Why does Trump seem not to care he facing plunging polls and a loss of the House in November?

Updated: 3/1/ 2026 Whether the Iran attack will change Trump's approval ratings by November or influence the outcome of the midterms is yet a matter of speculation, but there will be time for the longer-term impact to be revealed and felt. That ridding the world of the odious Iranian leadership in power until a day ago was indeed an impressive display of the US and Israel's military/intelligence capability, but whether what follows is an improvement in the West's eyes is a gamble. If the US gets involved on the ground in another forever war will be seen as a failure of Trump's foreign policy and military strategy.

 That Trump does not care a whit what even his followers think,  nor even making a serious attempt to make a clear case in the leadup to the attack, is a further sign that Trump thinks he is a dictator who can ignore polls, public opinion, war powers acts, and commit a reversal of promises not to get in the mud mire of mid -east wars. The initial reaction by Trump's supporters in Congress is that they are happy to continue to anoint him as "their" dictator and to give up their own power to benefit his lust for more and more power.

Updated: 2/3/2026

Polls today, nearly all of them, show Trump's approval is sinking into Nixon territory, and nearly 60% of Americans disapprove of his top issues: immigration, affordability, and land grabs of foreign territories. He is already brushing off the loss of the House this November. Why does he seem not to care that voters feel the pain, and instead, just doubles down? He seems in a hurry to get revenge and punish his enemies and is engaged in stuffing his personal wealth with crypto converted to dollars and exchange fees while the getting is good. He is acting like a deranged fascist dictator gorging himself in a candy shop and satiating an appetite that craves for more and more power and control, domestic and abroad, and getting away with it before he is stopped in November: Why? He keeps issuing executive orders that he treats like they are the law, but that are blatantly unconstitutional. He counts on court delays and appeals to give him time and let him keep on violating the Constitution. He is hinting at calling off even the November 2026 and 2028 elections or confiscating ballot boxes, or declaring some national emergency or a cooked-up insurgency, as a pretext for military occupation.  Observers fear he is hoping that the streets turn so ugly he can use ICE as a pretext to invoke the insurrection act, using military,  and his ICE paramilitary, even Joe Rogan calls it a Gestapo,  funded and in place and able to act as his personal army. Why?  MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Trump wants to GOP nationalize elections and control the vote count: that's what dictators do

 Why has this happened? 

(1). First and foremost, there is no one or no way to stop Trump's lust for power, and he knows it.  He has whipped Congress into subservience as they cower in fear of crossing him. Court rulings? He just figures a way around them and keeps on enforcing and executing his orders while the courts delay, delay, delay decisions and hear appeals upon appeals.  He may even ignore court rulings if there is an insurgency, he hinted to the New York Times recently. He believes he has the power to do it. Update 1 20 2026: A comprehensive report of how Trump and conservative GOP leaders are turning America into a unitary form of governement. (Unitary form: all power to the executive with eliminating checks and balances of the legislature and judiciary...( That in my view is a polite description of an autocracy) Trump Tests Presidential Power: Venezuela Operation, Iran Bombing and More - The New York Times

 (2)  He is a lame duck who will never have to face angry voters again, so he can ignore them, even those in his own party.

(3)"His" Supreme Court gave him immunity from criminal prosecution, so breaking the law is of no concern to him.

.(4) He is counting on his partisan loyalists of about 40% of all adults polled, to keep him going and have his back. 

(5) Update: 1/27/2026 He is planning some dirty tricks to disenfranchise votes of citizens in blue states...and especially in Colorado. Trump's attempt to federalize voter counts and elections in direct contradiction to the Constitution. Expect Trump et al will try to keep Colorado's vote from being counted, as well as any blue states,  throwing the results of who gets the majority in Congress into chaos and dispute. They will meet a buzz saw if they try such tricks on Colorado. Colorado has a plan and backup plans. Threat of force won’t change Colorado secretary of state’s mind on voter rolls, mail-in ballots   

Tump's false pretense of such dirty tricks is still: the 2020 election was stolen because all of those illegals voted and mail-in votes are all a fraud, their propagandists and a deluded Trump claim.. In over 6 years such attempts to prove these claims have failed. They think if they can get voters' personal information, they can prove their pretext.  In reality, this is just a pretext to keep themselves in power by throwing the 2026 midterms into chaos.   

 What to do; what to do, hand wringers? The only way to stop two more years of this is still an overwhelming vote and kicking out his political allies up and down the ballot in the midterms. In the meantime, angry voters have to deny Trump a fascist style pretext for such a military-like takeover of democracy by keeping their protests peaceful, large, and focusing on voter registration and turnout. FYI: an insurrection is not peaceful protestors nor even a handful of violent protestors...but Trump threatens to invoke the insurrection act, nonetheless. Those threats will go nowhere if the protests remain peaceful.

 In the meantime, cool it, hot heads, you who want to vent anger with violence.  As Minnesota officials say, "Don't take the bait". ICE hopes you do lose self-control and become violent. They will then have a pretext to invoke the Insurrection Act and oppress you with overwhelming military-like force. As they escalate their violent behavior, they are provoking you to answer in kind. Don't. If you play this right, your day will come to oust these MAGA. The real power, the opinions of the majority of the people, is the force that is already with you. So is a federal judge. Don't mess it up. 

Judge Restricts Immigration Agents’ Actions Toward Minnesota Protesters - The New York Times Renee Good killing is the straw that broke the camel's back. Judge clamps down on ICE actions to suppress Minneapolis protesters exercising their constitutional rights with flash bangs, pepper spray, chemical agents, and excessive force by combat-ready ICE paramilitary-garbed agents... We are not yet a militarized police state working on behalf of a government leadership determined to get its way by any means, including violence. Let's see if this gets appealed or ignored.

These ICE are not patriots or just police. They are a masked paramilitary, claiming they are a law enforcement agency, while using excessive force techniques to take down their targets and use violent weapons of crowd control, inflaming, not de-escalating, being overtly racist, targeting those who are brown or looks like a migrant, in a way that would have gotten local policemen fired, suspended, prosecuted, and even imprisoned. The agents wear masks and display no badge numbers, so citizens cannot hold individual agents accountable. Their leader claims they have total immunity from prosecution and conceals evidence that could lead to prosecution, even for murder. Wearing masks makes them look fierce and threatening as well. No local police agency condones this.  

Here is the real value of organizations like Indivisible and 50501. They give the opposition cover and safety in numbers,, and give them the guts, non-violent techniques, and the discipline to stand up peacefully. They provide a non-party-based outlet, support, and protest opportunity for disaffected GOP members, independent,  unaffiliated voters, and Democrats dissatisfied with their own party's leadership.  The tent of these groups is welcoming, with room for a wide variety of ideologies and public policy issues.   They have the ability with vast lists of activists and their emails, leaders trained,  ready, able, and willing to galvanize voters in November. This is not the MLK civil rights movement of 50 or so years ago, but it is similar in its spirit, and it has drawn on many of the same peaceful and effective techniques of protest. The Indivisible types of protesters know from their education what kind of democracy we have and why it is so valuable. They know the difference between our kind of democracy and dictatorships. They have also inspired other organizations, grassroots, and neighborhood groups to adopt their same techniques, so it is creating a movement that goes far beyond the influence of the Indivisible lists of participants. 

 Sometimes polls do not get the complete picture if they fail to ask the right questions: I looked at the most recent one at the beginning of February.  The question of whether you believe Trump is damaging democracy was not asked....or even if that was an issue in some rankings. The closest to testing that is do you approve of Trump's job or performance? When asked that way, Trump's slide is only from 49% to 45%, yet the special election results show a decisive shift in the matter of 15 or more points.  Something is not adding up and there seems to be a disconnect between polling and voter action.

  Trump approval rating falls across every major issue in new poll   Here is another view by a heavyweight think tank taken before the Minneapolis murders. This one says the reason for the shifts in job approval is that Trump is losing blocks of voters who voted for him in 2024: young voters, independents, Hispanics. As President Trump loses support, Republican prospects in the 2026 midterms grow darker | Brookings  Such polls must give Trump comfort that his job approval has not fallen before 40% (usually below 40% signals real trouble). 

What gives Trump discomfort is  what happens in November 2026 could very likely shift Congress blue, opening him up to impeachment (again) and trimming his budget wings, as well as stopping ICE's cruel dragnet approach that sweeps up and imprisons non-criminals, legal immigrants with no criminal records, and even American citizens.  Doing it cruelly and trampling civil rights seems part of their plan now.. 

Trump is rightly correct in pointing out he is not on the ballot in November, and that is why he is likely lose Congress in any case. The other way he can get around this is if he tries to interfere with our elections using dirty tricks he has up his sleeve as feared in terms of takeover of the election process nationally..Another factor will be how many protesters marching in the street are increasing to over 3.5% of the voters (12 million), usually a threshold of success for peaceful protests successfully causing regime change elsewhere in the world per political scientists studying that history, though even smaller percentages have been successful. .  The Minneapolis effect could well boost the ranks of marching protesters to that level. The '3.5% rule': How a small minority can change the world | Harvard Kennedy School

 As much as the Trump regime tries to say these are paid agitators and organizers, they are fooling themselves and MAGA. Without millions themselves realizing they are the only way to stop this wannabe dictator, since the guardrails against such have failed, Indivisible could never have succeeded in turning out so many, mostly white, educated middle-class people of all ages.  The participants have been willing to risk Trump's threats and abuse of power, "screw their courage to a sticking post" (Shakespeare) all across America, and for many, for the first time in their lives, to get out and march in support of democracy. They know a wannabe King, tyrant, dictator when they see one because they remember what they learned about the history of the 1930s  in Europe, the 1950's to current times in South America, and how ordinary people suffered under such rule, causing many to flee their home countries to western democracies. (There is a reason the migrants are not hordes flowing to such dictatorships.) They see it happening here and now.  Above all, they are a pro-democracy force that wants to preserve the kind of democracy we have had for 250 years, of, by, and for the people  (not of, by, and for a one-man, small minority,  or oligarchic ruler). They know about such dictatorships that, once in power, they only care enough to trickle down just enough to the masses to keep them from violently revolting. The rest of the tax benefits and grift is for their personal lifestyles and the causes that serve them. The goal of such autocrats is to stay in power by whatever means, including violence.  

CNN poll: Democrats are deeply motivated for the midterms despite having dismal views of party leaders

 

Are Trump's supporters getting what they want from his second term? Here's what a new poll shows

A post from mid December which  dives deeper into why and what of Trump's brand of fascism, or whatever you call how he is acting. MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: My nagging question: why does fascism keep raising its ugly head

A post written in October: MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: What is MAGA? Whatever you call it, it is not conservative, but something else.

Why are ICE agents so prone to violence and so dedicated to taking down anyone who looks like a migrant. Look at who they are recruiting. Whatever could go wrong? . The US government seems to have a clear message for white nationalists | CNN Politics

Grocery price inflation end of 2025: up 2.4 percent  tariff role per an ABC news report.Grocery inflation is picking up, defying Trump's claims. Here's why.

Gas prices at pump..just below $3 per gallon; mid Jan 2026 AAA Fuel Prices  Not..below $2 per gal as Trump claims.

Housing price inflation:Housing price inflation, 1967→2026

Energy cost inflation: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/21/why-electricity-prices-are-surging-for-us-households.html#:~:text=Electricity%20prices%20are%20rising%20quickly,the%20electric    Nearly 5% in 2025

Splitting hairs. A basic question: did Trump commit an insurrection? Updated 1 14 2025

Update: 1 14 2025

Read Jack Smith's report on Trump's election interference cases 

Five takeaways from report on Trump's alleged 2020 election interference

Continuing with thee original post. The Supreme Court ruling, the question of Colorado's Supreme Court finding that in the civil trial, Trump did commit insurrection , was left untouched. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/04/supreme-court-rules-in-trump-colorado-ballot-case.html It only focused on whether one state could determine the outcome should be a  federal matter with Congress writing a law. Splitting hairs in definitions are often the meat and potatoes of prosecutions and courtroom haggling but they also are a weapon of political arguments.  One question that deserved attention on a private Facebook group that interfaces the many sides of political discussion was if why the January 6 mob and even Jack Smith's indictment of Trump who were charged with a crime were not charged with insurrection, but interfering with an official process or vandalism or other charges.  So the left was wrong, it follows, to call Trump an insurrectionist, and therefore he is not guilty of a crime that could, if found guilty, put him in jail or some other penalty like home detention or less.  What they overlook, is that there are other criminal statutes involved easier to prove beyond a reasonable doubt which could land him in jail or other punishments.  Outside the courtrooms, both sides can still be right at the same time: Trump is and is not an insurrectionist. It is an opinion to shape other opinions, but it is not yet a legal finding with one exception. Colorado's state justice system from lower to highest court did not disagree with that part of a civil suit brought by Republicans and independents attempting to keep Trump off the ballot. Update: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2024/03/04/trump-can-stay-on-colorado-ballot-supreme-court-rules/?  In their ruling, the court did not rule not on the substance of whether Trump had committed an insurrection but on the power of a state to enforce the rule. It is a federal matter that needs legislation from Congress to clarify how to execute the removal and when under the 14th Amendment.  This was not a surprise and the issue is now clarified. Trump's name was never taken off the Colorado ballot nor will it be because the Colorado Secretary of State said she would abide with the SCOTUS ruling.  The insurrection issue was a civil finding that Trump did participate in the Colorado case. SCOTUS did not touch that. The key decision remaining is the Coourt ruling on Trump's immunity from criminal prosecution.  This cannot be avoided. It is key to the preservation of democracy.  The way SCOTUS set up its approach left the room it appears that Trump could have immunity from "some" acts on the perimeter. That would be a disaster if the Court ruled Trump had some protection because of immunity; he would be above the law exempted by a definition that split hairs.  Either he is immune or he is not. There should be no loopholes. Politically, Biden's team would rather take on Trump than Haley, so it is becoming even clearer it will be an oldie but goodie v an oldie but dangerous and scary..

The only body so far to rule on the term insurrection after a trial and hearing evidence in a court of law found that an insurrection had occurred was the Colorado case, a civil suit to keep Trump off a ballot per the 14th Amendment.. In appeals to the Colorado Supreme Court. the state supreme court agreed on whether there was an insurrection and Trump either led it or provided aid and comfort, but it will probably fail in the appeal to  Trump's biased Supreme Court on a totally unrelated issue that such interpretations and enforcement should be enforced at the federal level, not at the state level. We will soon get their ruling. The strongest argument made by the Trump team is that one state should not determine what other states rule in an election process and qualifications for president. Supreme Courts usually do not rule on whether the facts were faulty, but how the theory that sets the precedent of how the state acted affected the rest of the other states or other individuals or was or not relevant to the laws as written, were unconstitutional, and /or were in harmony with precedents set by other court rulings.

From a reply to the question raised by a Trump supporter on the private Facebook site is a little more complex and more in the weeds, but a good question was raised that required serious consideration. :Was there an insurrection or not and can the participants in January 6 be called insurrectionists and was that an insurrection or just a riot. Both being a riot and an insurrection could also be true. The riot was the weapon used as part of the insurrection plot.  Until it is litigated in court, both sides can give their opinions on media with some reasons. It has been litigated only once, in Colorado, in the attempt to DQ Trump from the ballot under the 14th Amendment provisions. if the Supreme Court does not address that issue per se, those claiming Jan. 6 was an insurrection can continue to do so with even stronger justification. Jack Smith's January 6 case, if held before the November elections, could make the question unanswered also and he is not using the word insurrection, either. He is charging Trump with" conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to disenfranchise voters, and conspiring and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding. The indictment was issued by a grand jury ..." (Google summary) 

https://abcnews.go.com/US/latest-federal-charges-donald-trump/story?id=101918701#:~:text=Trump%20has%20been%20charged%20with,determined%20to%20remain%20in%20power.

From my FB posting today. Treason can only be charged in wartime. Insurrection is the non-wartime equivalent. The mob on January 6 was summoned to Washington by Trump or his lieutenants in on the conspiracy / for a wild time and were the tool and a weapon of masterminds of overturning the 2020 election. They were only part of the scheme and were connected to the false elector scheme to force or scare or threaten the VP to not certify the election contrary to the provisions of the Constitution. Whatever you split hairs on definitions, the whole scheme and the tools have "done wrong" and attempted to defy the Constitution. The victim in this was the official process that would have resulted in stealing the election from those who were in both the popular vote majority and the electoral college when the leader of this knew it was a lie about enough fraud committed. The Jack Smith testimony, a criminal process, will dwell heavily on all those around Trump that he lost and Trump's intent was to intentionally commit the criminal deed. . Just because prosecutors did not charge the militia heads with insurrection, does not mean that they did not commit it but that to achieve the goal, they may choose to prosecute the prime mover,s or the head of the snake...in this case Donald Trump. . Look at it as in mafia prosecutions that begin with charging the guy who strangled someone with murder, but not the head of the mafia with the murder who orchestrated the conspiracy. They used other legal tools to put the head of the crime family behind bars to achieve the goal of breaking up the crime family's criminal acts. Prosecutors have a choice of picking their battles and picking the easiest charges to make and they either go after the head of the snake as Jack Smith chose to do in his charges re: January 6 levied against one perp, Trump, or they go after all those who were part of the conspiracy to commit an insurrection as the RICO case in Georgia is attempting.. Just because the rioters were not charged with insurrection does not mean they did not commit insurrection and other prosecution tools addressed exact acts, vandalism, and interfering with an official government procedure. The only body so far to rule on the term insurrection after a trial and hearing evidence in a court of law found that an insurrection had occurred was the Colorado case. In appeals to the Colorado Supreme Court agreed, but it will probably fail in Trump's biased Supreme Court on a totally unrelated issue that it should be enforced at the federal level, not at the state level. One state should not determine what other states rule in the case. Supreme Courts do not rule on whether the facts were faulty, but how the theory that sets the precedent of how the state acted that affected the rest of the states ruled on the facts.

Prosecutorial discretion in white-collar crimes can indeed be motivated by political considerations, but it is more likely to be motivated by whether prosecutors have a near certainty of a win in court (there is more than smoke; there is fire) and whether the issue affects a large number of potential and real victims unfairly treated and are the victims.  The worst example possible of abuse and weaponization of a prosecutor's office that deviates from any of this is Trump's promise to prosecute his political enemies not loyal to him as he seeks revenge and retribution regardless of the merits, the rule of law,  evidence, or impact on anyone except himself and his political power. The threat alone of prosecution is an effective tool of governing by fear of repercussions from not being loyal to the dear leader.    That Trump whines he is the victim of that kind of prosecution is his way of denying any public evidence to the contrary,   indictments by a grand jury (whose job is to see if there is fire, not just smoke), or investigative reports. If he thinks he will lose in court, he will deny justice, delay, delay, delay until he can pardon himself when he regains the Oval Office.  The more you see him delay, delay, delay,  the more he understands he would lose in a court of law if the trial was ever held.  In its way, it is his admission of guilt. Facts count in courts, if not in social or Trump-friendly cable channels.

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A personal note: I am not an attorney, but I did spend 7 years as director of an investigative and prosecution unit in the district attorney's office on consumer fraud and white-collar crime that had both criminal and civil authority. Prosecutors assigned to the unit made the decisions about whether or whether or not to pursue a case or not and why. Prosecutorial discretion in white-collar crimes or civil frauds depended upon the kind of proof and whether there was likely a chance prosecutors would win in court and if the law was broken that had had many victims. It also would serve as a warning to other wannabe fraudsters not to even try these practices. 

The spirit of 1776: mob violence? Updated July 4, July 28 2021, Sept. 11, 2021

September 11. 2021

George W. Bush at Shanksville, in comparing 9/11/2001 terrorists to  domestic terrorists of January 6, 2021

“There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home,” “But in their disdain for pluralism, in their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit.”

July 28, 2021

Among those with even the smallest opening in their minds, this video of testimony of 4 of the 140 Capitol and DC police injured on January 6 should lay to rest two lies perpetrated by the apologists, supporters, and their political leaders: 1) these rioters were no peaceful tourists. nor were they patriots 2) this was a serious attempt to overturn the election by terrorizing Congresspeople in the process of certification to violate their oath and name Donald Trump to a second term.  Police officers testify in Jan. 6 select committee's first hearing — 7/27/2021 - YouTube

July 4, 2021

The flags are waiving as we celebrate the 4th of July, the most patriotic celebration of the year.  Who were and are the real patriots? They certainly were not the rioters on January 6, 2021. Those who sympathize with the January 6 rioters and fly themselves under the banner of 1776  are an insult to those who signed the Declaration of Independence. The patriots in 1776 used well-regulated colonial militias and their recruits and a traditional army headed by Gen. George Washington to revolt against a tyrant. They did not revolt to replace one tyrant with another tyrant. They did not revolt against the King with a riot.

The rioters may have thought they were doing the patriotic thing to threaten and terrorize Congress that was engaged in the certification of the 2020 November election to force them to overturn the election, That kind of thinking is upside-down, far removed from the patriotism of 1776, no matter how sincere they felt.  

One of the arguments coming from the January 6 riot sympathizers is that our country was created by violence and revolution so therefore mob violence in support of their version of democracy was justified so they called themselves patriots.   Those who rationalize violent overthrow of government they do not like miss the point of why those in 1776 fought a war of independence.  The patriots of 1776 acted to rid themselves of the tyrannical government of England.  In 2021  so-called patriots were trying to install a wannabe autocrat who openly admired the powerful rule of other autocrats in the world and who had used tactics he attempted to emulate. He needed a second term. One was to promulgate a lie...that he would only lose the election if there was fraud and then when he lost, he set about to make his prophecy self fulfilling, with the help of friendly social and other media. The problem he faced was that there was no evidence of widespread fraud he could use to make his case. He then began flagrant lies, which found himself banned from Twitter and Facebook, his most used tools of self-advocacy. His loyalists took his lies as truth and still are still believers without questioning or evidence to the contrary. Trump supported media, social, print, TV, and radio, advocated unproven theories which they passed off as truth, selective stories and videos, and voices of outrage to carry the message. The message they did not tout was that Trump lost the election, both popular and electoral college, per 60 court decisions and data and certification by all 50 states by exactly the same margins Trump won in 2016.. . Trump was the rioters' inspiration and the one who summoned them to" have a wild time" in Washington, as some of the 500 arrested by the FBI for violent, destructive, unlawful entering, and vandalism that day have already testified.  Many came prepared to be violent.

 Technically these acts could fit under the common understanding of the definition of insurrection or sedition, or participation and inciting planned violence to overthrow a government action such as to certify an election. Perhaps such charges will yet be filed. The statutes that could be cited are 18 U.S. Code § 2383 - Rebellion or insurrection | U.S. Code | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute (cornell.edu) The rioters failed to overturn the election, but they tried.  Some groups affiliated with the rioters have already been officially proclaimed domestic terrorists by the FBI.  Whatever you call them or however they are charged and prosecuted, their leaders at least came with the purpose of scaring the legislators to overthrow the election by not certifying it per their sworn constitutional duties.  They did it by the act of rioting.

  Those who fought the British after July 4, 1776, were not rioters but they were conscripted and drafted by each colonial government into an army led by Gen. George Washington,  charged to do so, to train and discipline, duly authorized by the real patriots of 1776 who signed the Declaration of Independence. January 6 rioters were not there in any official capacity but were fired up by social media and selective reporting that they were the guardians of democracy and they were to right the November election which they believed had been stolen.  

The rioters believed Trump had their back, had the support of the Capitol Police, but came armed and ready to commit violence and/or to terrorize the sitting legislators at that very hour who were voting to certify the election to simply certify Trump. They felt that they had the right to do so because of the First Amendment, ignorant that only peaceful assemblies to address grievances were protected. (" Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."}  Ironically, this 2021 version of 1776rs thought violence and the threat of it was justified to place in charge a powerful figure who saw himself above the law or who considered the law as something to ignore or to manipulate or to get around.  Many in both parties, though more independents and Democrats,  suspected he wanted to overturn an election to stay in power so he could use and consolidate his rule like the dictators he so openly admired. He adroitly used coded words and insinuations, vagueness subject to interpretations to convey his orders or wishes but left his loyal lieutenants to act and go to jail on his behalf. Loyalty was rewarded with pardons for those convicted. Threats of primaries kept elected officials under control.  He was their kind of guy; a powerhouse who channeled their grievances. To do so the rioters rationalized their actions with a lie, that democracy needed to be saved from election fraud. and they chanted "stop the steal",  In spite of this day of riots and threats against the lives of members of the legislature and the Vice President, thanks to the actions of most of the Capitol Police and the secret service whisking away the leadership,  Congress members survived,  still certified the election, and Joe Biden was sworn in as president.  

The aftermath is still being felt by a GOP leadership in the House and Senate who are concerned they would lose their power by midterm voters who had not swallowed the big lie and who saw the rioters for what they were.  The GOP's strategy is to bury the events of January 6, hope their supporters are fooled to believe the rioters were a bunch of tourists, that the violence was no worse than the vandalism committed in the George Floyd, BLM, anarchists in the previous summer and who were just exercising their First Amendment rights. They ask their loyalists not to believe their very eyes which could be seen in video documentation of the January 6 riot and to ignore the multiple arrests of the violent actors. Above all, the GOP leaders do want to do anything more that would expose the intent and the actions of the rioters to the public especially closer to the 2022 midterms. They refuse to participate in any hearings or commissions, bi-partisan, or not. and threaten to discipline any of their members who do participate by denying their committee assignments.

 In addition, GOP Trump loyalists have set about trying to prove widespread fraud by unofficial "audits" drawn out for months with the ability to tamper with the ballots already audited and recounted many times by officials who followed the rules regarding keeping their integrity.   They have tried to make the case that in 2022 they needed to fix what every official review found was not broken and make it even more difficult and inconvenient for voters, especially those who would likely vote for Democrats.  In June, the Supreme Court ruled Arizona had the right to add anti-fraud rules and regulations to state election laws.  What is yet to be decided is whether these new rules were indeed intentionally discriminating against races in violation of what was left of the 1965 voting right act.  The fat lady has not sung on that one as numerous lawsuits are boiling up from lower courts to show intentional racial discrimination, but the reading of the Arizona decision will make that case very hard to win with given the current SCOTUS makeup.  Unfortunately, all voters will be suppressed and inconvenienced by these new state laws, just some more than others, and by 2022 it may be too late for many even in the GOP to realize what happened. NBC/Marist poll found more voters were more concerned about access to the polls than voter fraud..

Recently, there are threats by Trump supporters to overturn the Biden government by violent coups and to "reinstate" Trump,  who still claims he is president. No less than Gen. Mike Flynn, a convicted felon, is opening advocating it. That is banana republic kind of talk. Expect the Democrats in 2022 to position themselves as the supporters of democracy and the GOP as underminers of it and supporters of autocracy.  The Democrats have a strong case to make for the majority who care for the rule by the people, instead of rule by a strong man thanks to the action and antics of Trump's GOP supporters.

The patriots who were the founders of the Constitution and our form of governance sought to preserve our right to govern ourselves, to preserve all who were created equally inalienable rights to pursue happiness, and to keep us from a tyrannical ruler, making those governing subject to the rule of law instead of the rule of an individual. Those who experienced the revolution in 1776 were also given the opportunity to write the Constitution which was approved in 1787. Aside from limiting the power of tyrants with checks and balances of three power centers, legislative, judicial, and executive, they added more safeguards to protect the power of individuals to protest peacefully per the Bill of Rights. They attempted to tackle some of the trickiest problems of governance in the Constitution and in both the amendments and in the regulated election process. How do you provide a peaceful transition of power while still allowing an outlet for the masses to express themselves and let off steam peacefully? They gave those who lost the election the protections and ability through the Bill of Rights to convince a majority of voters that those governing need to be replaced by the ballot box and not by a bloody revolt. 

The foxated and the fooled.   

 .Those who believe the January 6 rioters were tourists wandering orderly and respectfully through the Capitol on January 6  were fooled, too.  A GOP Georgia congressman used a  carefully edited video to try to convey the lie. PolitiFact | The ridiculous claim that those at the Capitol Jan. 6 resembled a 'normal tourist visit'    How Trump Supporters Took the U.S. Capitol | Visual Investigations - YouTube Even Fox's own reporter there in the middle of it riot reported the violence. Reporter's Notebook: Inside the US Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot | Fox News ,  To keep their myth alive, FOX just refused to run a political ad that showed the violence of the day. Fox News Reportedly Refused to Air Ad About Capitol Riot (businessinsider.com)  That these violent actors were just protestors who got carried away at the moment is likewise deceptive propaganda as the Senate report reveals that plans for violence and maps of the interior halls and calls to bring weapons were ignored, yet readily available weeks before the event. that year,Senate report on Jan. 6 attack finds Capitol Police, intelligence agencies failed to relay threat posed by pro-Trump rioters (yahoo.com)   https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/08/politics/takeaways-senate-report-january-6/index.html  They too had been foxated and fooled. 

 

POLITICUSUSA.COM | BY JASON EASLEY

Mike Flynn Uses Memorial Day To Call For A Military Coup To Overthrow Biden

Convicted felon Gen. Mike Flynn advocated for a military coup in the United States to overthrow President Biden.

. 

https://www.axios.com/capitol-riot-trump-supporters-police-officer-c0cd9fb4-3ee1-44ab-9d53-8b78c9b1ea69.html?utm_campaign=organic&utm_medium=socialshare&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR2u7K-XczV2MWddY_1IQ63h1hbx1Fwlwf4B6vBQj_BUzwCe83yStErBHlA

What we know about the Capitol riot arrests - CBS News

18 U.S. Code § 2383 - Rebellion or insurrection | U.S. Code | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute (cornell.edu)

Many Charged In Jan. 6 Riot Refute Baseless Claim That Antifa Stormed Capitol : NPR

DHS warns of domestic terror threats: Are we entering a period of political violence after Trump? - Vox

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-wanted-troops-to-protect-supporters-at-capitol-says-miller-2021-5

The Escalating Terrorism Problem in the United States | Center for Strategic and International Studies (csis.org)

What's Next For Voting Rights After Supreme Court Decision : NPR

Voting Rights Poll: People More Concerned With Access Vs. Fraud : NPR

https://www.politifact.com/article/2021/apr/26/what-happened-during-jan-6-call-between-donald-tru/

 https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/28/politics/brendan-hunt-guilty-threatening-assault-murder-members-congress/index.html

May 5, 2021

Facebook continues its ban on Trump but will re-examine in 6 months. The reason: the threat of violence is still real. I see what this means. This is a implication that Trump's posts incite violence and that "stop the steal" is still the slogan Trump continues to exhort. https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2021/05/05/facebook-trump-ban-permanent-oversight-board-ruling/4377852001/

My family's brush with terrorists

The attack on the  Capitol on January 6 and the subsequent death threats by the same violent actors to punish those  GOP members of the House who dared vote for Trump's impeachment reminded me of an incident in the late 1970s when our family was also threatened by terrorists. It takes guts and determination to buck such threats. Burned in the memory of my now middle-aged children and me was the Denver Bomb Squad opening suspicious mail on the picnic table on our back porch for a couple of years in the late 1970 's.  

  My husband, Dr. Mike Muftic, (1933-2015),  was a  Democratic National Committeeman in the latter 1970s and was in a position to speak out and be heard in Washington.  He was an immigrant from the old Yugoslavia, and within the early 1990s that country would break apart in the bloodiest civil war in Europe since World War II.  We had received a visit from the FBI warning us that extreme right-wing Croatian nationalists living in the US were sending out letter bombs to other Croatian immigrants in the US from Yugoslavia in an attempt to force them by fear to support  Croatian nationalism and separatism. Croatia was a province in Yugoslavia and Dr. Mike was a Croatian.

 Some background: In World War II, a civil war raged in Yugoslavia at the same time parts of this southeastern European country were occupied by Nazi forces.  A large number of Yugoslavs joined with the Germans because Hitler promised Croatian nationalists they would gain their long-coveted independence.   Tito,  a communist terrorist and a guerilla army leader, defeated the German invaders and their cohorts with the help of Britain and the US.  Dr. Mike was  12 when the war ended there. His family was decimated and broken up as parts of the family had taken opposing sides in the conflict. In a foreign policy conference in Washington in which Dr. Mike participated,  there was a discussion about the future of Yugoslavia, which had already broken from the Soviet orbit in 1948 and had become one of the three leaders of the non-aligned world (Egypt and India, the other two),  Dr. Mike had spoken out in the conference for keeping Yugoslavia one country for the sake of peace. He hated war with more passion than anyone I ever knew. He had seen it first hand.  He feared the bloodshed that would result in the process of the breakup of the country. Balkan passions in history often turned violent.  Sadly his fears were realized in the 1990s.  In the wake of that conference, some extreme right-wing Croatian nationalists who had immigrated to the US used terrorist tactics in an attempt to force getting the US Croatian immigrants to support a separate Croatia. Among the terrorist tactics they used were sending letter bombs. US-based  Croatian nationalists had succeeded in nearly killing one of their targets in Chicago, which triggered the FBI warning to us in Denver.   

The domestic violent extremists attacking the Capitol were kissing cousins of terrorists we knew from our own family experiences. One stated goal of those on January 6,  2021, was to seize the Capitol and overturn the Nov. 3 election by stopping the electoral college vote count and certification that was in progress. It was more than just being disruptive. They had other goals,  erecting hangman noose to punish VP Pence they thought was not loyal enough to Trump, searching Nancy Pelosi with handcuff ties on the ready for God knows what and leaving pipe bombs and  IEDs ready to kill and maim. Their goal now is to discourage any GOP Senators who dared to vote to convict Trump in the impeachment process using death threats and harassment. They plan a show in the 50 state capitols in advance of the inauguration on January 20. They were the same ilk who Trump had given the blessing for the insurrection on January 6 in an address to them "to fight like hell" and march to the Capitol. They were the same who had stormed the Michigan capitol and hatched a plan to kill the governor.  Trump had called them patriots. There were the same who marched in Charlottesville and Trump had called them fine people. He "loved them," he said as he asked them to go home hours after they had already vandalized and terrorized the Capitol.  I salute the brave members of the GOP who voted for impeachment now and are enduring the terrorist threats.  I have no respect for the  GOP members who supported the big lie about the outcome of the presidential election. They were the willing dupes, the fearful,  and the craven who in effect helped give cover to the "stop the steal" slogan chanted by the rioters. This is in the face of over 50 court cases that found no evidence of a " steal".  Fear is a powerful weapon and it takes guts to stand on principle.  It will take guts for GOP Senators to face down the threats. It takes guts to stand up to the terrorist threats in the face of their constituents who had swallowed the big lie that Donald Trump had won the presidency in November. The future of the US depends on the fortitude of those who vote for the conviction of Trump to send a signal their kind will not rule the US nor will he have a chance to run for political office again and incite sedition from a public podium.

There are domestic terrorists in our small town communities as well. After Capitol Riot, Local Law Enforcement Grapple With Extremists In Their Backyards | Colorado Public Radio (cpr.org)

ARREST OF 9 IN TERRORIST GROUP BRINGS UNEASY CALM TO CROATIAN-AMERICANS - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Why did Trump purge civilian leadership at the Pentagon? Updated July 2021 The heroism of Gen. Milley

Update: July 2021 from November 2020 posts

New book reveals what was going on in the Pentagon as generals feared a coup after November 2021 General Milley is emerging as a hero who saw a repeat of a Nazi style takeover and who saved democracy . New book shows top US generals planned ways to stop Trump in case of coup - YouTube 

This explains why beginning Nov. 2020 the Pentagon issued statements regarding Trump's intent to use the military to keep power.  Trump's attempted to seize control of the military by replacing as many in the Pentagon he could with political loyalsts.  January 6 could be seen as an attempted coup by the non military. That one also failed.  Democracy prevailed.

 Below is a commentary in my posts during the fall 2020 period.  

Why did Trump purge civilian leadership at the Pentagon? There is a great deal of speculation about why Trump did that. The most disturbing was the speculation that Trump fired Esper because he intended to use the active military to put down demonstrations against him post-election... calling it an "insurrection".

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-pentagon-trump/after-esper-firing-white-house-moves-trump-loyalists-into-key-pentagon-jobs-idUSKBN27Q3F6

My observation: Joint Chiefs, in the wake of this summer's demonstration from Lafayette Square to those on the west coast, had made it clear they would not intervene in domestic political affairs. https://www.axios.com/milley-military-election-trump-biden-7b448425-07c0-4c43-b03b-96ba8d741f84.html :

Later October 11, https://www.npr.org/transcripts/922827554

Per Gen. Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs:"“I believe deeply in the principle of an apolitical U.S. military,” Milley said in written responses to questions from two Democratic members of the House Armed Services Committee, according to AP.

• “In the event of a dispute over some aspect of the elections, by law U.S. courts and the U.S. Congress are required to resolve any disputes, not the U.S. military. I foresee no role for the U.S armed forces in this process.”
• When asked whether the armed forces would reject a presidential order to use military force for political gain, Milley said, “I will not follow an unlawful order.”

The big picture: This marks the second time that Milley has recently stressed the nonpartisan nature of the U.S. military.

• He apologized in June for attending Trump's photo op at St. John's Episcopal Church, saying, "I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military VWell, I've reminded people of that for years, you know, for four years as the chief of staff of the Army and in many years before that during reenlistment ceremonies, promotion ceremonies. I always talk about the Constitution and its importance to us as a military in that we - of all the countries in the world, I think that we are the only one - or at least one of the very few - that swears an oath of allegiance to an idea that's embedded in a document called the U.S. Constitution. We don't swear an oath of allegiance to an individual, a king, a queen, a president or anything else ....We don't swear an oath of allegiance to a country, for that matter. We don't swear an oath of allegiance to a flag, a tribe or religion or any of that. We swear an oath to an idea or a set of ideas and values that are embedded in our Constitution. And we, the U.S. military, are willing to die for - to preserve those ideas and values. And we're willing to die in order to preserve them and pass them onto the next generation. So - and they're all in the Constitution. They're all fundamental to the Constitution."
• October 11, 2020, interview on NPR  https://www.npr.org/transcripts/922827554 ""This isn't the first time that someone has suggested that there might be a contested election," Milley said. "And if there is, it'll be handled appropriately by the courts and by the U.S. Congress. There's no role for the U.S. military in determining the outcome of a U.S. election. Zero. There is no role there."

That Joint Chief declarations also is relevant to the question of whether Trump could stage a coup. Answer: No so long as Gen. Milley has a say.. In the next 70 days, this aspiring autocrat of a President is taking revenge on the disloyal and may even try to start a war against Iran (for intervening against him in the elections), though I cannot imagine a Pentagon able to make such preparations for such an attack on such short notice, except for a bombing run. Removal of troops from Afghanistan is more likely, those our allies there say it would be turning the country over to the Taliban. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2020/10/08/taliban-cheer-trump-tweet-promising-early-us-troop-withdrawal-from-afghanistan/ That he as put incompetent and Muslimphobes in key positions in the civilian control positions of the military is unnerving if any of this is on his agenda. The most benign reason might be incriminating document destruction.

The "insurrection" rationale depends upon whether Trump believes he is the state and demonstrations against him is an insurrection. The oath of office military take is allegiance to the Consitution and they do not have to obey illegal orders. From my Sept. 8 blog post: Can the president invoke the insurrection act to force the active military to put down post-election demonstrations? President Trump recently called for that. This apprentice dictator had better be able to tell the difference between protest riots and insurrection because the difference is already established case law. If he has fantasies of a military coup to keep him in office, he may be asking the military to commit an illegal act to overturn a constituted government. Ironically,  what is possible is that the insurrection act could be applied to organized militias and established right-wing terrorist groups who would foment violence if Donald Trump lost and tried to stage a "coup".  That would turn supporters of right-wing advocates calling for insurrection on its head, making them vulnerable to being charged with insurrection instead of left-wing demonstrators. Advocates of invoking the insurrection act ought to be careful what they wish. Riots and peaceful protests are not the same as acts of insurrections that could justify active military intervention per https://definitions.uslegal.com / "insurrection refers to an act or instance of revolting against civil authority or an established government. It is a violent revolt against an oppressive authority. Insurrection is different from riots and offenses connected with mob violence. In insurrection, there is an organized and armed uprising against authority or operations of government whereas riots and offenses connected with mob violence are simply unlawful acts in disturbance of the peace which do not threaten the stability of the government or the existence of political society. The following is a case law defining Insurrection: Insurrection means “a violent uprising by a group or movement acting for the specific purpose of overthrowing the constituted government and seizing its powers. An insurrection occurs where a movement acts to overthrow the constituted government and to take possession of its inherent powers.” [Younis Bros. & Co. v. Cigna Worldwide Ins. Co., 899 F. Supp. 1385, 1392-1393 (E.D. Pa. 1995)]" I note proven or unproven claims of voter fraud are not cited as a justification for an insurrection in the definition. 

Trump fans the flames of violence, yet calls himself the champion of law and order

     The preamble of the Constitution's states its purpose as "We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America"  

June 2-October 9, 2020 updates  
This posting is under constant revision and editing

This also serves as a running commentary as new developments occur.  It is also laced with many sources that influenced my comments..   Feel free to use this as a resource.  

Update: June 3, 2024

https://www.yahoo.com/news/maga-extremists-threaten-violence-trump-151731438.html

Update October 9, 2020

The FBI and state of Michigan: 13 men associated with two militias were arrested in plots to attack law enforcement and kidnap and kill the Michigan governor ...liberate Michigan cries were echoed by Trump as early as May and even yesterday as the FBI released information about those arrests...This WaPo story link is from a posting on my blog after the militias staged their takeover of the Michigan legislature. The FBI said that incident was a recruitment exercise for more to join the militias. Here is what I posted in the late spring:

Federal law bans advocating the overthrow of government.

WASHINGTONPOST.COM

Perspective | Trump’s ‘LIBERATE MICHIGAN!’ tweets incite insurrection. That’s illegal.

Federal law bans advocating the overthrow of government.

Update September 24, 2020: Trump himself is threatening insurrection, refusing to commit to a peaceful transition to power if he loses the election.https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54274115 This advocate of law and order is threatening violence. What is he planning to do? Summon his armed militias, unleash his "federal troops" a la Portland? Call for violent demonstrations by the right-wing advocates of violence and civil war? Then what. This may fit under the category of insurrection and the military may see this as intervening, not as intervening in domestic politics but permitted under their charge to intervene in an armed insurrection. with case law.case law defining what it is.: Insurrection means “a violent uprising by a group or movement acting for the specific purpose of overthrowing the constituted government and seizing its powers. An insurrection occurs where a movement acts to overthrow the constituted government and to take possession of its inherent powers.” [Younis Bros. & Co. v. Cigna Worldwide Ins. Co., 899 F. Supp. 1385, 1392-1393 (E.D. Pa. 1995)]"

The Senate immediately passed a resolution upholding peaceful transition with a unanimous vote and a rebuke to Trump immediate and clear, though his name was not in the resolution.  For that we can be grateful, but what say the rest of the GOP?

EdiAugust 31, Biden: " I want to make it absolutely clear, so I’m going to be very clear about all of this, rioting is not protesting. Looting is not protesting. Setting fires is not protesting. None of this is protesting. It’s lawlessness, plain and simple. And those who do it should be prosecuted. Violence will not bring change, it will only bring destruction. It’s wrong in every way. It divides instead of unites, destroys businesses, only hurts the working families that serve the community. It makes things worse across the board, not better."  

If you like the violent protests and racial strife, elect Trump and you will have four more years of it. August 27, 2020 This an update reflecting Biden's excellent response to the fear and loathing mongering of the Republican National Convention and reposting of an earlier blog post that tracks this theme of Trump promoting violence to use it as a political fear tool, and Biden's response to it.   Note the consistency and it should come as no surprise that is what they are up to. Biden needs to turn back a use Trump's words and deeds, not just once as he did today, but again, and again, and again.  Biden called out Trump for rooting for violence, not less, and pouring gasoline on the flames.  It is a powerful retort as Trump plays on the theme of fear. So what is he going to do in the next four years? More of the same to continue to fan those flames of violence to keep power, to scare people, to pit violence against violence, and it will not be peaceful.  There is documented evidence that Trump's words did cause violence.  https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/blame-abc-news-finds-17-cases-invoking-trump/story?id=58912889 It will be four more years of violence, racial conflict, and a fearful nation hating itself and others in it.  Is this what we want?  Biden has another vision...and he laid what he would do in his interview this morning...to bring peace and not more violence and more conflict...the solution of a real leader, not of a flame thrower who would make the next four years even worse.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/biden-says-trump-rooting-more-violence-not-less-n1238496?fbclid=IwAR0h36PKFrx-eJKwMiKcIobePG_Q0m6a7tQC1zj6-6kbvrAp_d0qAQecMRw

Updated August 27, 2020

Biden: Trump pours gasoline on the fire. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/biden-says-trump-rooting-more-violence-not-less-n1238496?fbclid=IwAR0h36PKFrx-eJKwMiKcIobePG_Q0m6a7tQC1zj6-6kbvrAp_d0qAQecMRw

June 2-October 9, 2020 updates  
This posting is under constant revision and editing

This also serves as a running commentary as new developments occur.  It is also laced with many sources that influenced my comments..   Feel free to use this as a resource.  

July 22, 2020

Trump is now the provocateur in chief, creating violence so he can tell in followers he can cure violence. It provides great photo ops and stories on FOX as he tries to scare those wavering support of him that he is the law and order president to save them from the violence he has provoked.  Law and order .means to him he creates the disorder and violates the law to save people from the disorder he created. Hitler sent his brown shirts out to foment street demonstrations and burned down the Reichstag so he could claim he could bring order to Germany. The strategy worked.

The president defended the use of federal agents in Portland, Ore., where they have engaged in nightly clashes with racial justice protesters.

WASHINGTONPOST.COM

Trump threatens to deploy federal agents to Chicago and other U.S. cities led by Democrats

The president defended the use of federal agents in Portland, Ore., where they have engaged in nightly clashes with racial justice protesters.

 From the Associated Press: Navy vet beaten: "They came out to fight"
https://apnews.com/4c521336d47c25d76d18000a3ea04511

July, 21, 2020

https://adage.com/article/media/germanys-leading-newsweekly-decries-trumps-incendiary-approach/2261056

This is how the most influential publication in Europe, Der Spiegel, views Trump: He is a "firedevil" , a fire starter, lighting a match to America, fomenting violence, and discord, like the dictators he admires, Putin and China. Germany, worries about the future of American democracy. Germans, if anyone, know where going down that dictator path leads...they have been there done that nearly 90 years ago.

The protesters are not blameless, either. Some have fallen into the trap of being violent themselves, and killing their own message. I am supportive of the Black Lives Matter protests of police brutality. However, my support is serious so long as the MLK peaceful protest techniques are used. Those who turn it into violent confrontation do nothing but hurt their cause to stop police brutality toward minorities. This kind of action should be stopped by their leaders. All it does is provide an excuse for Trump to send in his "federal agents" to pour more gasoline on the fire and to stoke the passions of his core supporters.

Officials say videos released Monday show a group of demonstrators bringing projectiles and preparing to confront police during a protest at the statue of Ch...

YOUTUBE.COM

Chicago police release video footage of protests at Columbus statue

Officials say videos released Monday show a group of demonstrators bringing projectiles and preparing to confront police during a protest at the statue of Ch...

June 2, 2020  America has a president who has fanned the violence of the flames over domestic tranquility. He has seized on the opportunity of the riots to proclaim himself as the champion of law and order, as he himself does not respect the law, and his form of order is the oppression of one racial group that only begets more violence and strife for years to come.  Is this what our democracy has come to?  Is this going to be our country torn apart for years to come in racial strife and race wars with cities occupied by the active military to suppress any opposition he views to be an insurrection?. This instability and turmoil is the future Donald Trump is offering us if he is re-elected.  The contrast with Joe Biden's vision could not be starker. He presented it in an address on June 2. Biden offers the antidote to Trump's poisonous vision of violence,  oppression, hate, and fear.

July 18, 2020 and an edited  version of this is also a blog column(also posted separately  July 18 as Portland, Oregon incident defines Trump meaning of "law and order" that should scare believers in democracy.
Per media reports July 17, battle gear bedecked, military-style federal agents, Trump ordered are "reportedly pulling protestors into unmarked vehicles" and firing rubber bullets into crowds of protestors. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2020/07/17/trump-ordered-federal-agents-are-reportedly-pulling-protesters-into-unmarked-vehicles-drawing-outrage/
In this case in Portland, Oregon, Trump sent in the same kinds of forces that he used to clear Lafayette Park of peaceful demonstrators. There too, in face of generals refusing to allow the active military to clear the streets, he tried an end-run around them using unmarked military types trained and pulled from various federal agencies picked to do his bidding. In this Portland incident, he used his authority under the guise of "protecting federal property".  Since these troops were positioned away from federal property, as well, it appeared they were there to intimidate and scare away the protestors. A young man armed with a boom box held high was shot in the head, and cracking his skull, was their rubber bullet victim...who was nowhere near federal property...nor was he a threat. Of course, it was all caught on cell phone video.  Nearly every civil rights and a couple of laws you could name, or the same restraints courts had ordered local police to observe,  were violated by these military-style and trained Federales (a term applied to federal police used by tin-pot Latin American dictators to quell the masses), but the best term more applicable came from the mouth of Sen. Wyden: "storm troopers".   That one has roots in Hitler's rise to power and similar techniques he used to consolidate his power.  Kidnapping, holding without charges and manhandling have been used in recent times by Putin in Russia and China., particularly in Hong Kong. Using unmarked thugs and secret police are common techniques used to subdue opposition by historical and modern dictatorships.  What was peculiar about this incident in Portland, the intimidating actions by stormtroopers, was that it was apparently staged for the benefit of FOX and covered only by Trump's loyal media.at first,..but several days later, July 17, the outrage of the Oregon governor and the Portland Mayor and the emergence of a video of weapons firing seriously injuring someone and military types throwing demonstrators into unmarked cars brought it to mainstream media.  Both had worked hard to keep the demonstrations peaceful and their concern was that such action would only bring more hardcore protestors to the scene, ready themselves to do violent battle with the stormtroopers. The incident is still playing out since the request of local officials to leave the Portland streets have been ignored.

The purpose was political, it appears since the incident coverage was engineered on Trump media.  This is an indication that the purpose was political..to keep the favor of the cult-like followers of Trump, to whom the concept of democracy and civil rights seems to be considered a barrier to Trump's power rather than as some ideal worthy to protect. Trump was faced with polling showing his approval ratings had dropped to the high 30%  due to his inept handling of the pandemic and the George Floyd protests. Raising the issue of "law and order" was certainly a diversion of attention from his tanking poll numbers. This kind of military action certainly appeals to the core of the only group of followers who still had the majority of their demographics favoring him: white men with no college education, per recent polling, and followers of the ideology of some of Trump's ardent advisors: dominate the streets with military and suppress demonstrators, peaceful or not.   It was meant to send a message that Trump's law and Trump's techniques to force order would rule,  but the message it sent to the majority of voters who are now not supportive of him was democracy has no place in Trumpland nor was any respect for civil rights or the rule of law. It was what we could expect in a Trump second term.

An ad run by a Trump PAC has also accused Biden of wanting to defund police. It was as close to a lie as any ad could be. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-federal-aid-police-epartments-defunding/
"No, I don't support defunding the police," Biden told O'Donnell. "I support conditioning federal aid to police, based on whether or not they meet certain basic standards of decency and honorableness. And, in fact, are able to demonstrate they can protect the community and everybody in the community."


Trumpism is our own brand of American fascism.:
Fascism is a form of governance, of authoritarianism, based on hyper-nationalism, totalitarian control of justice and domination of power over civilian life, the crushing of dissidents and press freedom, the end of any checks on executive power, ending the rule of law. while keeping and using private sector economic powers. All of those elements are what Trump has to some extent aspired to do in his statements.

He praises racist militias as good people, and neo-Nazis as fine people, and attacks even peaceful demonstrators, and called for active military domination on the streets.,He attempts to suppress the free press, caters to the 1% on economic matters, and stacks the justice system and judges with loyalists, while claiming he is above the law.

Trump's usual response to being called a divisive racist or anything negative is to tag the accusers with the same brand. On July 4,he called "Black Lives Matter" a symbol of hate, totally ignoring the issue of police brutality in the murder of George Floyd and others like him. That is what spawned the protests.. When some call him a fascist, he tries to tag the violent demonstrators as "left-wing fascists" with no idea what a fascist is because what he promotes as the kind of government he wants is eerily similar to the ones who rose to power in the 1930s. Fascists arose from the extreme right using violence and manipulating democracies, yet teaming up with monied and industrial interests. Trump was the one who wanted active military "to dominate the streets".   Street violence is an expression of a revolt against injustice.committed by the oppressed of any ideology and should not be condoned and is not protected by the Consitution that does protect peaceful protests.

 Trump's militarization of DC was meant to be an example of how he wants to treat the 50 states and our civilian population.. This is his vision for America and his example of how he plans to govern if he is elected for a second term. This is how democracy and first amendment rights are trashed and discarded. Americans have a choice of the kind of a country we want to live in and we can vote our choice in November. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/06/05/89-former-defense-officials-military-must-never-be-used-violate-constitutional-rights/?fbclid=IwAR2AS7HM5YZ26ckmSfGJ-LhFWlTLq7IowLWt_L6wBgWeahQSNchkK8qNFf4
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwKrRnh6Ovc&fbclid=IwAR25Ucmsik9WMv9YWuIpDIcS5ly_lx3BLAUIheDoJzQI8dI9SMqBCdghzwY

https://www.wsj.com/articles/americans-are-more-troubled-by-police-actions-in-killing-of-george-floyd-than-by-violence-at-protests-poll-finds-11591534801
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/05/us/politics/polling-george-floyd-protests-racism.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG-zrxDFaLA
June 1 Trump called the George Floyd riots an insurrection so he can call in the active military to "dominate" cities and states like a tinpot dictator of a third world country, a threat that ignores constitutional provisions forbidding such action without requiring an invitation from a state's governor.   He dotes on violence to contain violence if the violence is committed by Black people but white militias are invited to do their thing. and he winks as he says he is protecting their second amendment rights.  He waves a bible as he sends the message that he is with the white evangelists and he did it in front of a historic church with its basement damaged by the rioters.  He did not visit the church to pray for peace or to urge calm. He used it to threaten more violence. He gathered the ire of faith leaders of both his use of the Episcopal Church and laying a wreath at "a Catholic church statue oft Saint John Paul. II  .  https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/religious-leaders-lawmakers-outraged-over-trump-church-visit-n1221876

This is from a year old article, about Trump's own FBI director testifying that most domestic terrorism is perpetrated by rightwing extremists. It is difficult for Trumpers to rewrite history without telling lies. The only identified affiliated arrests in the wake of George Floyd protests for violence were of members of a right-wing group with the purpose of starting a civil war, the Boogaloo Boys. No one with an affiliation with Antifa, Trump's reason for advocating military suppression and domination and law and order pr (that violate the constitution) demagoguery is to scare people into voting for him. Members of the Boogaloo boys were charged with killing a federal officer during Floyd protests. Boogaloo Boys say they are preparing for the next civil war. Update: June 4-17 Three boogaloo boys were arrested for inciting violence: https://www.businessinsider.com/3-boogaloo-men-terror-charges-george-floyd-protest-riot-conspiracy-2020-6    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/all/three-men-connected-boogaloo-movement-tried-provoke-violence-protests-feds-n1224231?fbclid=IwAR1pP-VXPWUic_srGifEojnJi9Crx7vXIWRcrlY6Hjs7qtS3c81qPq0a_sMhttps://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/boogaloo-boys-prepare-for-next-american-civil-war-in-hawaiian-shirts-wsmdmmclm

Boogaloo Boys on their web site consider Granby, Colorado's Marvin Heemyer's bulldozer rampage he termed himself as being unreasonable as their hero.https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2020/06/12/i-became-unreasonable-bloody-message-scrawled-on-car-at-ben-lomond-ambush/ .   https://www.skyhinews.com/news/meme-inspired-by-heemeyer-becomes-extremist-rallying-cry/

https://www.newsweek.com/domestic-terrorism-white-supremacy-violence-fbi-director-1450748?fbclid=IwAR1XVVbrHzDSZ6rPC78H8IODRWQgUnhkwCZgv0rFgG2fyHu-CyJmGvXuUik

https://www.csis.org/analysis/escalating-terrorism-problem-united-states

https://www.yahoo.com/news/41-cities-many-sources-false-121419070.html How false reports of Antifa spread. There is no evidence of Antifa activities in the George Floyd protests.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/airman-charged-killing-federal-officer-during-george-floyd-protests-california-n1231187

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/06/22/who-caused-violence-protests-its-not-antifa/?utm_campaign=wp_the_5_minute_fix&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_fix
 I have no sympathy for looters and vandals. They have lost their protection of First Amendment rights of the peaceful assembly when they became violent, and they should be treated as criminals,  but to clear Trump's way for his church photo op, peaceful protestors in compliance with their First Amendment rights were cleared from the park in front of the church using v flashbangs, tear gas, and mounted police were despicable   They then had the gall to lie about using chemicals, cutely and deceptively not calling what they did as tear gas, and later admitting it was pepper spray.  It was not used by the police but by the Secret Service, Trump's bodyguards...which also gives a lie that the peaceful protestors clean out had nothing to do with the intent for  Trump to do a  photo op.  https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/secret-service-now-says-it-did-use-pepper-spray-clear-n1231022?fbclid=IwAR196erjZQObIxsw8eeOUbDYfE5dpquoTF4NXd6STJB4K5mUSAteT13vya4

 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-says-military-ready-willing-able-ready-deploy-minneapolis-amid-n1219656     Like hell they were. That photo op incident resulted in former military leaders and even Trump's Secretary of Defense coming out publicly to revolt with words. Per Gen. Mattis, who had served in Trump's White House...that the military was sworn to defend the Constitution and were not sworn to protect the president's political actions and that he was a danger to the Constitution as he exceeded his authority.  The final blow to Trump's misuse of the military came from Gen. Mark  Milley,  Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and a Trump appointee, when he apologized for wearing battle fatigues and walking across Pennsylvania Avenue to the church as part of the entourage for Trump's photo op after violently disbursing a peacefully demonstrating protest with pepper spray, and swinging batons, and mounted police. https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/11/politics/milley-trump-appearance-mistake/index.html
The opening phrase of the Constitution lists the reason for its establishment... the military, to provide for the common defense and justice. to provide for domestic tranquility.  Use of the military to oppress and dominate its people, as Trump tried to assert,  can nowhere be found. However, in the  Posse Comitatus Act of 1878  defined and limited the role of the active-duty military. It was not to be used to carry out civil law. That the use of the active military in a state needs the approval of that state.  Per the Congressional  Research Service, "The Constitution permits Congress to authorize the use of the militia “to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions.” And it guarantees the protection of the state against invasion or usurpation of their “republican form of government,” and, upon the request of the state legislature, against “domestic violence.” These constitutional provisions are reflected in the Insurrection Acts, which have been invoked numerous" times both before and after the passage of the Posse Comitatus Act, 18 U.S.C. Section 1385, in 1878. Congress has also enacted a number"  of other laws      https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R42659.pdf
Trump declared the George Floyd demonstrations to be an insurrection.  Calling it does not make it one, particularly since the violence greatly diminished within a day or two of the demonstrations.  Trump asserted the District of Columbia was not a state, but a federal district (true) so he could use active military to "dominate "the "insurrection" without having to ask permission.  He did not count on the revolt of the military within his own administration, who found themselves misused to promote his political interests.  They were not "his generals", as he liked to call them. They were sworn to protect the Constitution, not has contrived photo op in from of the church or use the active military support his political interests.

The immediate resolution to the violence will take two parties acting: the legitimate, peaceful demonstrators purging their ranks of the looters and vandals and a government who understands that
the complaints about police brutality have legitimacy and who attempts to govern and legislate accordingly to solve problems.  The second party's actions will not happen if Trump gets a second term.

Trump's inflammatory tweets have urged deadly violence to fight violence. " When the looting starts, the shooting starts.", he exhorted, drawing on a 1967' statements by a racist Miami mayor, and advocating shooting the "thugs".  https://www.npr.org/2020/05/29/864818368/the-history-behind-when-the-looting-starts-the-shooting-starts  He even called for an insurrection by militants against Michigan and two other states not opening up quickly enough for business. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/04/17/liberate-michigan-trump-constitution/ ,
The outrage is that Trump and Trump's loyal attorney general Bill Barr says that only the leftist anarchists were involved as the instigator of violence in the protests, providing no evidence.https://www.businessinsider.com/fbi-no-intelligence-antifa-weekend-violence-george-floyd-protests-2020-6
In fact, right wing militants pose as Antifa to advocate violence while Trump seeks to designate Antifa as a terrorist organization. The FBI found no evidence of Antifa involvement in the violence.VXPWUic_srGifEojnJi9Crx7vXIWRcrlY6Hjs7qtS3c81qPq0a_sM https://www.click2houston.com/news/national/2020/06/02/white-supremacists-pose-as-antifa-online-call-for-violence/. It is the Trump racist play book, his ticket to a win in November. Fear works for him. Violence works for him.We do not know yet the identity of all of the perps of flame, looting and violence. However, there is evidence that right-wing militias and extremists groups like the Boogaloo Boys were also involved, wearing their identifying Hawaiian shirts. and other insignia. Boogaloo Boys say they are preparing for the next civil war. Boogaloo Boy members were charged with killing a federal agent and wounding another in an ambush during the Floyd demonstrations, as mentioned above.
Also seen were armed men. in pickup trucks bearing extremist militia insignia of the Three Percenters. . Barr also controls the FBI but we can also depend on other sources to confirm who was doing the infiltrating. Barr and Trump were contradicted by officials and witnesses on the ground. 20% arrested for arson, vandalism, violence were from out of state. and there were reports of people unknown to the local demonstrators. " Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington confirmed evidence of white supremacist groups trying to incite violence ;Many posted messages online that encouraged people to go loot in Minneapolis and cause mayhem". https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/05/30/outsiders-extremists-are-among-those-fomenting-violence-in-twin-cities
The incriminating evidence of intent was their own social media summoning their fellow travelers to come and be violent.

Reality is that most domestic terrorism is committed by the right. Even in the past two months, terrorism charges have been levied against a militia connected person threatening the life of the Michigan governor and in the George Floyd protests, 3 Boogaloo boys were the only ones charged with terrorism. There was no evidence that Antifa groups or persons were the perps of violence, per the FBI.

Searching for the best data, this was in Wikipedia: According to the Government Accountability Office of the United States, 73% of violent extremist incidents that resulted in deaths since September 12, 2001 were caused by right-wing extremist groups.[83][84] A 2019 report found that 50 people in the United States were killed in murders by domestic extremists (including both ideologically and non-ideologically motivated homicides) during the previous year. Of these killings, 78% were perpetrated by white supremacists, 16% by anti-government extremists, 4% by "incel" extremists, and 2% by domestic Islamist extremists.[85] Over the broader 2009 to 2018 time period, there were a total of 313 people in the United States killed by right-wing extremists (including both ideologically and non-ideologically motivated homicides), of which 76% were committed by white supremacists, 19% by anti-government extremists (including those affiliated with the militia, "sovereign citizen," tax protester, and "Patriot" movements), 3% by "incel" extremists, 1% by anti-abortion extremists, and 1% by other right-wing extremists.[85]

Whether it is anarchists on the left or right, wherever they come from, they are enemies of democracy and civil society and they are not protected by the Constitution since they use criminal methods of violence, arson and vandalism. They are eager to destroy justice and civil society so they can realize their awful objectives. They are not for reforming police or justice systems.. They want to destroy both so their respective ilk can take over. and oppress others.. Some advocate starting a race war to upend democratic institutions so they can take charge.
. 
Trump has failed to uphold the basic purposes of the Constitution. Instead of seeking justice, and promoting domestic tranquility,  this President throws gasoline on the flames of angered voiceless.  Instead of supporting justice and the rule of law fairly and equally applied to all, he praises those who advocate,  and are demonstrating with threatening weapons.. .. He is one who just called armed militias invading a state capitol "good people", and marchers who have practiced violence and lynching as their preferred method of justice, neo-Nazis, some 'fine people". This tweet and so many of his others are a  degradation of the purpose of our Constitution, justice, and support of domestic tranquility,   He then set about dismantling all of the reforms on policing that Obama set in place.. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-says-obama-didn-t-reform-policing-he-did-then-n1231200
Parts of Minneapolis were in flames because the rioters did not see justice being done. . They saw Trump  even advocating treating suspects cruelly, lhttps://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-police-nice-suspects/story?id=48914504 , asking police officers in 2017,  "please do not be nice to suspects", and letting them hit their heads entering police vehicles, for example. Trump's implication is "we have your backs".if you are brutal.  The nation and the world is in shock having viewed what looks like a murder being committed by the police before their very TV eyes. Indeed, the next day the officer whose knee was on the victim's neck for 9 minutes (and nearly three minutes after Floyd was unresponsive) was charged with 3rd-degree murder and manslaughter, further angering those who thought the charges should be first-degree murder.  The delay in arresting the officer and three of his cohorts. while  deciding on the charge was infuriating for many. It aggravated those already who did not trust the administrators of justice. It appears prosecutors wanted to make sure the charges they file will stick and convince a jury of the guilty charge. The worst-case scenario would be if the defenders were found not guilty of a charge of first-degree murder which is difficult to win in a jury trial since it requires proof of intent and planning. If a mistake was made, it was the local prosecutor who indicated in a briefing that there was evidence a crime was not committed when the video looked to viewers that murder happened before their very eyes. That was the spark that lit the tinder of the riots.     

The lessons of history which made Martin Luther King  Jr. successful were his use and advocacy of civil disobedience instead of violence.,. King said "riots are socially destructive and self-defeating. ... But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard."  Before he was assassinated, Rev. King commented that riots only helped George Wallace. 1968 saw riots and racial unrest which many think led for white voters to put "Law and Order" on the top of the political agenda, leading to the strong showing of racist George Wallace and the election of Richard Nixon in that November. June 1  Trump  exhorts governors to allow police to use more force. Call in the military Trump demands because this is an insurrection as he calls for more violence. George Wallace would look mild mannered compared to this wannabe dictator of a President.  Violence suits Trump. His heated promotion of violence  aimed at minorities is vintage Trump.  We should not expect anything else.

Peaceful protest marches kicked off the evenings, that last weekend in May into June,  but they deteriorated into violence.  Sympathy for the injustice millions saw committed was dimmed with universal condemnation of the rioters even by their own leaders striving for greater justice.  The rioters were heard, but it was also self-defeating,, tempering the sympathy for Floyd,  as Trump's media was quick to put blame on the demonstrators as  "thugs", arsonists and looting miscreants, burying the demonstrators' protest messages about the lack of justice and equal treatment by police of African-Americans and the wrong done to George Floyd. 


Continuing chaos is a political opportunity for extremist groups to repeat past successful strategies of winning elections by being the law and order candidates, bringing fake peace by oppression. It fueled the rise of fascists in Europe in the 1930s In the US in the 1960s, law, and order was a slogan that was a successful ticket to election wins.. However,it meant law and order for only some We should know by now that the application of the law is what must be equal and just if the government is to maintain domestic tranquility and order. Let us hope this country can keep its democracy together until November and replace this Trump administration with those who want to heal the nation, removing those who stoke racial divisions, chaos and violence and those using it as a political tool.

June 6 comments: protests are now mostly peaceful and increasingly multi racial with increasing participation of white Americans. Still fueling the protests is a realization that Trump and his administration are still talking up the use of US troops to dominate and suppress and they attempted to demonstrate that in DC, not a state and instead a federal entitiy. To do that they used US military police and a strange, unmarked cadre of unknown
persons. It appeared that they may have been prison guards from Texas under the direction of the Deparment of Justice headed by Bill Barr. This is disquieting. There are moments when I am reliving the early 1930's in Germany, when the population was at the cusp of wanting viiolent crackdown on ethnic and communist elements taking advantage of the failed Weimar goverment. A private army sworn to defend Hitler and carry out his commands had its origin and became the SS. https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/hitlers-private-army-was-more-terrifying-you-can-possibly-24818?fbclid=IwAR2tf6pWQyT3wCXydVXl8S7nakR0wU46cid9hWbTLbtsShwdYkK0RTs-yac

   
https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2020/05/30/every-person-arrested-in-saint-paul-last-night-was-from-out-of-state-mayor-says/? and law enforcement fingered right wing groups: "
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-says-military-ready-willing-able-ready-deploy-minneapolis-amid-n1219656 
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/02/politics/law-and-order-donald-trump-protest-riots/index.html

June 25 comments: I am ticked as heck at the comment posted on Facebook today that if you put a racial identity applied to a protester complaining about being discriminated against, you are a racist yourself. That is kin to those who say" all lives matter "as a way to put down "black lives matter." as a slogan. Twisting semantics by redefining the term while ignoring context are committed  by those trying to rationalize their own racist attitudes.
There is a difference between one demographic group putting down another demographic group as inferior in order to rationalize treating them unfairly (that is racism) and being sensitive about a racial issue in order to fix the problem.. Recognition of victimization by one group over another requires naming which group is doing what to whom.
Fortunately, those who try to dismiss racism exist by denying discrimination and unfair treatment of the African American demographic are becoming a minority.