Donald Trump is no dictator. Donald Trump is no Hitler, no Stalin, no Mussolini. But Donald Trump believes, in his heart of hearts, that he is a king.
And Donald Trump has no respect for the American people. The recent A.I. generated video on TruthSocial makes this very clear. The video depicts Donald Trump wearing a golden crown flying a military jet and bombing innocent Americans who are exercising their 1st Amendment rights to peaceful assembly and non-violent protest with a full load of excrement.
King Donald Trump just shit all over the American people, and then laughed about it.
Some people say that these weren’t real Americans, that they weren’t true patriots, and that they should be thankful that it was just A.I. and not real shit. Funny stuff.
But in this one A.I. moment, the real Donald Trump was revealed, and the absence of expressions of disgust from the Republicans in Congress and across the country is truly pathetic. It is really beyond me how this type of behavior as exhibited by our president could be condoned by anyone, but apparently it is better to be silent and invisible than to take a principled stand and invite a shitstorm of presidential abuse in return.
President Trump’s callus and uncaring response to the current government shutdown speaks volumes as well.
Despite declarations of a mandate from the American people, Donald Trump only received 49.8% of the popular vote during the 2024 election, while Kamala Harris received 48.3% of the popular vote. His big, beautiful bill was passed by the Republican House and Senate, without any Democratic input, through the use of the reconciliation process. The entire process completely disenfranchised the 48.3% of American voters who are represented by Democratic Senators and Representatives.
The Democrats were given no opportunity to protect the American people from the loss of healthcare benefits and subsidies for millions of poor and middle-class Americans that will be the result of various provisions of the Big Beautiful Bill.
Now, as their final option, the Democrats are demanding that the healthcare benefits and subsidies taken away by the Big Beautiful Bill be added back through revisions to the Bill so that these benefits and subsidies will not be lost, and that this be agreed to in writing before the government shutdown is brought to an end with a bipartisan vote.
The Republicans have offered their reassurances of good-faith debate regarding the status of the healthcare benefits and subsidies, but that first the Democrats must agree to end the government shutdown.
In this Trumpian age of brutal partisan politics, no reasonable person would take the Republicans at their word regarding these good-faith debates. This is almost assuredly nothing more than an empty and cynical promise.
The Democrats are following a desperate strategy. The longer the government shutdown is allowed to continue, more and more government workers will go without paychecks, more and more government services will be suspended, and more of the economy will be affected.
Already the air traffic control system is failing because air traffic controllers are refusing to work without pay, military families cannot afford to buy food and are being forced to stand in line at food banks, and the SNAP program that 1 out of 8 Americans rely upon to eat will no longer be fully funded. These are the three of the most visible effects of the government shutdown. The Democrats could be blamed for all of this.
However, the fact is that the Republicans control all three branches of the Federal government, and they have the power to end this government shutdown if they chose to do so. A majority of Americans understand this.
All the Democrats want is to ensure that poor and middle-class Americans, whether Democrat or Republican, will be able to have access to health care during the duration of the Trump administration. Apparently, the Republicans believe that this is a debatable proposition. Americans will die if the Republicans succeed in destroying the existing health care safety net.
This is why the Democrats must continue to stand strong and united, and to continue to repeatedly explain to the American people what is at stake in this government shutdown.
In the meantime, Donald Trump ended up deciding that now was the right time to throw a gala Halloween party in the Mar- a-Lago ballroom. Friends, family, rich donors, celebrities, and corporate titans were among the guests in attendance. Poor people were there too – the waitstaff, the chefs, the entertainment, the cleanup crews.
The rich, oblivious to the suffering of the poor. This is Donald Trump’s vision for America, sorry to say. The Golden Age of Donald Trump. Not what the MAGA crowd was expecting, but here we are.
This gala party was styled after the Roaring Twenties, a period from 100 years ago that was characterized by significant economic prosperity, new technologies, stock market growth, and cultural change including women’s rights and artistic experimentation. Much of this was shared by the middle class, although minority communities such as the Blacks, the Jews, the homosexuals, and even the Catholics were marginalized during this time. It all came to an end in 1929 with the failure of the stock market and the banking system due to the lack of financial controls and capitalistic greed.
This current period of time is more accurately a reflection of the Gilded Age, a period from 125 years ago that was characterized by a concentration of great wealth in the hands of a few industrialists, widespread economic inequality and poverty, and political corruption. The Gilded Age had Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and J.P. Morgan. Trump’s Golden Age has Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Larry Ellison – just to name a few. The Gilded Age slowly ended as the extent of economic inequality and poverty eventually led to the rise of the progressive movement.
The recent “No Kings” movement may be the beginning of the end of the Golden Age of Trump and the raping of the American economy by this new group of billionaire robber barons who exploit every opportunity to accumulate more wealth and buy off our politicians in order to do so. One hopes that this ending happens peacefully.
Some people might conclude that President Trump believes that declaring Martial Law, invoking the Insurrection Act, suspending Habeas Corpus, postponing Federal elections, and ordering the National Guard, the Army, and the Marines into major U.S. cities will somehow intimidate and subjugate the American people, and allow him to continue his reign indefinitely.
It would be wise for President Trump to reflect on the end of the 18th century, the year being 1793, the period of time being the French Revolution. This year was the beginning of a violent period when the French people rose up against their King and his aristocratic administration due to extreme economic chaos and widespread hunger. The King’s army could not protect the King and the aristocracy from the anger of the French people. Many, including the King and Queen, were summarily executed during this time.
When one sees the photos of the vast Viennese dessert table that was part of the Trump Roaring Twenties Halloween party, and then when one reflects on the current times of economic inequality and increasing poverty, one can only wonder if this is Trump’s tone-deaf response to the concerns of the American people – let them eat cake.