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

Exposing corruption is not enough; voters need to understand how corruption affects their lives

This is a messaging challenge for those hoping to change the Trump regime in November 2026 and 2028.  Exposing corruption is not enough; voters need to understand how corruption affects their lives. The demise of Viktor Orban was brought about because voters understood that his corruption had made them the poorest country in the European Union.  So many in the US complain about the price of gas at the pump, and they see the connection with world-set oil prices and the impact on supply, and I understand this is about a war Trump started with Iran.  Some excuse Trump for getting rich while president because he is such a great businessman they so admire, but they are beginning to understand how his corrupt practices drive up grocery and agricultural prices and inflation.  To fund it, Trump proposes cuts to feed the hungry programs and making health care unaffordable for even more voters.  The Iran war is an easy connection to make to rising prices, but what does corruption have to do with it?  

 PBS and AP, in a lengthy analysis, show how the Trump family's cryptocurrency ventures are connected and how the prospect of war and foreign policy initiatives shape investment decisions. and the pockets of Trump and his family.  That's the problem: it is lengthy and requires a grasp of such new instruments of wealth like cryptocurrency and gifts from airplanes to the advantage of  managing sovereign Saudi funds

.The Trump family's current wealth has much to do with their self-interested conduct of foreign affairs, but the challenge is getting this into a form that lay people can understand and make the link to their own well-being.  Bribery is not always obvious when there is a quid pro quo.  The quid may be separated by months from the quo...or involve what seem to be unrelated business transactions that just happen to result in stuffing the pockets of schemers at both ends of a corrupt deal.   This is worth a serious read: 

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/how-the-trump-familys-business-deals-could-open-the-door-for-future-presidents-to-profit-from-office?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

 

Orban's defeat is a win for US pro Democracy movements

There are lessons to be learned, but Orban's defeat is a boost to pro-democracy movements and inspires efforts underway in the US to restore the kind of democracy we once had.

After  16 years, the people of Hungary had had enough of autocracy.  It took 16 years for the grassroots to get around Viktor Orban's total control of the media and a pro-Russian foreign policy.   What does this mean for America's resistance to a political party and MAGA's attempt to establish a unitary form of government to replace the Constitutional constraints against an all-powerful executive branch chief? 

There are some lessons to learn from Hungary's experience.  So enamored has MAGA been of the "strong leader"  unitary model for political domination that the powerful Conservative Political Action PAC (CPAC) has held meetings in Hungary, and Orban has been a featured speaker at their conventions. Much of the thrust of an Orban-type autocracy was also part of the plan to de facto turn the US into their one-party rule by a concerted effort to replace the federal government's rank and file with loyalists to Trump,  white Christian ideologues, and wealthy cronies..They succeeded without rewriting the Constitution by putting the authors and advocates of Project  2025 in charge of personnel and appointments and in the White House staff itself with the election of Trump in 2024 to a second term..  

The Achilles heel of autocracies is corruption. Rule by one person or a small group enables corruption because it removes checks on the avarice, greed, and pocket-stuffing of the rich and fawning supporters and cronies.  Such political and governmental power in one hand enables a leader to neglect the financial well-being of even those they purport to support. It is felt by the masses when the autocrat has priorities other than those he governs, from concerns about the cost of living to the negative impact on their own lives of foreign military adventurism, or being aligned with another similar autocracy, like Putin's. Hungary's standard of living, once comfortable, had declined under Orban, making it one of the poorest countries in Europe.   Overt and unchecked corruption had become the signature of the Orban regime. https://www.princetonpoliticalreview.org/international-news/viktor-orbns-hungary-corruption-repression-amp-democratic-backsliding.  This may also sound familiar to observers of Trump 1 and II.

 It is emerging as an awareness in the US of it happening here, to some extent. But there is also a growing realization that autocrats think they can get away with ignoring promises to make life more affordable, as their leaders feather their own nests with wealth and power. This awareness is reflected in plunging approval ratings for Trump and his unpopular public policies.  

The link of who controls the power, the people or an autocrat who is self-promoting and self-indulging, is this: Autocracy enables the needs of the rank and file citizens to be ignored. Trump is acting like one who assumes he has already seized the reins of the federal government and he can get away with anything, including enriching himself and his family members while using his power to punish and suppress any opposition.  

The good news coming from Hungary for those who want to restore the power. of Congress and bolster the judiciary to check the corrupt and vengeful can inspire the grassroots and populace to rise up without violence and restore the democratic antidote. Hungary just did it. It just takes a long time for it to happen; 16 years in Hungary.(In America, the time frame has been more like a year or two for CPAC and Project 2025 to establish an Orban-type rule.) For Hungarians,  it took a grassroots, door-to-door effort by a nation that once was  prosperous and had seen its standard of living decline as the corruption of the rulers became more evident despite media control. 

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/02/russell-vought-and-trump-pulling.htmlcontrol.  It was a merging of an Individual NO KINGS-type movement and the organization of citizens through word of mouth and door-to-door. 

We have a template for similar revolts in the US. It was Minneapolis and a citizens' revolt against ICE. The citizens were inspired to act as they did because it was not just an argument over legal theory but a revolt against the methods ICE used that trampled on the human and civil rights of all immigrants. and thenselves.  It was a matter of moral outrage and the unfairness of the treatment of all residents, regardless of race, religion, or immigration status. Its citizens had had enough of the fascist type paramilitary actions of ICE and organized in many ways, using many techniques to be successful.

 What is also evident with Orban's defeat is that it is easier to nip a wannabe autocracy in the bud before it seizes more control of the reins of government, because once in control, it is much harder to effect regime change. It takes time and mass realizations by citizens that they have been played.

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2025/12/list-or-particulars-how-trump-has.html.  How Trump has accumulated dictatorial powers in 11 months

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/02/russell-vought-and-trump-   How Project 2025 now runs the executive branch

Exploring CPAC's love affair with Viktor Orban https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2025/09/the-orban-playbook-and-if-it-would-work.html

   

A historical classic conflict: morality of the pope vs immorality of Trump: update 4/15/26

JD Vance, newly minted Catholic, spoke to a youth group this weekend and basically told the Pope to sit down, shut up, stay in his lane, and just preach the gospels. Perhaps we can forgive Trump for being immoral and only transactional without any moral compass, because there is evidence he has a hard time comprehending the written word, so he probably never read the 
Bible and he does not grasp the meaning of Christianity.  He just demonstrated that with the blasphemous posing of a picture of him dressed like Jesus, laying hands on a sick person. Trump has no clue.  But Vance? https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/14/jd-vance-defends-trump-pope-leo-spat

We need more morality in governance, not less.

Here is the problem: the last guy to try that was Hitler, who made the deal with the Pope.  Stay in your lane, too, and you will just be fine.  Some clerics had other thoughts. Thousands of priests and protestant clerics met death in Dachau. Since World War II and the Atomic bomb, and the Nuremberg trialsg trials, there has been an attempt to bring minimal morality into political and military practices through the Geneva Conventions and the establishment of international tribunals in order to try and imprison those found guilty of war crimes as defined by international law.

That, too, has been trashed by Pete Hegseth (also a professed Christian), who finds rules of engagement "stupid" and igniting conflict within the military over whether they should obey an illegal order.  Note: those orders considered illegal were directly the result of the fallout of Hitler/World War II, and the Nuremberg Laws. Those subalterns to Hitler who tried to claim they were just following orders were either hanged or imprisoned as a way to teach the civilized world that such actions were no longer acceptable.

 This world desperately needs more morality as a standard in practice, even in politics and governance, not less. Many in the grassroots are opposing Trump's policies,, motivated by moral outrage, over whether it is starting a war or ICE snatching people and throwing them into prisons with no opportunity to make their case in court. Morality has come into conflict with abuse of legal intent of  laws in the Trump era. Contrary to the Constitution and any sense of morality, the detainees are being kept in gulag warehouses where inhumane treatment will cause the detainee to self-deport, whether they had a right to stay in the US or not. Cruelty is not a Christian value, nor is the mass slaughter of civilians in war. It is also considered a war crime even to threaten it in order to force capitulation.

Continuing with the original post

The Pope openly rebuked Trump, and called off trips to the US as the battle between morality vs immorality comes out in the open.  , prompted by Trump's threats to wipe out a whole civilization to get the Gulf of Horuz open, Trump got closed. Pope Leo vows now not to visit the US while Trump is president per reports early 4/9/2026, https://www.thenational.scot/news/26006429.pope-leo-refuses-go-us-donald-trump-president/   Also, a factor, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth threatened the Pope; https://newrepublic.com/post/208820/pentagon-threatened-pope-criticized-donald-trump. Trump did TACO, a "cease fire," and negotiations have begun, but demands on both sides are so far apart, the prospect of this is iffy.  It is an off-ramp for Trump's blunders, causing strategic failures and blowbacks, even if the military executed target orders brilliantly.

 This is only part of the Pope's condemnation of Trump's policies. The dispute had already become public over Trump's inhumane treatment of migrants in  Milwaukee. https://www.milwaukeeindependent.com/explainers/faith-action-milwaukee-churches-confront-human-toll-immigration-policy/

https://www.dbu.edu/mitchell/medieval-resources/medpapalimperialconflict.html

The same moral outrage is appearing in protestant Texas over the treatment of immigrants in the rise of Talarico.  https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/03/james-talaricos-victory-in-texas.html   Talarico is a Presbyterian theologian student.

https://baptistnews.com/article/its-pete-hegseths-theology-that-ought-to-concern-us

Post World War II attempts to codify what constitutes acceptable behavior by warring factions also reflect a level of morality generally supported by international law.  It is expressed in what is considered as a war crime, worthy of criminal prosecution in international tribunals, and was the outgrowth of the Nuremberg trials that sent a large number of Nazi leadership to the gallows or to prison. Trump may have backed off his threat of genocide and wiping out a whole civilization in Iran because someone whispered in his ear that what he threatened was a war crime in itself, but for sure if he carried it off with a bombing campaign  Trump may think he can commit war crimes in the US and get away with it because the Supreme Court granted him immunity, but the Hague can still bring him to justice and trial if a warrant for his arrest is issued.  FYI: the rest of the Trump administration, from cabinet members to military brass, are not protected from criminal prosecution in the US and in the Hague.  Particularly at risk is Secretary of "War", Pete Hegseth, who calls the Geneva Conventions and other laws and military rules of engagement that keep military actions that protect innocent civilians as "stupid". https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/03/02/us-defense-secretarys-media-remarks-on-rules-of-engagement# 

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/04/trump-advocating-war-crime-t-when-hague.html

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/03/iran-hegseths-holy-war.html

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/02/moral-indignation-rises-as-major.html

Hegseth is not the only cabinet member or major policy shaper in the White House. In fact, Trump has handed much power to White Christian Nationalists who see the future of America in racial terms and draw on their religion to justify their intent. The gospels are dominated by taking care of the least of these and how to treat "strangers", completely contradicting the intent of Jesus as he is reported to speak .https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/02/white-christian-nationalism-has-taken.html

Update 4/1//2026:  Why is Trump so immoral? 

Trump has a personality problem. Why does Trump keep making bad judgment calls like the Iran war and adding costs of daily living to so many in America, while enriching the already rich with taxes and public policy favors? I keep searching for answers. Here is what I conclude. It is based on observations of what he does as much as what he says with bluff, puffery, and lies. It is more than just Trump being Trump. He has his standards, and doing moral things is not his goal or his own measure of success. Being "transactional" means making deals that benefit himself. It is not what is moral or good for even his supporters. It's not what is legal or Constitutional. Trump has always been that way, but now it seems in his second term, his personality quirks are on steroids. Trump is consumed wth amassing wealth and power for himself in the short time he has left in office. He is stuffing his pockets with crypto and building monuments to himself, from ballrooms to soaring arches, his name on currency and concert halls, his face frowning down on citizens from public buildings, and throwing his military muscle around. Everything else is secondary as he makes Trump great again after his loss in 2020. That is the problem with having an egomaniac, self-aggrandizing president. Those with bad judgment are his enablers who think that what is good for Trump is good for the rest of America and their very own lives.

And now Trump and Vance support and provide active support to a dictator, described by some as a neo fascist.

This is  an update of a Feb. 18 post:

4/9/26 And then Trump and Vance left no doubt that they not only endorsed Oban, but actively came to his aid as polls show he may lose the election this coming Sunday. Orban now enjoys the support of Putin and Trump...all the "best"people. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/watch-live-vance-speaks-in-hungary-on-trip-to-help-boost-orbans-reelection-bid

Rubio boosts Orbán's bid for another term during Budapest visit | PBS News

Viktor Orban has been described by many sources as a dictator and a neo fascist and has been held up as a darling by US right-wing conservatives (CPAC).

He also favors Putin's foreign policy, particularly as it pertains to Ukraine. Fellow European NATO members find him constantly out of step with their attempts to help Ukraine, and often have to use /workarounds to carve out their support for Ukraine. That Rubio would be endorsing him says much about Trump's love of dictators, a role his words and deeds reveal he aspires to join them, as well. As a Cuban-American, one would think Rubio understands why dictatorships are bad. I do not get him other than he has hitched his political ambitions wagon to Trump..

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: The Orban playbook and if it would work here

In her 2018 book Fascism: A Warning, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright identified Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as a leader exhibiting authoritarian, fascist-like tendencies. She categorized his actions—such as undermining the press, judiciary, and minorities—as part of a broader trend of anti-democratic behavior. 

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/watch-live-vance-speaks-in-hungary-on-trip-to-help-boost-orbans-reelection-bid

Trump advocating a war crime when the Hague has already charged both Netanyahu and Hamas with war crimes

Today we can breathe a sigh of temporary relief. Trump TACO'd over his threat to commit genocide on Iran (the threat itself is a potential war crime) and ordered a two-week pause in bombings for negotiations. Whether he was influenced by the public reminder that he would be carrying out what was considered a war crime by the International Court of Justice in The Hague is not known. However, he would have been at risk of joining some recent additions to the Hague legal actions: Both Netanyahu of Israel and Hamas leaders have been charged by the Hague for war crimes in the Gaza conflict, and warrants are out for their arrest. Both of the charged parties fear traveling to any country other than friendly ones, where they could be arrested and sent to the Hague for trial.  

https://www.icccpi.int/defendant/netanyahu#:~:text=About%20Defendant,at%20least%2020%20May%202024.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/international-criminal-court-seeks-war-crimes-charges-for-israeli-and-hamas-leaders   

Tina Peters...will get a shot at reducing her jail time, though the conviction stands; update 4/16/2026

Update 4/1/6/2026  For how the Tina Peters story fits into the geater plans of the Trump regime to destroy the November 2026 midterm elecitons, go to https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/04/heads-up-pro-democracy-forces-in.html

Continuing wth the original post:

Tina Peters will get a shot at reducing her jail time, though the conviction stands.  The trial was fair and the conviction was fair, but the sentence needs review.The judge rules that her sentence does deserve a second look on the basis that her freedom of speech was impaired, but we will not know the outcome for at least 42 more days. Per NPR " So, the three options are, in 42 days if nobody appeals, Judge Barrett will do the resentencing. If somebody appeals, there’s a short period for the Supreme Court to decide if they're going to hear the case. If the answer is no, it will be sent to Judge Barrett for resentencing. If the answer is yes, we'll need to wait to hear what the Supreme Court says and they might come to a different conclusion than the Court of Appeals but we might not know that for maybe a year to a year-and-a-half.:" https://www.cpr.org/2026/04/03/district-attorney-dan-rubinstein-tina-peters-resentencing/

What Peters did was not only destroy the integrity of the count in a ruby red county because she took seriously instructions from Trump to "secure the ballots",. She then violated state ballot security rules and laws.  She secured them for sure, but she secured them for unauthorized Trump partisans and then engaged in a cover-up.  Trump has made her the martyr on behalf of his anti-voter access campaign based upon the "stop the steal" continuous lies about the 2020 campaign in order to justify his "SAVE" legislation, which will seriously restrict the ability of many to vote in the November midterms.  Trump tried to pardon her, but he could not since Peters was convicted under Colorado state laws, not federal ones, and Trump only has jurisdiction over federal convictions.  Instead, Trump engaged in a pressure campaign against Colorado, removing federal installations, federal assistance to social programs, and other attacks, putting pressure on Governor Polis to overturn her conviction or mitigate her sentence. Polis is now off the hook with this ruling. This court ruling upheld her conviction and that she had a fair trial, but did allow for a review of her sentence based upon the violation of her free speech rights.

The first amendment issue is whether the 9-year sentence was based on muzzling her advocacy post being removed from her position, or on other justifications, i.e., to prevent future clerks from doing what she did. The conviction was not overturned; only the issue is that her sentencing was affected

.https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/03/gov-polis-do-not-commute-tina-peters.html

If a migrant is undocumented, is it a crime or a civil offinse: It depends.

If a migrant is picked up by ICE and put into detention for just having no documents, is it a criminal matter? Is it a misdemeanor?  It depends.  It appears that ICE will just sbatch and grab those that fit their racial, speech, and acts as suspicious, ignore the legalities, and put them in a gulag, letting them sort themselves out.  That is a catch-22 because it will take a lawyer to do ti, or even a court hearing, and often detainees do not have access to them when they are in the gulag. 

The hearing is a civil procedure.  Migrants have the right to an attorney and a hearing, but they have to pay for their own attorneys. If they have no one on the outside helping them, or can even make contact with someone, in effect, they are out of luck. 

The reference I used was this:  https://factually.co/fact-checks/justice/is-being-an-illegal-immigrant-civil-or-criminal-offense-824718.   A misdemeanor or a civil case depends on the action of the migrant involved and there is a federal statute governing this.  This is why a migrant in an ICE gulag needs access to an attorney and a hearing before a judge...which are being denied them unless outside sources intervene or provide one. 

The hearing is a c The ivil procedure.  Migrants have the right to an attorney and a hearing, but they have to pay for their own attorneys. If they have no one on the outside helping them, or can even make contact with someone, in effect, they are out of luck. 

Bondi being fired is not surprising: she lost in court cases and bungled Epstein

 Pam Bondi being fired is not surprising: she lost many court cases and bungled the Epstein files.She was in an impossible spot...either be successful with frivolous lawsuits or lose her law license. She chose the former, but she still got ousted, because she failed.. She fumbled the Epstein files either with incompetence or too obvious an attempt to cover up. What Trump wanted her and demanded she do was act as his terrible swift sword of non-evidenced prosecutions (really persecutions of political and policy opponents), which also put her license in jeopardy. It was like Rudi, who lost his license, for his acts in 2020...as did a bunch of other stop the steal loyalists..Trump may have inadvertently done her a favor by removing her. Trump will get no further with a successor who tries this same stunt before judges, too. 

  https://www.npr.org/2026/04/02/g-s1-115077/trump-bondi-attorney-general-departure

Is Trump's management style: more like a King or more like a mob boss?

 What is Donald Trump's management style? More like a wannabe dictator or king or more like a mob boss? Either way, corruption is part of it.  He has made billiions using his power as president.  https://www.newyorker.com/news/a-reporter-at-large/trumps-profiteering-hits-four-billion-dollars

My take:  Trump's management style is based on corruption, more like a mob boss than a King, and both can be true at the same time... only corruption and pocket padding have marked much of Trump's second term.

This got me thinking: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/02/corruption-trump-administration/681794/?utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share.In this February 24, 2025, opinion piece in the Atlantic, the writer Jonathan Rauch argued that there was a fancy word for what Trump really personifies. It is patrimonialism,  another word for a mob boss. Trump uses his power to make himself, his family, and his loyal followers rich.  What Rauch describes is padding the pockets of his family and loyalists.  Trump favors loyalists, I note, who have substance and power of their own to benefit him.  Pocetk padding is one aspect, and it appears to be his motivation for some of his actions, including paving the way through regulatory agencies to give legality to his crypto ventures and business dealings like those of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Another characteristic of a mob boss is punishing those who are "disloyal" or defy him. He does it by abusing his powers to "take revenge and retribution ", and carries it out, instructing and/or approving, or empowering his lieutenants in his cabinet and powerful regulatory government positions to take action using methods that courts later consider illegal or unconstitutional. Those actions inflict pain, financial and public pillorying,  until some judicial branch stops it months later, and those judicial chickens are just coming home to roost. Even "his" Supreme Court is putting on the brakes, though most of the action is still at the lower federal court level. Trump,  like a good mob boss, expects those he appoints to be loyal to him and not to the Constitution. April 1, 2026, he sat glaring in the Supreme Court chambers listening to the arguments near and dear to his heart, denial of birthright citizenship, as if to remind the justices to be loyal to him.  After all, he appointed so many of them.  It appeared to be an act of intimidation, if not just to give support to far-right, racist, white nationalist dreams. No president in US history had sat to hear the Supreme Court's argumentation on an issue until this. 

Recent examples of this include unjustified legal action by the DOJ or threatening the political future of those in GOP-favoring gerrymandered districts.  It does not mean doing what is in the reason for his election, such as reducing the cost of living and ending wars abroad.

I cannot help but think that a role model for a mob boss was best described in "The Godfather". Another description of how Trump operates was written by his former "fixer", Michael Cohen, Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump  (2020). Cohen may be embittered, but the book is instructive. One of Cohen's contributions to understanding Trump is that Trump never gives a direct order, but drops enough hints about what he wants done,

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/03/semantics-for-masses-grifter-for.html

What's the difference between celebrating independence on NO KINGS 3/28 and on July 4? Not much

 What's the difference between celebrating No KINGS and on July 4? I saw an objection to No King's Day...we already celebrate it on July 4th. Obviously, some still do not get it, or else they are just being cute or trolling instead of being ignorant. Here is why we should also celebrate July 4th, in addition to the 8 million-plus who got it on March 28. Believe me, it is one more opportunity to make a point on July 4th. For the ignorant, not for the MAGA trollers, a reminder, here is to remember the reason why we declared independence: No tyrannical kings, and to get out from almost exactly what angered us about what the King did,(Bill of Particulars in the Declaration), which are mostly now enshrined in the Bill of Rights. We also rose up in 1776 because of one issue that resonates today: taxation without representation.

Trump thinks he's a dictator, acts like one, and ignores laws and Constitutional provisions he does not like, treating executive orders like a law, making up his own laws as he will, punishing those who do not support him with retaliatory action by the DOJ and threats of being primaried. Dictators are the modern version of a tyrannical king, and every day he violates those First Amendment rights, particularly press freedom and civil rights of individuals and the 4th amendments. Pro democracy, the protection of the Constitution, and the spirit of 1776 are inseparable.

The other reason for independence was that we were being taxed without representation...another provision enshrined in the Constitution, to make sure we, the people, would control taxation and its use through Congress, especially the House. Trump cowed the House into a bunch of yes people (whatever Trump wants, Congress gives him), whether with tariffs or the cost of war. Now, he wants to make it more difficult for voters to cast their vote, particularly old people, brown people, and women. FYI, we celebrate the freedom our forefathers fought for, now in jeopardy, too, on July 4

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. 

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2025/07/my-declaration-of-independence-from.html

What's different about the No Kings protests March 28, 2026

What I saw in the TV coverage left me with the impression that not only were the numbers higher than in the prior No Kings, but that there was greater diversity in age and race, with handheld posters and banners supporting a wider range of public policy issues than we saw in the initial protest events. The difference now is that political science theory has met negative impact on people's lives after a year of Trump's second term. Trump has managed to anger more people in one year. Experience is always the best teacher. More are learning the lesson that democracy is worth fighting for. It is more than just venting protests: it is indeed solidifying into a pro-democracy movement.

An increasing number and wider variety of voters now get that without democracy, their own desires will be ignored and their voices will be suppressed, even if their views are supported by more than a 58-60% majority.  Trump, in his delusions of unbridled power, has ignored many, reneging on promises he made, from affordability to avoiding foreign wars. Furthermore, he and his appointees have been acting with cruelty and armed force, while he has been using fear with his tools of abuse of power to enact revenge and retribution. Patriotism to him is loyalty to him, and he acts like it, using vengeance, abusing power, using it against those who oppose him, suppressing their voices in the media, and limiting voting access. in some ways, he resembles more of a mob boss padding his and his family's pockets than a mad  king. https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/04/is-trumps-management-style-more-like.html.   Either way it is anti-democracy with similar repercussions.

Trump, the wannabe dictator,  has confused loyalty to Trump with loyalty to America. In his view, if you are not loyal to him, you are un-American. They are not the same: loyalty to Trump is not loyalty to the oath taken by public officials and military to be loyal to the Constitution and a government of, by, and for the people that respects and abides by the rule of law.  If what Trump wants to do runs afoul of the laws conforming to the intent of the Constitution, he ignores them, defies them, or finds a workaround to what was the original intent. No staff person, no GOP-dominated legislature, stops him. He condemns judges, even those he appointed, who dare rule against his interests, subjecting them to violence and threats of violence by Trump partisans. His plunging polls do not bother him; he has his priorities (him) and they are not the voters or the members of his own party or as it will be played out in the midterms. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact he is a lame duck and has come to personal grips that we will not run again in 2028.  Unlike his first term, he towed the normal lines of behavior more closely, but he knew he had to face voters again.  

By refusing to bow down to fear, over eight million responded on March 28, feeling safe in numbers nationwide by putting their bodies on the line in dispersed masses, appearing with joy, sometimes humor, and ridicule. This has become a pro-democracy movement under the unifying umbrella and realization that, without democracy, those with their own agendas and priorities would be ground in the dust by an overpowering, out-of-control, mad King wannabe dictator acting as if he were already one.

The reaction by MAGA is mostly ignoring this pro-democracy movement. They do it at their own peril, and the polls are reflecting that. We are no longer a 50-50 divided nation.  We are near 60-40.  https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/03/we-are-non-longer-nation-that-is.html.  

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/03/29/no-kings-rallies-a-red-flare-for-trump/89306058007/

Hegseth and Trump threaten war crimes in Iran. See them in the Hague someday?

 Update: 4/4/2026 Recently, Pete Hegseth prayed for violence. He is the same one who called the rules of engagement, such as the Geneva Convention, "stupid" and would ignore them. Now there are reports per MSNOW that his threat to bomb Iran's civilian infrastructure has earned the DOD the nickname, by some Marines in the Pentagon as the Department of War Crimes. FYI, Trump echoing Hegseth and Hegseth, calling international law stupid, but thinking you can avoid repercussions for committing war crimes in the future, are two different things.:" Rep. Seth Moulton, a Marine combat veteran.t Bombing civilian infrastructure like electrical generation and desalination plants, as Trump and Hegseth threaten, is intentionally committing war crimes because they target civilians. https://www.facebook.com/reallyamerican/posts/breaking-rep-seth-moulton-says-troops-are-calling-hegseths-pentagon-the-departme/1428246449343821/

This is why Trump tried to prosecute/persecute those 6 Congresspeople who dared to remind the rank and file that they do not have to follow illegal orders. So far, no troops have acted on their rights ..but so far, other than the school children bombing (intent may have been based on bad, non-updated intelligence)., we have only the threat to do so and public admission that the administration knows bombing civilian power generation and desalination plants is illegal. After all, they howled when Putin threatened the Ukrainian nuclear power generation facilities. However, acting lawlessly is part and parcel of the rogue, out-of-control Trump presidency, and Trump, thinking he is already a dictator, believes he can get away with any crimes. If the Trump cabinet members or general staff commit war crimes, they are not protected by the Supreme Court's granting Trump immunity. If Trump and his lieutenants somehow end up in the Hague, criminal intent would not be hard to prove... since their words are already a matter of public record.    

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/rep-crow-signals-legal-action-after-administrations-effort-to-indict-6-democrats

https://www.military.com/feature/2026/03/05/hegseths-stupid-rules-of-engagement-line-and-what-roe-actually-do.html

Continuing with the original post:

The stupid rules of war came into being after World War II in response to the atrocities committed against civilians. Nuremberg and the Hague tribunals have hung or imprisoned many; most recently, the Hague was active, spurred by the ethnic cleansing of the Balkan wars of the 1990's. I have never heard of a public official with great power at the onset of any war anywhere advocating war crimes by prayer until Hegseth implied it. He is a religious fanatic and a throwback to the Middle Ages and the Crusades. Then Trump chimed in.

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/.../iran-hegseths....

He fancies himself as the Dark Ages crusader who wears the Crusader cross on his chest and sees himself in a holy war as a follower of a church that believes in violence to advance their religion. Hegseth is a member of the worst extreme sect of the Christian religion.

Prayed Hegseth:“Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation. Give them wisdom in every decision, endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.”

See you at the Hague someday if you act this out in Iran.

Then, to compound this, Donald Trump echoed that he would knowingly commit war crimes by destroying Iran's power plants hat keep

civilians afloat and alive. He is still threatening to do it in 10 days. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/03/trump-warning-attack-iran-power-plants-is-threat-to-commit-war-crimes/

Rep. Seth Moulton, a Marine combat veteran, told MSNBC that active-duty Marines have started calling Hegseth's Pentagon the "Department of War Crimes." The reason, according to Moulton, is simple: the administration's decision to target Iranian civilian energy infrastructure, which Moulton flatly called a war crime. "It's meant to hurt civilians," he said.

This is why Trump tried to prosecute/persecute those 6 Congresspeople who dared to remind the rank and file that they do not have to follow illegal orders. So far, no troops have acted on their rights ..but so far, other than the school children bombing (intent may have been based on bad, non-updated intelligence)., we have only the threat to do so and public admission that the administration knows bombing civilian power generation is illegal. After all, they howled when Putin threatened the Ukrainian nuclear power generation facilities. However, acting lawlessly is part and parcel of the rogue, out-of-control Trump presidency, and Trump, thinking he is already a dictator, believes he can get away with any crimes. If the Trump cabinet members or general staff commit war crimes, they are not protected by the Supreme Court's granting Trump immunity. If Trump and his lieutenants somehow end up in the Hague, criminal intent would not be hard to prove... since their words are already a matter of public record.

See you in the Hague, DJT, if you carry that one out..

Geneva Conventions per Google AIThe Geneva Conventions are a set of four international treaties (1949) and three additional protocols that form the cornerstone of international humanitarian law. They establish legal standards for humanitarian treatment during war, protecting people not taking part in fighting (civilians, medics) and those who can no longer fight (wounded, prisoners of war). 

The Four Geneva Conventions of 1949:

• First Convention: Protects wounded and sick soldiers on land during war.
• Second Convention: Protects wounded, sick, and shipwrecked military personnel at sea.
• Third Convention: Applies to prisoners of war (POWs), requiring humane treatment, adequate food, and medical care
  .
Fourth Convention: Protects civilians, including those in occupied territories. 

Key Principles and Scope:

• Universal Ratification: All 196 states have ratified the 1949 conventions, making them universally binding.
• Common Article 3: Applies to non-international armed conflicts (civil wars), ensuring minimum protections.
• Core Protections: Prohibits torture, murder, cruel treatment, and outrages upon personal dignity.
• Protection of Medical Facilities: Medical personnel, units, and transport must be respected and protected.
• Additional Protocols: 1977 and 2005 protocols added protections for victims of both international and non-international conflicts. 

The conventions are overseen by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and aim to limit the barbarity of war. 

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