs, and disaster relief. Put it all in the context of a very uncertain and somewhat painful economy, the Trump economy.

Do not back down. If we have learned anything under Trump's rule, it is that he will make things worse. He will use every inch of rope, grab powers heretofore unknown to exist, and lash out at minorities, women, LGBTQ Americans, immigrants, and the poor. He will do that anyway. There is no reason to let that concern get in the way of stopping this bill.

Republican cuts are deeply unpopular, so make Trump eat them. Make it such that Trump has to take the hit. He is the one who wants to hurt Americans so badly that he's willing to shut the government down in order to do it. And then let all the consequences shower onto him.

But for the love of God, stand up and be counted for once. Hold the line. Force them to shut it all down, over "a bill that enables Trump's money grab."

  • Jason Miciak is a former Associate Editor at Occupy Democrats, author, and American attorney. He can also regularly be found on Politizoom

Trump’s dark vision has a weak spot. Here’s how to hit it

The nightmare is already upon us, but too many are simply sleepwalking through their days, leaning on carefully crafted and long assumed structures of normalcy, where you go to the office, pay the phone bill, check your feed, take the kids to swim lessons, go to a game — activities that reaffirm that everything is as it should be, it's okay, life today entails all that was thought guaranteed just last year, last decade, last generation.

It is the dream, the one you were taught to expect in school, promised by parents, told by leaders.

But that framework of normalcy is the battered social infrastructure of the past. Because life in America right now is not okay. Slowly, at a varying pace, Americans are opening their eyes to the fact that the expectations of an American life, the birthright to freedom and opportunity, an absolute right to our own thoughts, the ongoing expansion of civil rights, advances in science, creative new arts — all no longer a given, indeed are slipping away.

We awaken to the nightmare of the new reality, where nothing is as it was, no right is irrevocable, facts no longer unassailable, no conventional wisdom predominates, national unity is no longer even desired, national sanity now a punchline. That is our waking reality.

Those with open eyes see a pale truth, one exposed without pancaked bronzer.

In the summer of 2025, the GOP and Donald Trump are in control of a post-Constitution America, a post-fact culture, a post-science society, a post-"United" States, a neo-theocratic nation in which Trump stands as the Republican God on Earth. Trump and the GOP have laid the marble foundation for one-party rule into the foreseeable future, building a ballroom in which they can drink in power and dance for decades, encamped in a newly hardened White House, a perimeter patrolled by troops and light armor.

Between now and the certification of the 2026 elections, Americans writ large, regardless of party, must both wake up to this new reality and decide if it is worth the fight to get that birthright back: fight for a normal life in an enlightened democracy, a middle class existence with vacations and savings, a citizens' republic where votes matter, one in which facts exist as reported, alternative views are expected and respected, where certain cherished values override day trading in political transactions.

We will be challenged to fight for all of it by fighting for real elections that really matter. As things are now, we cannot count on that right. Many fight hard. Too many lean on vapid "normalcy."

Let's set out reality as it is, wide awake.

Trump is already altering perfectly accurate elections. He demanded and received five more seats out of Texas. He wants control of the vote, writing an unconstitutional executive order outlawing mail-in voting and requiring paper ballots. He has specifically said that ridding this country of the normal right to vote would "get rid of politics" forever. Meaning one-party rule, and in this party, that means all power, post-Constitutional, flows from one unstable man.

The Founders' nightmare, our waking reality.

In so doing, Trump is already posturing for a win in 2026 or the basis on which to fight a possible loss. He is setting up the framework needed to contest seating a Democratic-run House of Representatives. He declared real crime statistics "fake," to create a false emergency to call in troops. The result is a military occupation of our capital, answering only to the president.

Breathe that naked fact in. That's what dictators do: use troops, guns, and armor to secure the seat of government. He has already said he will do it in other Democratic cities … Now consider what he is willing to do next November. Is there any reason to believe he will accept the reality of an election? Or create his own if needed, leading to "one-party rule."

One also has to awaken to the propaganda. Please remember that propaganda is not used to convince anyone to believe any one story or explanation. No, propaganda is infused into every statement, interview, press conference, meme, whatever, so overwhelmingly that citizens give up on even the very idea of truth, that select facts exist as knowable and pertinent.

In the post-Constitution propaganda state, every report on every subject, even prices or unemployment numbers, all are said to come with a political angle and are thus rendered debatable and deniable. Every announcement implies an agenda. If a news outlet cites rising costs or job losses, the response will be that it is a fake story by the "liberal media" that hates America and is out to get Trump.

This administration tosses aside bad news like a bone of fried chicken. It could be someone citing crime statistics in D.C., a mediocre Bureau of Labor report, a military bomb damage assessment, rising prices, a jury finding regarding rape in a civil case, Epstein victims, or even the undeniable need for vaccinations — they can all be scoffed at and rage tweeted as just the product of someone wanting to stop America from being great. In a propaganda-infused fascist state, plain and obvious facts no longer exist, never mind matter. The post-truth administration no longer seeks reality.

Only the message matters. And the message is that America is the "hottest" country in the world. In the post-truth existence, Trump has ended six wars and deserves a Nobel Prize. He has record-high approval ratings, higher than any president ever. The administration has done more than any in history.

It is all branding, it is all propaganda. Try finding the "truth" in any of it.

More Americans are awakening to at least that truth. But too few are fighting. California Governor Gavin Newsom has become an overnight hero by finding a foothold for real resistance.

A genius within Newsom's organization decided to hold a mirror up to the outrageously ridiculous behavior that we're now conditioned to see as "normal," only to show how freaking bizarre this shit looks when coming from anyone else. Its brilliance flows from the fact that it's based on what people see and feel, not so much a fight for truth. In a post-truth, "branded" society, this mirror is the leading Democratic message: be the anti-matter in all Trump matters, drain the message's power with a reverse image.

Newsom isn't wasting a lot of time arguing principles or what is right or best. That is implied. He is fighting for the sake of a fight. The fight itself becomes sufficient truth. If utter insanity is the coin of the realm, then invest billions in crypto-crazy cash and bank it right back at them. In this post-normal context, Newsom has landed a blow.

There are many other ways to resist and fight back. There are, in fact, truths that are felt rather than messaged. You feel it when you go to get groceries, and a frozen pizza is $10. The pizza went up $3 in two years, while your paycheck stayed the same. This is a hard truth that Trump cannot circumvent: the "feel."

People wanting democracy and normalcy must act. Democrats must invest in outreach to that feeling: you feel you are falling behind, and we know it. No matter how "hot" the country may be, you feel increasingly left in the cold. To fight back in the propaganda dictatorial state, movements must be based on the mood, not necessarily facts, and then message the ever-living hell out of it on every screen in existence.

All government legitimacy comes from some level of consent. We consented to Trump's election because he won, and that's what Constitution-based Americans do. But as he grabs for post-Constitutional power, consent must be withdrawn.

It can be done with movements and protests. But ultimately, it will likely take turning the tables and shaking the administration's waking assumption, the one in which Americans acquiesce to increasing dictatorial power by continuing to go about their normal everyday lives, working, consuming, and sleepwalking. Crash that dreamy predicate.

It will take economic boycotts of certain companies, even sectors, perhaps a national "savings" movement where people forego discretionary spending to slow the economy, perhaps even general strikes, protests that fly above facts and arguments but go right to messaging and what people feel. The republic needs a shakeup that alters presidential assumptions about normal Americans.

But no plan or movement can work until enough citizens awaken to the post-truth world and see that nothing is normal, no matter how many PTA events or farmers' markets they attend. For now, at least, Newsom's message is the true north for those not so much "woke" as "awoken."

From Newsom's foothold, outreach should not focus on Americans' heads, but their gut, the only truth available. Home in on that vast majority that knows it's left behind and share the message that they're valued and matter because they are and do. Provide reasons to feel included, involved, even optimistic, thereby empowered. And then act together in any way but "normal."

For now, Newsom is pointing the way. In a post-fact, post-Constitution, propagandized America, perhaps the only reliable counterpoints lie in mirror images, the lenses by which it's easiest to see that things are not okay. Forget normal messaging. Go for the "feeling" that this abnormal situation requires a gut reaction, something unexpected, something that awakens them to a new reality. The slumbering giant pushes back. It is now okay to do just that.

  • Jason Miciak is a columnist for Rawstory, former Assoc. Editor at Occupy Democrats, an American Attorney and Author. He can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com and is available for speaking or consulting engagements.

These two factors — and no others — will lead to Trump's defeat

Despite the inarguably awful actions this administration has taken during its first eight months in office, Donald Trump remains largely impervious in the polls — low to be sure but hardly politically threatening, right in his zone. This despite taking some of the most unpopular and undemocratic actions in generations.

Yes, for a brief period, during his first week or two in office, he peaked above a 50 percent approval rating. But since then he has gracefully found the glideslope to his comfort zone, anywhere from 42-46 percent aggregate approval, 50-53 percent disapproval.

Even given the number of unpopular decisions that he has made — DOGE cuts to essential services, masked mauraders kidnapping the innocent, hiding the Epstein files, tariffs, health care cuts — the dynamic remains the same. There is almost nothing the man can do to fall into dangerous, sub-38 percent approval.

But there is are two elements on the horizon, one that likely shouldn't play a huge role but does, another that always does.

First: there are exploding questions about his health.

Is there any there "there?" Seems so. Looks matter, especially within cults of personality. Trump's age — 79 now — matters in the polls.

Much of Trump's mystique among MAGA revolves around his seeming indestructibility, whether concerning his wealth, litigation against him (meagre attempts at criminal accountability, throwing out the award in a major New York civil case), or just his simple, unpleasant aggression.

The dynamic can even seep over to political independents, who see Trump as at least "doing something" and doing it well for himself. It must be working, some think. This is his real superpower.

So indications that Trump's health may be teetering pose a major threat to the perception of invincibility. It's important. If he ever loses the "cape," it is all but impossible to get it back.

Both hands now show severe bruising. Fattened ankles have led — finally — to the admission that he does have some cardiovascular disease, whether just venous insufficiency or something more. There is the swinging gait that comes and goes. And there does seem to be a greater propensity to simply meander from topic to topic, on an ever-looser tether to linear thought.

He also just looks old: see pictures from the Oval Office meeting last Friday. Trump may never have looked worse.

The thing about cults is that the leader is absolutely invulnerable, the hold on people impermeable, right up until they are not. Once a leak springs, it is impossible to hold water back.

Yes, it is utterly infuriating that there has been so little pushback against troops in cities, threats to former allies, cutting Medicaid, the racism, the "cruelty as the point," and even the Epstein files, which will now never amount to anything, a "Democratic hoax," unless several victims come forward with direct knowledge of Trump's actions, and they don't seem to be in a hurry.

But it doesn't appear that any of the above can puncture Trump. Anyone in doubt needs to revisit the polls that refuse to move or simply spend a half-hour on X. Nothing has changed, except Trump's acceleration in his push to fascism.

In a post-truth America, where Trump can claim 70 percent approval rating with a straight face, dismiss a mediocre jobs report with a termination and declaration the numbers are fixed, make baseless claims to being the "hottest country in the world," claim crime as a national emergency and only himself as the savior, Trump's opponents are left searching for a leveling truth.

Enter the appearance of diminishing health.

Whatever is going on with his hands, it cannot be hidden. Whatever it is about his ankles, it cannot easily be cured. The doddering goes way back, but it means more now after all the attacks on Joe Biden.

It's a fact that Trump is getting older and appears to be getting worse. The best his followers can do is write it off to simply aging. Precisely. It leaves them uneasy, seeing Trump vulnerable for perhaps the first time — that being time itself.

And then there's the other wild card — the economy.

Inflation is just getting going. But in the same way it is impossible to hide a black spot on the back of a hand or slurred words going nowhere, no makeup can cover a bag of potato chips over $5, beef approaching $20 a pound for a decent cut and getting higher, along with other goods rising and rent to pay — all without any commensurate increase in pay.

Put the two undeniables together, Trump's health and his sickening economy, and there are two paths to sinking Trump to polling levels that will leave him and the GOP extremely vulnerable in 2026.

The country is largely unmoved by troops invading cities, masked men kidnapping working undocumented migrants (and some Americans) off the streets, stolen legislative seats, threats to the vote.

All of it screams fascism, but all of it has too many people simply yawning.

Anyone doubting that Trump acutely feels the vulnerability need only look at his responses to his major problems: hiding the hand, firing people over numbers, the constant and humiliating talk about the country being "hot.” And yet too many simply don't care. His supporters rely on him for entertainment and have their own lives to worry about. The marauding menace in Washington D.C. does little more than appear on screens as an owning of the libs, which is what he was hired for.

Nothing touches the man … except for indications that he's weaker, going downhill, unable to fight like he once did. That and chips, for $5.50.

It's the little things, things that don't have to make sense.

Trump won't get younger. Energy prices show no sign of going down. Chips and bread seem destined to jump. He promised to reverse such trends but he threw gas on the fire with tariffs. It isn't turning around.

Cults are invulnerable until they're not. The things that make them teeter don't have to make any sense. Watch these developments. They just might work, which might be enough.

Keep an eye out for black and blue hands, puffy eyes and swollen ankles. And prices on chips and sirloin.

Two small pins, sharp enough to pop the balloon. He knows it.

  • Jason Miciak is a former Associate Editor at Occupy Democrats, an American attorney, author, and contributer to Politizoom. He can be contacted as JasonMiciak@gmail.com and is available for speaking engagements and consulting.

This Trump kryptonite just snuck up on him — and it packs a punch

Over an astonishingly short period, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has transformed himself from a competent but uninspired "California liberal" to a piercing voice cutting through the MAGA music and crypto techno otherwise drowning out this summer.

In so doing, Newsom has become our most necessary American, the country's ego to President Donald Trump's id.

Reasonable people can differ in pegging the precise point at which the California governor turned a corner. Some might say the spark first ignited during Trump's visit to Los Angeles after the fires, when Newsom set an uncompromising and unflinching non-political tone.

Others may nod to the objection and subsequent litigation over National Guard troops roaming those same LA streets. Perhaps it took right up until he said, "No more," and promised to redistrict California in response to Trump's Texas power play.

While people quibble, all can agree that Newsom is now meeting the moment, whether it is a press conference on the new California initiative, the now nearly inevitable political showdown going forward, or the elegant all-cap trolling on Xitter, tweets with a familiar syncopation and beguiling iteration, matching Trump word for incoherent word. Newsom has this.

He is now the post-MAGA "GCN," and only starting to roar. But it took a president on the prowl of democracy to put him in the hunt.

The single most remarkable thing about Trump 2.0 is not the pace at which he is tearing down our hopes for the republic's health; that project was in the works and has been campaigned on since 2021.

No, the most shocking development has been the Democrats' mealy-mouthed retreat from center ground, the humiliating hole in space presumed to be covered by our Congressional representation. Whether it was Chuck Schumer's cave on the debt ceiling or Hakeem Jeffries's lukewarm resistance, the voiceless opposition has never been so muted.

Enter Newsom.

A year ago, all of this would have seemed laughable. On the national scene, Newsom — however competent and likable — was seen at best to be a placeholder for a nation too immature and insufficiently desperate to call on Pete Buttigieg to restore sanity as a 2008 redux, "rainbow version."

Newsom was, after all, a "California liberal," the death knell for any part of the country east of the Sierras. Moreover, Gavin may as well be a "Clinton," having been on the political scene for decades with nary a memorable noise at a Democratic convention, primary, or campaign. That was then.

It took Trump morphing into "New Trump" to bring out the fight in Gavin Newsom. And fight he has.

Right.

Democrats and Independents need this. Even saintly Joe Biden, circa 2020, failed to really capture an all-things-anti-Trump national zeitgeist. Scan the coast-to-coast "room" and point to Trump's most formidable foe right now. There is only one person rising to today's demand.

One is tempted to consider whether anyone else even wants to speak up. Wouldn't it be wonderful if it were hard to point to Trump's primary opposition? If we had governors east-west-up-down and a Congress full of energy and offense? We don't, but we do have Gavin. And just perhaps he is enough, especially if he unifies.

Not a moment too soon, it was Newsom who picked Democrats' lower lips from the floor after Texas announced its Trump-mandated redistricting plan with a "fight fire with fire" hot response, one that stunned Republicans used to Democrats only pouting about the travesty of it all while holding to an ideal of which, at least right now, is not an option. Newsom knows this all too well and perhaps stunned just as many Democrats in his abrupt, unexpected shot — finally.

No, no one should anoint Newsom as positioned as anything heading toward 2028; the first order is saving a meaningful vote at all. But he is "our" candidate for 2025 and '26, anointed or self-appointed, and in whom our support is best placed.

He has the strength to back up any plan. Grok puts California's $4.5 trillion GDP as the fourth biggest in the world. Trump and MAGA badly need that economy to flourish to keep the nation afloat, especially amidst glum economic news and tariffs hanging over us, particularly in the Midwest. The governor can cause misery for Trump through any number of moves. Unlike others, he has the necessary leverage.

Newsom needs to expand his national footprint. Fortunately, he can best protect his state by enveloping that other nation, the red-white-and-blue middle to the blood-letting red right. Take the moment into next week, next month, and definitely next year.

He needs to highlight his national super-PAC, "Campaign for Democracy," but brand it with his name, the one that matters, and buff it out, build the meme in the moment. Find his own billionaires, sic "Bernie-bros" at the cryptos, rally women — the most discerning Dems, go on Meidas and Rogan, pocket money while unleashing opposition, and for God's sake, keep up with the masterful social media. Fund all things opposition on a national scale.

We need someone, and it appears to be him. Good.

It is hard to "come from nowhere" when coming from California. Yet, weirdly, it feels as though he has. Perhaps it is because the bar has been set so low. Which is not to say that Newsom isn't rising. In a nation dominated by fear flowing from those outside of Trump's domination, he seems to revel in it. Amazingly, where he came from couldn't matter less, only that he came at all.

Someone finally grasped the reins. It behooves all of us to meet him in this moment and throughout this county. He is the leader the nation most needs, the now all-too-necessary American.

  • Jason Miciak is an American attorney, past Associate Editor of Occupy Democrats, author, and can also be found on Politizoom.

​This glaring weakness could bring Trump to his knees​

President Donald Trump has left his opponents an opening, one with which Democrats can claw away at his seemingly unbreakable hold on power in Washington. It is just not necessarily one that jumps to mind.

In the entirety of Trump's term, nothing has galvanized interest and controversy like the fate of the Epstein files. Yet despite righteous fury over what appears to be an obvious cover-up of historic proportions, there is nothing to indicate that scandal alone, no matter how big and worthy, can threaten Trump's governing coalition and backing in Congress.

So without giving so much as an inch on the Epstein matter, Democrats must prove that they handle two priorities at once by focusing on the vast numbers of voters Trump has left behind in an economy starting to teeter on the brink of a serious downturn.

The Left needs "Project 2026: An economy for all Americans."

For all his wretched racism, his shocking authoritarianism, the never-ending scandals, even increasing concerns about his cognitive decline, Trump and MAGA still poll at their historic average — somewhere between 42-45 percent approval.

But without regard to the baggage, Trump has never had to defend himself amidst serious economic worry. Additionally, he's given no indication to anyone, supporters or otherwise, that he prioritizes working wages, has a plan to fight inflation, or a way to defend the average American's standard of living. Trump has left his entire flank exposed by favoring the fate of his billionaire buddies and crypto-bros.

"No tax on tips" isn't even the tip of an iceberg when it comes to policies promoting working and middle-class voters, definitely not with Medicaid cuts, inflation, and weak job growth.

But that is not Trump's only problem. The choice to fire someone over the release of a moderately disappointing jobs report, as well as a history of trying to create his own reality, demonstrates a preference to conceal that which Americans already feel rather than put forth a plan in response.

It says, "I don't care."

Fitting, because nothing indicates he does.

And that is the flank Democrats must attack. Fortunately, such an action plan need not come at the expense of shedding any values. Democrats can and must still defend equality across all lines. Protect the environment. Investigate Epstein. And hold tight to democracy over authoritarianism. The good news is that it can be done without much difficulty. The ground is that wide open.

Trump's absolute power depends wholly on a subservient Congress, something made infinitely easier during relatively good economic times. Democrats must force Congressional Republicans to continue to do Trump's bidding on Epstein, militarizing cities, tax cuts for billionaires, and tariffs, but now make them own it while dancing backward in a spiraling economic symphony.

Make them defend the Trump economy, knowing he has nothing to offer as Americans lose ground by the month.

We know Trump feels vulnerable. He claims numbers are hoaxed while fighting to shamelessly redistrict Congress. Anything and everything to create an illusion while avoiding a plan. But Americans know that prices aren't hoaxed, and their vote remains theirs without regard to district. The question falls to Democrats: do they have a plan? Can you dance?

Trump taught us all that branding matters in meme-based minds. So brand it.

"Project 2026: An Economy for All Americans."

It is true that much of Trump's appeal to his base rests on racism, misogyny, nativism, and theocratic urges, but consider all that as baked in the base and immovable — sad as it is. Americans are even supporting his militarization of Washington. The only opening lies in pure economic self-interest, the part Trump overlooks as politically unimportant. Maybe it's not to MAGAs … in a good economy.

I pound this all the time. Trump has never had to defend himself amidst bad economic news. The concerning reports are just now starting to trickle in, and the predictions are that it will get worse. Create a plan to be on top of it as the problems snowball, slowing the economy further. All power means all blame.

Yes, the fact the federal government is suppressing evidence of Trump's ties to the world's most notorious child sex-trafficker is important, and every Democrat in Congress needs to press the issue. But no one better rely on a scandal to sufficiently smash Trump's 2026 numbers. He is already accusing the victims of being nothing more than "Democrats." His true base will buy it.

But they won't be buying homes, cars, or even beef in the coming year. Sad as it is, perhaps only that realization will allow Democrats to pick off perhaps one-third of Trump's supporters, now looking at him with a more critical eye. One wishes that the racism, the rape allegations, the authoritarianism, vulgarity, all of it, were enough. It hasn't been so far and, infuriating as it may be, there's no reason to think it ever will be.

But backing down in quiet rage isn't an option. Fortunately, the flank that Trump left exposed is really exposed.

He has nothing on the horizon, and his hard work for billionaires leaves a soon-to-be convenient opening. Democrats need only to prioritize economic action for all and then sell it. Propose an immediate increase in minimum wage, affordable daycare, give tax breaks to employers who pay higher wages and salaries, and stack real numbers into a real plan of action to really get a message across.

One message focused on one election.

For God's sake, start now to have it in place as we go back to school, to the holidays, all leading into 2026. Juxtapose "the Trump economy" with "Project 2026: An economy for all Americans." Talk "trickle up," invest in working Americans, rescind the "tariff tax," and bring it up all the time, every time.

Trump's entire professional and political career is composed of backpedalling from scandal and panic, but never amidst growing economic angst. He is defenseless.

Attack that flank and watch how fast everything else starts to finally matter.

  • Jason Miciak is an American attorney, political writer, and author, and can regularly be found at Politizoom.

Trump's glittering monstrosity could be his doom

The Washington Post recently published an article in which it noted that any chance President Donald Trump has to complete his $200 million "golden ballroom" at the White House in the near term would necessarily require wholly dodging years-long federal rules and regulations that would otherwise oversee such a project.

Democrats should silently cheer such frenetic desecration in homage to the purely pragmatic, a means to best bring about the last good chance to normalize the republic. Build it, and we will all come — history has a ready precedent.

An inclination to green-light this monstrosity may run counter to every preconceived notion of responsible stewardship, but Americans who are looking to end the encampment of a man who already breezily talks about 2028 should hope that he rams the plans through as thoroughly and recklessly as he did the gift of a new personalized 747 jet.

Other than perhaps the Epstein files, the inchoate ballroom may represent the biggest threat to the Trump administration, a standing monument to opulence in trying times, and an undeniable middle finger to America's struggling working class — a massive percentage of Trump's base.

If one begins by noting that Trump has never committed to peacefully leaving office, it is incumbent to start considering scenarios by which Trump might leave, short of a battle. Any efficient and effective solution necessarily involves cratering support among what was formerly his strongest political hold — MAGA men.

We have yet to see a Trump scandal shake MAGA man's confidence and loyalty to Trump, and it is wrong to presume that a sufficiently large scandal exists, even one involving Jeffrey Epstein. Picture it now: "It's all made-up evidence, a hoax!" No, the only sure means by which MAGA will turn on Trump is irrefutable evidence that he first turned on them.

Enter two converging realities.

One, that ballroom looks like it is going to get built. Trump doesn't usually just float development ideas. They have obliterated the Rose Garden, put up a tennis complex, and gilded the Oval Office. Trump is already making the place his personal palace (A scary enough premise).

Two, perhaps you've noticed, inflation hasn't gone away — indeed, it seems to be increasing, especially grocery prices. This is particularly bad news for Trump since he made grocery prices one of his signature campaign promises, and, of course, we all eat, rich and poor alike.

There is a reason every presidential campaign focuses on "kitchen table issues." The economy drives the mind of the body politic. The typical MAGA man has learned to endure nearly every type of Trump scandal, but he has never had to defend Trump on such weak ground, a shrinking economy.

Indeed, one of the few political threats to Trump can only come to fruition when and if he becomes a real threat to MAGA man's stability, his economic well-being. Simply triggering the libs has largely run its course anyway. No, they want him working for them; he's "their" president, they say.

Presidents can and do survive hard economic times, but only when the voters believe that the president understands that things are bad and is working to fix them. We know that Trump appreciates at least that reality: he fired Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer after one particularly concerning jobs report, a decision he may soon very much regret. Dismissing the messenger and denying the problem exists belies someone more invested in creating his own reality than fixing ours.

Americans not only understand reality but are forced to create it, never more so than when grappling with sending kids to school, debating whether to buy a home, or planning a retirement. Most Americans have never been to a ballroom, don't care if they ever do, much less relate to ever wanting one, never mind build it. On those two or three occasions in a life when we might need a ballroom, we rent and decorate halls.

Very little says "out of touch" quite like prioritizing a project that inherently looks like personal ownership of the White House, extravagant luxury, devastatingly out of touch, and — most damaging — now out of MAGA man's reach.

Trump looks to be building a Versailles-like ballroom at the worst possible time from his perspective, as if history has nothing to teach at all on the subject. Indeed, for once, we should be grateful that Trump remains wholly ignorant of past lessons because his decision to build entails such poor timing, such self-indulgent priorities, such reckless disregard for those he considers his people, that all in opposition should [silently] hope that he breaks sacred ground and that audacious and ostentatious plans are released with blissfully ignorant enthusiasm.

To the extent there is an argument that such desecration of a national treasure must be avoided at all costs, it should only be made while noting that there's no evidence that Trump believes the law dictates when he leaves.

If there is another side, another hope for American democracy, it involves cratering support from the people who make Trump possible. To that end, the plans for the ballroom may be more dangerous to Trump than anything found in the Epstein files — defending that type of scandal comes second nature to MAGA voters now anyway.

These same voters have never been asked to defend Trump through a major economic downturn, and nothing, nothing, says "I don't care" quite like the plans for a ballroom juxtaposed against such worry. We can debate whether Trump really ever cared about his voters, but that misses the point. A ballroom in such times means he now resents them.

The last people who built a Versailles-like ballroom made a similar miscalculation. The faster and more outrageously this thing is built, the less economic pain it will take to bring about a political matter/anti-matter end, the ultimate bonfire of the vanities.

Build it, and even they will come.

  • Jason Miciak is an American attorney, former associate editor for Occupy Democrats, and current part-time columnist for Politizoom

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