Answering questions that never were asked in the past: what'wrong with high costs, chaos, corruption, cruelty

 

What is wrong with the high cost of living, chaos, corruption, and cruelty? This is the kind of question I never had to ask in my lifetime, or for that matter, found so many who do not care enough about the answers, and out of fear or loyalty remain silent.. The challenge for the political opposition is to remind them of why those things are bad and how they hurt even the ones Trump says he says he loves. 

Let me add one more C to the alliterated attack list: Constitutional crisis:   The fruits of his power grab are high living costs, chaos, corruption, and cruelty. Trump has distorted, exceeded,  worked around,and abused the use of the powers granted him in the Constitution whenever he can. The rule of law is mocked to its demise.

 So what is wrong with the high cost of living? It is not fair on those struggling with balancing their peronal budgets now hile he and his cronies are living their gilded life.?

So what is wrong with the chaos?  Planning for survival on one day, whether you are in business or struggling with your budget, or worried about personal or national safety, may be obsolete the next. Trust in the leader's judgment or motivation, or trust in his good word, is gone. 

 So what's wrong with corruption?  Aside from the morality question, the problem with corruption is that what motivates the great leader's decisions may benefit him and the wealth and power of his family, but may harm those he governs who are not among the beneficiaries of his public policies.  

So what is wrong with cruelty, and is the use and threat of it quite OK? The fear of its use keeps the disloyal in line and deters others from doing what is not in their own interests. Using the DOJ to launch investigations on political enemies is a cruel misuse of power and true treatment of migrants in hopes all of one race will self-deport, whether or not they otherwise had any civil rights.

So what about a Constitutional crisis? Trump has been able to strike fear and demand loyalty to him by ignoring the rule of law and the Constitutional constraints because of a cowed Congress, a staff and cabinet of yes men, and his core MAGA base. The only constraints so far are a slow-acting judiciary and some justices who comply with his anti-democracy instincts. He thinks he can ignore the poll because 1) he has gotten away with acting like a dictator and thinking he is one, 2) the ability to use force, ICE, and seizure of voting rolls and election machinery to avoid an election loss at the November midterms and beyond.   For that reason, a a 60% disapproval of his policies is of no concern.  In any case, to him, this democracy is of, by , and for Trump and those who keep him in power. If you commit a crime on his behalf, he'll just pardon you.

 https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/04/messaging-again-democrats-may-be-onto.html

Two recent setbacks to Trump's foreign policy mean America's weaker and not so great again

Two recent setbacks to Trump's foreign policy mean America's weaker, and not so great again.

The two setbacks: Trump loses control and patience with Europe over Iran; Orban's loss in Hungary frees up billions for Europe to give to Ukraine's self-defense from Trump's pal, Putin's's, aggression.

Both signal the real meaning of Trump's hostility to Europe and NATO? As he complains, Europe does not jump to his tune anymore, he has failed to realize that the real result of his actions, insults, and refusal to honor the essence of NATO...mutual defense, he has lost control and influence over their policies.. Not only is America First now America alone, but it is also "America Too Weak" to influence its own destiny. Trump went after NATO again April 17: https://weartv.com/news/nation-world/trump-slams-nato-they-were-absolutely-useless-with-strait-of-hormuz-support-iran-war-conflict-attacks-united-states-military-troops

The Wall Street Journal reports Europe is planning to use the NATO military structure for its own defense if the US pulls out.  https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/europe-nato-trump-plans-3a423233

With Orban's huge defeat in Hungary, billions of European funds will be unblocked for Ukraine's defense.  The unifying chant by the citizens who engineered his ouster:"  Russia out".     It was like Minneapolis shouting ICE out.  Recently, chats between Orban and Russia's foreign minister revealed how closely Orban and Russia were in cahoots.        Viktor Orbán had been blocking a $105 billion of  EU loan package for Ukraine.  No doubt Putin will try to strangle Hungary's access to Russian energy, but the fear of that did not deter the citizens' revolt that ousted Orban. Europe's task is now to offset that loss of Russian oil and gas despite the pipeline configuration that favored Russia.

Messaging again: Democrats may be onto something: "costs, chaos curruptiion"

 I am not sure who to attribute it to, but  I think it is Roy Cooper, former NC governor, running to the Senate, who used a slogan  I think is potentially as powerful as what Mamdani coined, "affordability," to become the Mayor of New York. It is "cost, chaos, corruption". All of those three words relate to issues that are bothering the other 60%, not in MAGA's 40% camp, and maybe even a few of them, as well.  Each one of those words is a catchy heading for sub-issues, rich fodder for campaign speech writers. Those three words permit Democrats to do what they so often fail to do: find slogans that stick to even the most casual person interested in voting, or even staying home. 

"Costs" is like "affordability," and right now, it is low-hanging fruit from health care costs, groceries, gas, and utilities, and inflation. Some of those will persist into November, no matter how the Iran conflict turns out. Trump is placing priorities into his blunders over Iran, advocating Medicare to be stuck to the states because war financing is more important, and the price of gas at the pump, or other challenges to a struggling middle class.  So much could be resolved by reversing the tax breaks to the rich, but those seem sacred to Trump and are never, ever offered as an alternative. If voters want to fund both their treasured federal social safety nets and military adventures, why not start there?  Fiscal conservativism means balancing expenses with the other side of the column, providing offsetting tax income, right? 

Chaos refers to the personality of Trump and his enablers, especially those up for election in Congress.. His egomaniacal personality is the only constant. He seems to mean whatever is good for Trump is good for the nation for the moment. It seems temporary, confusing, and raises fears about an unstable future.. That is not making those who feel vulnerable feel secure about financial planning, immigrant worries, and damage to civil rights, not to mention his foreign wars, Iran, Greenland, and Cuba. TACO Trump is more than just a description; it is a condition of his instability. More and more, he appears to be nutty, jumping from position to position, insensitive to all human and US security's adverse fallouts. Our allies no longer take his word, whatever it is today or yesterday, seriously. Sometimes they see it as dangerous. So much depends on what Trump tweeted overnight. The rule of law used to be a standard that provided some element of stability if everyone respected and abided by it, but Trump blatantly ignores it, leaving it up to what he thought was the loyal judicial bench to back him up months later, counting on them to give him a permission slip. That is a large contributor to his reign of chaos.

"Corruption" is not just about bribery:  It is a matter of favoring the rich with favors and tax policy to keep them in the political fold...domestic or foreign, and it is all in the open: accumulation of wealth and power by Trump and his family and those whose favor he tries to influence.  He has monetized the Oval Office...and the wealth he has accumulated for himself, his families, and cronies is obscene.  His crypto adventures raise suspicions that padding his pockets influences so many of his other public and foreign policies.  Even if there is no proof of direct bribery, it is worthy of outrage on its own merits.

(If Cooper came up with the phrase, there is some irony here since those three words were once used unsuccessfully by the GOP to attack him years ago. There needs to be substance and an already accepted voter approval and polling agreement among supporters to make it work. However, Trump is well underwater in so may of these public policy issues.)

Heads up, pro Democracy forces in November 2026: Gabbard, DHS/ICE/Trump have other plans taking shape now

There are fears that Tulsi Gabbard is laying the groundwork to turn the Trump regime into a mass Tina  Peters, to seize voting machines based on the fantasy that Trump lost the 2020 elections because of fraud that has never been proven by any evidence.  Heads up for November..  This is part of a larger concerted attempt by Trump et all to try to scew with the results in the November midterms. It is a plot to destroy the integrity of the election by a variety of means.  The pattern is clear; the intent is now obvious.

 2026. https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/04/tina-peterswill-get-shot-at-reducing.html

https://www.ms.now/news/gabbard-revives-deep-state-conspiracy-claims-alarming-democrats-who-see-a-pattern: 

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/06/gabbard-trump-election-midterms-voting-integrity-00769768

This is in addition to the Trump regime's efforts to ban mail-in ballots and get a nationwide voter lists with important information that would help target voter suppression efforts... which Colorado leaders are also taking action against. https://www.denver7.com/news/local-news/colorado-attorney-general-phil-weiser-to-sue-over-trumps-executive-order-restricting-mail-in-voting

Nationwide: in addition to Gabbard's threats, another arm of Homeland Security has plans still not totally denied to place ICE armed and masked thugs at polling places to cut down on brown people voting against them.   This is more than an attempt to use the pretext of the 2020 election steal due to unproven fraud, but it is an effort to frighten away even brown citizens with proof of citizenship from voting. Now, wondervoting by mail is being opposed by Trump because if voters can avoid voting in person for fear of racial profiling and implied harassment, they can still vote by mail.  As one commenter to my recent blog posting wrote so very simply and so very clearly:"Because it;s America.  I'm a citizen and it's wrong to be intimidated by armed people as  I vote, also non-whites are going to get harassed ".

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/03/save-us-from-save-act.html