Why is election denial still a MAGA mantra? It is about after Nov. 3

Why is election denial still a MAGA mantra? It is about after Nov. 3 . That is also when the real danger to democracy and the battle to save it begins.  The puzzle is why MAGA keeps on lighting their own smoke bombs, contending the 2020 election was stolen, yet they lose every attempt to prove there is fire?  Recently, they lost again in Colorado as a judge ruled  Trump could not get the state voter rolls.   In Nevada, after the feds claimed, using their own workaround list, just approved by the Supreme Court, that over a thousand who voted were not citizens, they found they were wrong in every instance. Those they claimed were non-citizens voting turned out to be 0. Such has been the outcome for the past six years. Instances of voter fraud were rare and never enough to change the outcome of an election, per both the Cato Institute and the Heritage Foundation.,  Trump's big lie has never been proved in any court or by any study, even by his own controlled DOJ, which found that fraud and non-citizen voting were extremely rare.   Why do Trump and his MAGA loyalists keep beating their heads against this stone wall? (Polls show in 2026 about 63% of Republicans believe the 2020 election was stolen.)

 Only the 6 justices on the Supreme Court give Trump the benefit of the doubt whenever they could have taken the Trump regime's attempt to control voter outcomes down. (The exception was for now: do not use the post office to police who can vote by mail.) Their recent 6-3 ruling approving the federal attempt to come up with faulty lists of suspected non-citizens voting by validating the SAVE Act is instructive. Whose neck the SAVE Act could help save from an unfavorable vote is DJT's.   

  One would think  Trump would stop trying to justify his "stop the steal" claims, since his regime's claims keep being debunked.  It has served his purposes well to justify and give a pretext to his cruel mass deportations via ICE and his attempt to defy the Constitution or laws to federalize elections and put their control in his hands.  Those who have animus or fears about those unlike themselves and find this a useful, politically correct outlet to express it is a possibility. But that is only a theory that is difficult to measure by polls.

Another explanation that makes sense is that Trump and MAGA  are attempting to lay a propaganda pretext to challenge the results of the Nov. 4 midterms they do not like. The scheme could also be a Hail Mary to throw the election results into chaos, and to give some rationale to seize ballots, declare martial law, or call out paramilitary, ICE, active-duty, and National Guard military should angered citizens take to the streets. No doubt Trump wants to keep control of the House and maybe the Senate or, heaven forbid, get a third term, even if he loses elections. 

Is this implausible? He might not succeed, but he just might try. His egomania is out of control. There is no one around him to just say no and stop him. He is not delusional about his powers.  He controls the levers of power through his loyal appointees, including both Justice's DOJ and the Department of Defense. His cabinet members would never invoke the 25th Amendment, Section 4.. His current Congress is composed of a majority of betas bowing down to the alpha male in charge.  

 We shouldn't put it past him. Trump is so fixated on becoming a dictator like those he admires, such as Putin and Xi, that we should not take it for granted he would not dare to stage such a coup. It is a trick many wannabe dictators have used successfully to trade democracy for rule by one or a small group. Trump "lit the fire",in the January 6 failed attempt, and he learned much, so he must think he knows how he will not fail again.

While the public is focused on the Nov. 3 midterms,  the real show with democracy at risk  is likely to begin Nov. 4.  

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/trump-doj-now-0-for-20-after-judge-dismisses-colorado-voter-roll-lawsuit-with-prejudice

/https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/dhs-noncitizen-voter-claims-unravel-in-nevada-as-state-confirms-flagged-voters-are-citizens

https://www.cato.org/commentary/rights-bogus-claims-about-noncitizen-voting-fraud

https://abcnews.com/Politics/wireStory/administrations-focus-noncitizen-voting-led-160-arrests-experts-136667964

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-lit-that-fire-of-capitol-insurrection-jan-6-committee-report-says

What percentage of registered Republicans are election deniers? I askeed Google AI and htis is what it reports:  Polling Data on 2020 Election Legitimacy

The Economist/YouGov Poll (June 2026): Found that 50% of Republicans believe the 2020 presidential election was "rigged". The number jumps significantly higher—to 66%—among Republicans who specifically identify as MAGA supporters. [1]
PRRI Survey: Consistently shows that roughly 63% of Republicans agree with the narrative that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump. [1]
CNN/SSR Polls: Have historically tracked the figure between 63% and 69% of Republicans and Republican-leaners who view President Joe Biden's 2020 victory as illegitimate. [1]

Once the US was a model to the world of how democracies should work;. No more.

Something popped up today on a publication I follow to get a sense of how others see us, and it was jaw-dropping. I follow Germany very closely because I see it as key in upholding democracy and stability in Europe, where much of my family lives. Der Spiegel is a centrist news magazine in the tradition of Time or Newsweek, and it posts selected articles and opinions on an English-language Substack.  The Germans have just had a shock with a far right political party, AfD, winning elections in the state of Saxony. Does that mean in Germany the far-right is rising? What to do, what to do? The US was once the model of how democracies should work, but now it is the resistance to Trump that should be the model for Germany of how to preserve democracy. 

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Until recently, and since my junior year abroad in Berlin in the late 1950's, a unified Germany had sought to construct a liberal democracy using the US as a model (though the parliamentary system differs).  Der Spiegel's editorial today was expressing fear that the rest of Germany was just hand-wringing, with no idea what to do.   The new model of how to stop this AfD march to more power was, brace yourself- the resistance to Trump in the USA, and in particular, the immediate reaction of his banning reporters from CNN, MSNBC, and Politico, followed by the boycott of other media in solidarity to even cover the White House.   (Update: last night the judge reviewing the suit filed against Trump by the banned networks temporarily restored their press passes.)

 The  Der Spiegel opinion piece was a shocker to me, too, that  Trump was even viewed in the same category as the AfD, and that instead of the government of the US being the role model for how democracy should be run and act, it was the USA's local grassroots resistance movement to Trump and his policies that was now a model. If anyone understands "far right" and/or fascism, it is Germany.  There is a great fear among many there of its resurgence..

How does Derr Spiegel see Trump and his regime in the US?  "Compared to the situation in the United States, the far right has not made significant inroads in Germany. .... In the US, by contrast, Trump holds the most powerful office in the world – for a second time. He is surrounded by a nationalist circle of advisers, backed by majorities in both chambers of Congress, supported by paramilitary police units, and secure in the knowledge that three of the nine justices on the Supreme Court were chosen by him."  That is a brutal view, but not incorrect.

The  Der Spiegel opinion piece was inspired by examples of US resistance, such as the immediate boycott by unbanned White House reporters also refusing to cover the White House media pool when Trump attempted to ban CNN, MSNow, and Politico, because he did not like how they reported his news.  Also cited as examples of resistance in the US were the local nature of the anti-AI data centers, the Minneapolis grassroots action against ICE, and more.  Der Spiegel urged those in Germany who feared the AfD to go and do likewise. 

I might add that NO Kings Day on Oct. 17 is an opportunity for those in Germany to see how peaceful resistance is done, and to add their moral support to the "resistance' in the US

.https://derspiegel.substack.com/

https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/alternative-germany-afd-party-what-you-need-know

A bone to pick with memes and one line slogans. Eventually they fail. Been there, seen it.

I have a bone to pick with memes and one line slogans. Eventually they fail. Been there, seen it.

In 1958 and 1959, I spent my junior year abroad in Berlin. It was 13 years after the end of WWII; I had a front-row seat to observe how the communists were attempting to consolidate their hold on Berlin's Russian-controlled East Sector before the wall was built. One could easily cross zones in those days, and I was in a student dorm in the British sector. I could even walk into the East Sector; I was so close. It was an amazing place for this political science student to be. There were no memes on the internet, no TV commercials to control minds then, but red banners strewn everywhere carried slogans reminding people of the glories that would be given to workers, and similar posters adorned buildings everywhere. Even the poorest, least educated, and unquestioning minds got the message. It didn't work. Reality set in as the East German puppet government became more and more of a police state. Scientists, university students, artists, and skilled workers picked up their backpacks, took the elevated train or walked to the West sectors, and eventually kept on going West. My roommate was one of those. My future husband from another communist country used Berlin for his exit. The brain drain became a gusher, and in August 1961, two years after I returned to Northwestern in Illinois for my senior year, the Berlin Wall went up.

The use of short, choppy sentences with no explanation and plenty of one-line slogans for all to believe and repeat were the memes and repeated mantras and commercials of that era in Berlin. In 2026, like in my Berlin days, these modern memes and slogans, often repeated in commercials or by candidates, will convince only those who want to be convinced and who do not ask impertinent questions. The best way those impertinent questions can be asked on behalf of all of citizens is to protect freedom of the press to ask them.

Dictator Trump? It appears his goal: ban unfriendly media....and a third term?

 The only power left to stop Trump’s march to become a dictator is us…vote Nov. 3 to turn Congress blue. A MAGA congressman has just introduced a bill to give him a third term by a constitutional amendment. Trump's ban of non-loyal (to him)press from the White House is also one more step toward the end of democracy to be replaced by rule of one. person..

.Trump.

Republican Representative Andy Ogles of Tennessee introduced a House Joint Resolution (H.J.Res.29) proposing a constitutional amendment to alter the 22nd Amendment, which currently limits presidents to two terms (source: Google AI). This may go nowhere, but if it gains any support, it shows how far MAGA is willing to go and how important it is to nip this in the bud and to send a strong message.

The courts and process will be another route to stop this madness, but the Supreme Court seems mostly in his pocket, and the lower courts are too slow to act.

It is also time for Democrats to stop using the term "autocracy". It is too wishy-washy and intellectual. In plain English, and as Trump's actions indicate what his goal really is, the correct term is "dictatorship"...He wants obedience to what he rules is the law, instead of what the law books, the courts, the legislature, or the Constitution say. That goes for media, too; per Trump, it should report what he opines, with no unfriendly questions to challenge him. To Trump, all unfavorable news is fake news.

It is also time to refer to the GOP as MAGA, instead as the Republican Party: It is totally controlled by Trump and MAGA. There appears to be no room for Republicans who are "normies"...who are traditional, for small government, with responsible fiscal policies, and spreading support for freedom and democracy, and non-crony, non-corrupt capitalism worldwide. MAGA is none of that.

FYI: Colorado's mail in vote system was birthed by the GOP in 2013. Don't blame Dems for this one

I am seeing on another social media Facebook site an attempt by some in the GOP to blame mail-in voting for Colorado's recent shift from somewhat red to blue. Therefore, the inference goes, vote for the GOP candidate who wants to eliminate mail-in voting and make everyone turn up in person. 90% of GOP voters in Colorado vote by mail. In 2013, the Colorado Secretary of State, Republican Wayne Williams, launched the mail-in voting system we use now. The shift from red to blue may have something to do with Colorado's economy shifting from AG and energy to more high-tech, with an increase to one of the highest education levels in the US and the second-highest voter participation rate in the 50 states. The system Wayne Williams devised provides bipartisan scrutiny and integrity. Before going off on some tangent, MAGA, read this: https://www.denverpost.com/.../colorado-denv

 https://www.denverpost.com/2020/08/16/colorado-denver-mail-voting-usps-2020-election/#

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/09/maga-thinks-dems-fear-saveice-at-polls.html

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/09/one-of-most-fundamental-lies-trump-ever.html

Time for Democrats to begin the 2028 presidential race is now with planks in a platform

 Nov. 3 midterms is shaping up to be, one way or another a rebuke of Trump's policies...economic and military while padding his pockets with epic corruption.  However,r what are Democrats proposing as alternatives?  Disgusted independents and non-MAGA Republicans may register their objections, but that is not good enough for 2028, and  Democrats as a party have miserable favorability ratings now.  

I have ideas to share that are relevant and popular today and for the next two years. They may never get signed by Trump or even be veto-proof, but at least they could be "on the record" for a unified Democratic Party in preparation for 2028. None of these are original ideas to me, but they seem to me to have legs and potential for support from the non-MAGA majority. To make an impact between now and then, the focus must be like a laser and unified.  While so many of these proposals will be stonewalled in the Senate, even if it flips blue a bit,  by presidential veto over the next two years, getting MAGA legislators on the record will lay the groundwork for Democrats' success in 2028.

So much depends on what those elected to Congress Nov. 3 will do in these next two years. Just exposing the criminality, corruption, and inhumanity of the Trump administration in House hearings cannot overwhelm the party if it wants to make itself an acceptable alternative to those same swing voters two years from now. So what are the alternatives with legs, anyway?  Here are my nominations.

One slogan might be to "reform for the better".those Trmp policies which anger the swing voters the most.  Yes, it is reactive to Trump's excesses, and so long as he sits in the White House Oval Office for the next two years, that is the fact of political life and will still be the driver of the 2028 presidential cycle..  

Obviously, what needs to be addressed in the next two years is to come up with a believable plan of "what will Democrats do to improve the cost of living." No pie in the sky, but rolling back the Trump tariffs might be a start. Make the bi partisan house financing bill that Trump nixxed be veto -proof.  Support financing to build affordable housing. Depending on what happens between now and then, get the heck out of Middle Eastern wars...and stop the one we are in now to reduce fuel prices. . For the young people, reduce the debt burden of student loans. Infuse Obamacare ACA with funds to lower premiums and restore Medicaid support to prior levels while planning for Medicare for All (polling very popular these days).  While MAGA may object to all of these, at least get their nay votes on the record in preparation for 2028's attack ads.  One of the reasons the socialists have been successful is that their solutions are generally popular, specific, and doable. That is the page Democrats can take from them while not embracing the rest of their planks.

The next set of issues needing reform is to restore checks and balances of the three branches and fight corruption.. These two issues are related to one another; one enables the out-of-control urge of Trump who sees his presidency as his business opportunity, and it is enabling fulfilling his lust for wealth and power. for himself. That could start with legislation to reverse treating corporate dark money as "people" by forcing daylight disclosure into political funding of even those entities.. The other:  Supreme Court term limits of 18 years, staggered to give a greater chance for both parties to get their approved candidates on the bench. One with wistful thinking is to reaffirm that the president is not above the law and can be criminally prosecuted while in office. That most insane SCOTUS decision the Court has ever made was exempting the president from criminal prosecution while in office. It has made him insulated from accountability, and the pardons he can issue on exit will shelter him in his retirement.  It has turned out to be is the greatest gift any wannabe corrupt autocratic president like Trump could have received. It has greenlit his ability to ignore and abuse any laws that have stood in his way of enacting his epic corruption. and power grabs.   Penalties and prosecution must be strengthened to keep future presidents from taking or making money on foreign investments and gifts, and it must be made illegal for Trump to pardon himself or his immediate family for eternity afrer office holding. 

The next is to stop divisive racial hatred and pass the Voting Rights Act.  Anti-DEI is a thinly disguised policy to restore white supremacy; inclusion must become the norm again. All attempts to federalize elections need to be fought tooth and nail since that is one essential method a wannabe dictator can use to destroy our democracy. Keeping voting in the hands of 50 separate states is much harder to subvert than some national binding policy controlled by whoever has the power in Washington. This should resonate with those who fear some far-left lib in the future could do unto them what Trump did to those disloyal to Trump. What goes around comes around.

"All democrats are communists",per MAGA as Trump cozies up to real communists

 An irony of profound historic significance: While the newest meme/slogan from the MAGA/GOP is that Democrats are all communists, their leader, President Trump, supports foreign policy goals and gives aid and words of comfort to those who are real communists or former ones: Putin of Russia, XI of China, North Korea's communist dictator Kim Jong Un. They are all aiding Iran in Trump's war. Irony may be too kind a word for this behavior: It raises the question of "on whose side is Trump, anyway?"

There is even concrete evidence of ties that bind Trump's to these real communist and communist-like rulers that are in the past and brought to light within this month. This is in addition to Trump's knee-capping dependable support of NATO and dragging his feet in releasing already approved aid to Ukraine. Trump's oft-expressed wistful desire in the past has been to be as powerful a leader as each of them. These are one-man rulers and brutal dictators, communists now or once practicing communists.

Yesterday it was disclosed that Donald Trump Jr.'s wedding reception was funded by a Russian oligarch with close ties to Putin. Within the same week, Donald Trump himself faced the reality of his Iran blunder that resulted in control of 20% of the world's oil and gas being in Iran's hands, as they still controlled the Strait of Hormuz. To deflect domestic US political

fallout, he instead blamed Ukraine for the increase in diesel costs as he urged Ukraine to stop doing drone attacks on Russian refineries. Since 2025, he has continued to blame Ukraine for not giving up territory to Russia in any peace settlement. All of this is dear to Putin's heart.

To attempt to put pressure on South Korea to support his Iran blunder, he then renewed his love affair with the dear leader of North Korea, agreeing there needed to be changes to US policy, and he called off joint military exercises with South Korea.

Trump and XI agreed to a temporary truce to pause tit-for-tat tariff escalations that expire in November. Tariff negotiations are already underway. Xi will make a state visit to Washington on September 24.

At the same time, Trump insults and punishes our democracy ruled allies with tariffs and insults and threats to grab their territory.

For those who still persist in calling anyone to the left of them communists, I recommend you search the dictionary or ask Google for a definition of communism.

  

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/13/business/trump-ukraine-diesel.html

https://www.propublica.org/article/donald-trump-jr-wedding-bankrolled-russian-oligarch-umar-kremlev-putin

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-orders-pentagon-to-scale-back-joint-exercises-with-south-korea

Update: 9/17/26

Continuing disgust with right-wing memes that call Democrats communists: I finally had it with one FB post and responded with: Yeah, all democrats are communists, like all Republicans are neo Nazis

.https://www.cnn.com/2017/08/12/us/white-nationalists-tiki-torch-march-trnd/index.html.

https://www.pbs.org/video/trump-extremism-1749504068/

Update: 

My Facebook reply to those who persist in calling all Democrats socialists/communists: 9/26/2026 One of the strangest memes keeps appearing on this FB page. All Democrats are communists or socialists. Here is my stock reply: When anyone to the left of you is a communist or socialist.. you must be as far out to the right as you can go. Please go to your nearest dictionary and get informed about what socialists and communists believe before making such comments about political ideology.

However, I also attached a response that was a meme. I usually frown on memes, but this one says what I believe best in one short line. Kudos to Karstenprogue for it; and Valerie Budach for posting it on another Facebook page... This is an excerpt

":.....no one in the US or Western world wants socialism. What we have in Europe, Canada, New Zealand, and a lot of other countries around the world, is social democracy, which is capitalism with a social safety net. No one goes bankrupt from being sick or giving birth; everybody can have an education, and no one is left on the streets. Simple Human rights."

MAGA thinks Dems fear SAVE/ICE at polls reveal non-citizen vote; what they don't get updated 9/15/26

 My MAGA friends just do not seem to get it. It's about saving democracy. My message to them:

I see so many comments claiming Dems are fighting SAVE or ICE at polling places because we are so afraid that, finally, it will reveal that non-citizens indeed voted in 2020 and will do it again. Therefore, it is justified that, contrary to the Constitution, Trump's attempt to position that who controls who votes and how should be his and the federal government's, not the states or Congress. After Trump's 6 years of trying and losing every court case challenging the 2020 vote, and after even his own DOJ just released a report that found there were not enough irregularities in 2020 to change the outcome, with good reason, Dems do not fear such a reveal. Despite that, a stated belief in a stolen 2020 election is required by anyone pledging allegiance to MAGA rule and seeking its support.

There is, however, a new fear raised by an esteemed conservative retired federal judge, J. Michael Luttig, who thinks that after Nov. 3, 2026, there will be an attempt to disrupt and destroy a vote outcome that MAGA fears most: the House (and maybe even the Senate) flips blue. MAGA will throw the results into chaos and challenges; the newly elected Congress will not be seated in January 2027, and a Jan. 6 coup will be attempted again. The judge fears democracy will be corrupted. That is also what so many of those of us who are not MAGA fear.

At stake is democracy that is of, by, and for all of the people, not just a government that is of, by, and for one person or one ideology: like some Trump and MAGA appear in their social postings to think. For them, it's a legitimate definition of a democracy. FYI: A government that requires loyalty to one great leader or its movement is, by definition, an autocracy, not a democracy.. It is more than quaint; it is self-defining to believe all votes against your great leader and his supporters are because there was fraud and the other side won only because they cheated, or that the only fair and free election is one that goes your way.

Updated: 9/15/26 The long-awaited Supreme Court ruling on mail-in ballots and if the USPS has a legitimate role was handed down after the above post. It does not mean that the issue will raise its head in the future, but at least we will be spared chaos caused by the Trump administration on Nov,3. https://www.npr.org/2026/09/14/nx-s1-5962190/supreme-court-mail-in-voting-trump

https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/conservative-judge-warns-constitutional-crisis-205754753.html

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/09/one-of-most-fundamental-lies-trump-ever.html

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-says-these-documents-prove-his-false-claims-of-election-fraud-heres-what-they-really-say?

Trump's lies about the 2020 elections are a false pretense used to justify voter suppression. tactics

 One of the most consequential lies Trump ever told has become the foundation of his attempt to get and keep himself in power. The lie was that the 2020 election was stolen. It has become a pretense, a false pretense, to justify the suppression of the ability of those voters assumed to be in political opposition to Trump, including justifying threats to put armed ICE agents at polling places in the midterms. After 6 years of commissions, ninjas, special counsels, and his own DOJ-controlled administration using all the powers they have, they never found enough to even show probable cause or evidence to justify more digging to keep keepi the myth alive. A particular case in point: even Trump's administration could not come up with enough evidence, or even questionable evidence by pro-Trump biased researchers, to show that enough non-citizens voted to have changed any outcome. https://www.pbs.org/.../trump-says-these-documents-prove...

Yet it is still a MAGA mantra and Trump's signal slogan, and to repeat such lies is the verification of loyalty to the MAGA cause. An approach, which includes the lie about non-citizens voting, serves two purposes: it appeals to those within the Trump base who are white nationalists, as well as those still approving the SAVE bill who still believe that election fraud committed by Democrats is rampant (lack of evidence be damned). https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/02/white-christian-nationalism-has-taken.html

This lie has become the rationale for ICE excess and mass deportations of even non-criminals, and for threats to put their icy stare and war-grade visages at swing-state polling places to scare off even rightful citizen immigrants from voting or snatch them into custody for even looking like a suspect. For that reason, the Denver Clerk and Recorder and Latina groups are suing the federal government to prevent armed ICE agents at polling places because they would intimidate legitimate voters trying to cast a ballot at a polling place. It would have a "chilling" effect.

https://www.coloradopolitics.com/2026/09/10/denver-sues-trump-to-block-armed-ice-agents-from-polling-sites/

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/01/trump-homeland-security-markwayne-mullin-polling

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/08/the-elephant-in-room-of-colorado.html

Trump's lies about the election machines causing the election loss were repeated by FOX host Maria Bartiromo and others, and it cost FOX $787 million when they were sued for defamation and lost in court. 6 years later, that suit appeared to have figured into Bartiromo's "firing" when the FOX brass cautioned FOX hosts to steer clear of comments on election fraud and Trump claims...and the memo got back to the Trump staff, with the leak traced to Bartiromo, per The New York Times.https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/05/business/media/maria-bartiromo-fox-news.html

https://www.denverpost.com/2020/08/16/colorado-denver-mail-voting-usps-2020-election/?

Iare Trump's policies toward Euroope finally facing reality? There are some welcomed. shoots of green.

Are Trump's policies toward Europe finally facing reality?  Trump's isolationist policies and disdain for Europe are chickens coming home to roost. It may portend a shift in policy and attitudes toward NATO, a realization that Putin is not his best buddy, and a coming to grips with reality.   Europe's change in attitude is also an unanticipated fallout from Trump's quagmire in Iran and from friends and foes alike following Trump's low polls at home. For some, it is a time to stand up to Trump's bullying and the opportunity to "kick him while he is down". 

A secret trip to Russia by the US CIA chief, rumors that Russia was planning to attack some NATO ally to take advantage of Trump's home and Iran troubles, and Canada, aggressively pushing back on Trump's tariff bullying, may be hitting Trump in the face. It could all result in some not-so-subtle, but welcome, US policy changes toward NATO and strengthen that alliance instead of weakening it.  Hopefully this means greater understanding by Trump that the fall of Ukraine or the neutering of NATO were matters of national security importance to the USA itself. Canada's pushback against Trump's tariff war may also signal and end to European leaders licking Trump's boots and showing their own stiffening backbone.  

MORE

Jpdate: 8/30/2026:  There is a darker view of why the CIA director went in person to Moscow with an entourage of y CIA operatives. John Brennan, a former CIA director, on MSNOW this AM feared there was an attempt to carve out what Russia would get in a peace deal in trade for Russia stop helping Iran. The problemwhy that was a long shot secret deal is that Trump no longer has the cards to deal with Ukraine, having promised aid that has not been delivered in the face of Europe "stepping up to the plate" and Ukraine itself able to ue drones to take the war to deep inside Russia.  Ukraine, however, needs US anti missile defense to do more that just play tit for tat with Russia in their destructive attacks.  Putiin on the otherhand is also driven by the line he has fed his citizens that Uraine is part of mother Russia and he is not ready to throw in the towel yet.  We may never know unless if there is no change in what Trump is already doing, but if he makes public the "deal" is on the table.

 There are some events this week that need to be carefully monitored, in addition to Trump's signal earlier this month that he is beginning to understand that it was Ukraine that had the cards and was at least giving Russia as good as it got.  While weapons from the US had not yet been sent, the Trump regime signaled to Putin that the US was no longer playing footsies with Putin on Ukraine. https://www.csis.org/analysis/trump-administration-boosts-immediate-military-aid-deliveries-ukraine

Today we learned that Trump's CIA director had made a secret visit to Russia with a message. on NATO resolve and Iran. https://www.politico.com/news/2026/08/26/cia-russia-nato-moscow-ratcliffe-01051848  It appeared the USA got wind that Russia was planning an attack against the Baltics or Poland to take advantage of US preoccupation with Iran and public acknowledgment that the US had run through some very important weapon stockpiles.    The message delivered was that it appeared the US would trigger the mutual defense clause of NATO after all, and they underscored this with joint NATO military exercises with Poland. Europe has stepped up to the plate. Even Germany is significantly rearming itself.  If Putin had thought the US had abandoned  NATO, he should rethink that. 

Something not foreseen by Trump was the impact of his aggressive "tariff war" with Canada. Canada retaliated with its own tariffs against the US as it stood up to the bullying. This may also have inspired a change of heart in the EU.  Until now, France and others have played the game of flattery and subservience to Trump's anti-European posture, but Canada has shown a different way. The response from influential German magazine editors on Der Spiegel's Substack was that the time was right for Europe to also stand up to bully Trump, because he was showing weakness at home in a wide variety of polls, domestic issues, and the Iran war... European leaders have frequently preferred a strategy of kowtowing and ego-flattering in dealing with President Donald Trump. Canadian Premier Carney has taken the opposite tack. Europe should do the same.  The banner from Der Spiegel this morning read:

"DER SPIEGEL - The German View

It’s Time for Europe to Hit Trump While He’s Down

Cracks in the MAGA base and lessons Democrats can learn from Democratic Socialists

A bevvy of polls this past week consistently show that Trump's approval ratings are sinking to his core base of true believers and core followers. https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/steve-kornacki-new-poll-shows-cracks-forming-in-trump-s-maga-base-254388805882 

 It remains to be seen how many of those left in Trump's 2024 winning coalition will suck it up like good patriots. The conclusions of a variety of pollsters are that some pretty angry and disillusioned MAGA voters feel Trump failed them to make good on the cost-of-living issues and feel he lied to them. However, there is also a word of warning for Democrats in the MAGA unrest. Democrats could also fail to deliver, as well, if they ever get both houses of Congress and the Oval Office again. The lesson is: do not make promises you know you cannot keep. The success of Democrat Socialists in the primaries contain some very good pointers for traditional Democrats as well.

The "old 'house built on sand is the first to perish ' "is as good as any old saying ever devised. That sand is what Trump promised to do what he did not have the power to do in 2024. He then doubled down on the inevitable failure by shoveling more sand into a developing sinkhole of quicksand while blaming Biden for it. (Given Biden left the economy with 3 percent inflation, now creeping up, and under $4 a gallon gas seems to have been conveniently forgotten by MAGA. )Wth Trump, the buck never stops at the Oval Office desk.  

The issues that poll the worst are the management of the economy (the poor get poorer, and the oligarchs and the Trump family get richer). Even foreign policy, launching the Iran war, is hitting the part of the economy l already left in the dust, and most of them get the connection. In the price of oil per barrel raising costs to farmers). The tax cuts to benefit the rich obviously did not trickle down to the rest of us.  Subverting Obamacare and cutting health insurance coverage do not lower, but raise the cost of insurance. (Clever of the GOP to implement it after the midterms, but a warning will be mailed just before Nov. 3.) Launching foreign war ads to the cost of groceries, as well.  

Bitten once, voters are not inclined to be bitten again soon. They rightly should be sceptical of anyone of any political stripe promising what they cannot deliver. The Democrats need to be specific about solutions that also sound plausible and limited to the doable.   A vague insinuation that voting for Democrats, instead,  will simply reverse the trend and punish the person causing it may sound appealing, but those who are specific about exactly what they plan to do and have the power and ability to do it will have the most credibility. The most disillusioned are the younger voters who have the sword of Damocles of student debt hanging over their ability to buy a home or even make day-to-day ends meet. It would be wise for Democrats to address these problems, too, if they fear the disillusioned younger generation flees our form of democracy and the wake of a run-amok capitalism that they feel failed them.

A reader responded that at least Trump is transparent when it comes to potential charges: what he is doing is criminal or in violation of the Constitution. Careful there: Transparency with Trump is not because he is honest. With him, it is a strategy to make you think that since it is in the open, it is not a crime. 1) We do not know what or if, anything else is not disclosed or if he is hiding it; especially any tit-for-tat, quid pro quo, and bribery. 2) he has immunity from prosecution thanks to SCOTUS. 3) He knows his immunity ends when he leaves office so he is trying to get immunity from IRS audits and other potential prosecutions.

There is much handwringing and fear permeating moderates in the Democratic Party, and all in MAGAland. Instead of quaking, there are some lessons for all to learn from these upstarts of Democratic Socialists (DA). Democratic Socialists have had some success in primaries, and here is what Democrats should take a page from their playbook. They are plainspoken, ID the winning issues, and give specific achievable solutions. Democratic Socialists have not promised blue sky, but they have been very specific in what they promise, while sounding feasible, too. (Yes, that current DSA message eclipses some of their very unpopular platform planks). They proposed Medicare for all, an easy-to-understand solution to the cost of health care, for example.  They propose building more low-income housing and flooding the market with availability and competition to lower rent costs or the ability to buy the American dream of homeownership., They propose fighting greedy corporations who try to buy up all of the housing they can to control the market, both purchase price and rental. That is another concept voters can grasp.   Getting the heck out of futile wars of choice in the Middle East may be a tough one, given the predicted Iranian chokehold on Hormuz. Simply declaring victory and withdrawing will leave Iran having the Western world slung over the high price per barrel for years is not a good outcome. 

Update 8/31/26  Some on the right are trying to brand all Democrats as "communists". While the planks of the Democratic Socialists of America are closer to Marx than to FDR, their embrace of the GAZA issue, their impact has been limited, mostly in local or district races. Even many who look or talk like them on some issues are quick to say they do not agree with all of DSA's specific planks. However, their success has given MAGA a talking point and a scare tactic.

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/democratic-socialist-candidates-show-gains-but-limited-reach-in-2026/.

Before falling into the trap of swallowing the MAGA line hook, line, and sinker, understand that the DSA appeal centers on affordability, which cuts across ideological and practical concerns for many voters. Consider and accept or reject each candidate's solutions to affordability concerns, Part of DSA's success is that they have been specific in their proposals, limited to popular legislation like Medicare for All and building more low-income housing. Both moderate Democrats and Republicans have failed to provide their plans to tackle the affordability issue, relying instead on anti-this or anti-that.

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However, the price of groceries and gas at the pump was never totally in Trump's power to make good on his promises, but they were in his power to make it worse, which he has done. We do not have a centrally planned economy, so "Zap", he could not edict prices, but he could monkey with elements that would affect grocery prices a bit. Instead, what he did do was tariffs, and Hormuz caused prices to rise. Voters seem to get that. He is right now proposing to flood the market with Argentine hamburger meat to force the price of beef down. In so doing, he is really ticking off ranchers and agriculture-related MAGAs within his base. I feel their pain living in an ag community, and I feel mine at the grocery store, too. 

Update 9/4/2026: Not only did Trump tick off his rural ag supporters by intending to flood the markets with Argentine beef (and Brazilian beef that went uninspected) earlier, he had cut the program to inspect beef coming into the USA. Imported beef must meet the same standards and pass inspection for contaminants as domestic beef; they also must meet packaging requirements and disclose the country of origin. But when those inspectors are understaffed, what then? https://www.propublica.org/article/foreign-food-safety-inspections-historic-low-fda?fbclid=IwY2xjawUHk1RwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMXNGODJTcnBwcjd3OHM1UDFzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeIk3AgXMSJ5kDzDpmpAzEiTjQPxJIBzlyFOC0hMz9LTBVjtd1SlORYCOzW1Y_aem_ufrN43wR1F7EYkLKOmOSRg

To add insult to injury, when the EU banned Brazilian beef because of evidence of antibiotic use and contamination, Trump immediately removed tariffs on imports of Brazilian beef USA, likely per Forbes, in support of his billionaire donor. Not only did Trump tick off his rural ag supporters by intending to flood the markets with Argentine beef (and Brazilian beef that went uninspected) earlier, he had cut the program to inspect beef coming into the USA. Imported beef must meet the same standards and pass inspection for contaminants as domestic beef; they also must meet packaging requirements and disclose the country of origin. But when those inspectors are understaffed, what then? https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2026/09/03/how-a-brazilian-billionaire-won-a-us-tariff-exemption-for-beef-the-eu-wont-buy/

The price per barrel of oil is, and never was, in Trump'scontrol. It is a commodity that is marketed worldwide, immediately sensitive to the forces of supply and demand, and under the control of oil cartels.  One part of the world sneezes, and the rest of the world, including us in America, gets sick, too. Trump has already released oil reserves, and now our reserves are among the lowest in our post WWII history.

Parts of the following also appear in my Substack and Facebook posts and comments :

Semantics:: Democrats do have a problem in messaging. They sometimes use more than 3-syllable words or words not in common usage by "ordinary" people. Trump ridiculed "affordability". Whoever used that in a conversation, he asked.. Maybe it works (and so far it has) because the first four syllables are in plain English. (affordable, get it?). The other pet peeve I have is the use of "grift".  Even I had to run to Webster's for that one to see what it encompassed. However, "grift " for sure was never used as a common term in our family, but it covers much,  from padding one's pockets, greed, to bribery and a lot of dirt in between.  Corruption comes close enough to be nearly encompassing. (Being greedy does not always result in getting rich) . Whatever both are, affordability and corruption, they are part of the same: unfairness. ...which is very much in common usage. "Fairness" brings up another overriding issue: the rich are getting very rich, and the rest of us are seeing our standard of living decrease.  There is a growing outrage that "It just ain't fair!"

"No Kings" served for a time as a substitute for Trump's non-democratic behavior and power grabs, but that sounds quaint, even if it is a non-hackle-raising accusation. Actually, the best parallel to Trump's obsession with gathering all the wealth he can while he can, issuing his own laws, ignoring laws that stand in his way, and punishing those who disobey them or him, or do not comply,  fits the "mob boss" role model the best. Since the venue is government, the best tag is "political mobster" or "political mob boss". Dictator or autocrat he may aspire to be, but he has not beaten down the lower courts totally yet. His preoccupation with vengeance, punishment,  and greed for power and wealth, only for him and those loyal to him, qualifies him as a "mob boss" the best. His corruption is in your face and in the open. The problem with tagging him as a mob boss is he does not look like one; he just acts like one.  The failure of the GOP-dominated Congress and the 6 Trump loyal justices on the Supreme Court who have not put the brakes on him, who have approved his power grabs, are this political mobster's enablers.

The elephant in the room of Colorado elections : who controls elections:Trump or Colorado

 Jena Griswold, current Colorado Secretary of State and now the Democratic Party winner in the primaries for Attorney General, is engaged in a very strange campaign.  She faced three opponents in the primary, none of whom garnered more than around 15-17% of the vote and who attempted to defeat her based on her management style. However, none of them even acknowledged the national debate on who controls elections in the face of Trump's ongoing attempt to federalize elections and control the outcome on his behalf. Griswold served as the leader of the nation's Democratic Secretaries of State (at the state level) and did much to protect genuine voter integrity from election deniers and from Trump's attempt to seize control of the election process. State control of elections (not by the federal government) was granted in the Constitution.  

Update: 9/10/2026 Paul Lopez, Denver Clerk and Recorder, is not waiting for ICE to be at polling places to take action: He and Latino groups in Denver are suing ICE to prevent them from being at polling places.https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/us/elections/denver-ice-agents-voting-sites-lawsuit.html?unlocked_article_code=1.AFE.h8sy.JirhIgvmofXl&smid=url-share.  ICE at polling places are "intimidating" and "chilling", per Lopez..   Around 1/3 of Denver's population is Latino, per census data. 

The pretense for any plan to place ICE agents at polling places because non-citizens are voting in the US is, even by Trump's own questionable study, is a false pretense. DHS in 2026 in a study that claimed very questionable numbers and methods, said they found thousands, but even then, there were not enough incidents to have changed any outcome. https://www.npr.org/2026/08/19/nx-s1-5938799/trump-census-bureau-noncitizen-voting.  

In the primary this year, Griswold didn't raise the issue of who controls elections;  the state Democratic Party didn't raise it; her opponents didn't raise it; and the GOP itself did not either. There is a very big elephant in the room that is getting tiptoed around,  and I don't get it. Now, the same anti-Griswold campaign has appeared on social media today in time to kick off the general election in Colorado in November, in which Griswold is on the ballot for Attorney General.  That line of attack failed before in the primary, and there is no reason to believe it will succeed in the general. They are while referring to a 5-year-old negative report on her management style and claim she hid it. What is at stake is a national story..This is a deep blue state.  I, in all of my years in politics, have never seen anything like it when a state election's national implications are ignored as if they did not exist.

As a former election official myself, I have prided myself on supporting the clean election system that Colorado has (including that over 80% of ballots are "mailed in"). The mail-in system was constructed by GOP leadership and administered to the T by subsequent Secretaries of State, including Democrats like Griswold.  Colorado has had the most controversial free elections in the US. Its mail-in system uses, I hear, FBI-trained handwriting clerks of both parties to verify the ballots, and it is considered the gold standard in the US. For that reason alone, Griswold deserves accolades for her administrative skills and adherence to the rule of law. For an alleged  Gov. Polis or gubernatorial candidate/AG Phil Weiser or name identification for Griswold’s win in the primary, totally ignoring the elephant in the room: who controls elections- Trump or the state of Colorado. There was national focus on the big issue of whether election deniers could get away with grabbing the ballots and tabulation of the vote and sequestering them and giving authorized access to partisans because their allegiance was to Trump.. She disciplined county clerks for not following the carefully laid out rules of the state they were sworn to uphold on taking office. The most famous case was concerning Tina Peters. Griswold, with the help of the AG's office attorneys, beat Trump at his game. She had locked up the ballots in her county and gave access to a Trump partisan, putting up a co-worker to help her do it, and then covered it up with lies. This destroyed the chain of evidence and the required surveillance by others not in her party. Trump intervened to "free her" from a jury trial conviction, putting her in prison because she had committed a crime and a cover-up.  Peters became Trump's icon of the ideal county clerk: "defy local rules and do as I say", instead. Now it is no secret that Trump wants all election officials to act like Peters and control the election count to his benefit. Peters is his role model. There appear to have been election deniers placed in official positions all over the country. In Colorado, all GOP candidates for state offices- AG, SOS, governor- are election deniers, sworn to rectify the "stolen 2020 election."

  On the issue of Trump's demand that the details of all registered voters on state rolls be turned over to the feds, Griswold defied him, too, and that is another reason to admire her. Yesterday, Trump's demands to turn over voter rolls to the feds met their 23rd defeat in federal courts... as courts denied Trump's demand. We are now awaiting a Supreme Court ruling on Trump's demand to make the post office the agency to deny mail-in ballot delivery using those voter rolls. Trump has declared war on mail-in ballots, and that he uses them was yesterday’s headline. In the meantime, Trump has attempted to force Colorado to bend to his will by denying federal funds to Colorado, from food stamps to fighting wildfires, because we defied his demands as he tries to control the Nov midterm outcomes and lay the groundwork for another attempt to claim the election was stolen, as he told you in advance it was going to happen. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/06/us/politics/a-growing-number-of-election-deniers-hold-key-local-roles-in-midterms.htm

lhttps://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/trump-threatened-colorado-funding-as-punishment-over-tina-peters-judge-finds/https://www.denverpost.com/2026/08/14/colorado-donald-trump-tina-peters/

https://coloradonewsline.com/briefs/trump-colorado-voter-data-federal-judge

/https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/analyzing-presidents-executive-order-mail-voting

https://www.cpr.org/2026/08/14/trump-retaliation-colorado-email-tina-peters/?

https://www.denverpost.com/2026/08/14/colorado-donald-trump-tina-peters/

Trump and Tina Peters:  Trump takes care of his criminally convicted loyalists. Peters lands a job in California. https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/california-senators-call-for-maximum-oversight-over-conspiracist-tina-peters-new-election-job/?

How Colorado detects fraud: https://coloradonewsline.com/2024/10/24/fraudulent-ballots-mesa-county-colorado/

Crowley beats Hong ; moderates surge in squeakers over democratic socialists. Now what, Dems?

This morning, young voters probably feel like the air was let out of their tires. The "progressive" movement vs the establishment, the enthusiasm this generated in recent primaries, and the appeal to grassroots activism have suddenly met resistance, with squeaker results of some close wins and some close losses. El-Sayed in Michigan's close win and Hong's in Wisconsin's close loss show the limits of the "progressive left".  https://www.npr.org/2026/08/12/nx-s1-5927119/2026-minnesota-governor-primary-election-crowley-hong  

Take heart, young voters. A message to younger generations from one of the (not so) silent generation.   Realize that, win or lose, the Democratic Party cannot win without your support because you did so well in bringing new blood of ideas,  young legs,  and talented candidates into a "big tent" that had become filled with the old, creaky, cranky, and geriatric. Your success will and cannot be ignored. Take a deep breath and know that a MAGA victory in November would be the worst outcome you could experience.  Also realize that to win those close races in November,  the "establishment" will have to embrace so many of the issues you raised, like affordability, or they, too, will lose to MAGA if they do not. 

 Pollsters took a bath, failing to pick up on last-minute waves of pragmatism driving ." the establishment" to crash the party's growing infatuation with Democratic Socialists and those progressives who embraced parts of the DSA plank. It appeared to the pragmatists that the rise of the progressive left and the ideology of Democratic socialism were a gift to MAGA in the general election, setting up their defense loaded with messages of fear and hate.   There is a split in the progressives: those who do support the platform of the DSA and those who still support capitalism with reforms. Reform or revolution is a dividing distinction. However, both share the pocketbook issues and offer similar legislative solutions for those who saw their inability to cope with day-to-day economic demands. Call those left behind "workers", the "middle class", or " ordinary Americans", both DSA and the establishment wings of the Democratic Party are in sync on pocketbook issues, and if all factions keep their messaging focused on solutions to those issues, they will still succeed in November. 

 It also appears that older and wiser moderates awoke at the last minute to the danger of the extremism of the DSA's plank, with its anti-capitalist and pro-Gaza message.  "Moderates and establishment feared the very progressive candidates were a gift of attack ads material to MAGA candidates in purple states in the November general election.  The demise of MAGA power had been the assumption that fueled Democrats' hopes of a takeover of the House, Senate, and state houses, but now the fear was that too-progressive candidates would be more easily defeated in the upcoming general election.  MAGA was beginning to see some blood in the water and was salivating at the prospect of keeping control of DC as they began to paint the entire Democratic Party as a bunch of communists.  If any air was let out of the tires, the strength of the establishment in the Democratic Party and the willingness of the factions to work to gather in a common cause of a Democratic Party victory, MAGA may be feeling a letdown, too, today.

This moment reminded me of the early years of my own political activism in the 1960's and 1970's. I, too, embraced candidates with cutting ideas that shook "the establishment" out of their post world war II slumber: What I did realize, however, if any of my ideas had a chance to succeed, it would take compromise and many half a loaf victories for the issues I  and so many of those like me, had supported   Those ssues many of us supported were consumer rights, city is for people, mass transit, fighting destruction of neighborhoods,  more sensitivity to environmental and quality of life issues, and, of course, civil rights and inclusiveness. The brown cloud of air pollution had become the city's infamous hallmark nationwide. Many of these issues and their solutions were absorbed into the goals and policies of subsequent leaders in Denver, thanks first to the election of Mayor  Federico Peña and then all those who succeeded him to this day.  

There is an issue that cannot be overlooked in these next few months: the reasons these liberal urban ideas took root were that we had a democratic form of government that permitted equal time media coverage and the political organization skills of those who initially challenged the existing big-city boss form of government.  For that reason, fundamentally, supporting democracy in the form we have known it and democratic institutions allows new ideas to be accepted.  The idea of autocracy, dictatorship, and suppression of political opposition are the basic enemies that will cripple reform and the implementation of new goals.  MAGA and Trump himself are the enemies of this vision of democracy, because they try to upend our democratic form of government that enables good ideas to rise like cream to the top.  Young progressives should not lose sight of that fact and include the defense of democracy in their priorities. 

Updaate: 8/14/2026 If there were any doubts about the importance of democracy to those who want to protest,  look at what happened in Minnesota. After the murder of two demonstrators by ICE, Homeland Security investigated the protestors, not the ICE agents, using techniques and tactics characteristic of communist and fascist regimes, including modern technology, infiltration, espionage, and name gathering/finances of organizing entities. They found nothing to use to publish or to even prosecute, but they now know, for future reference, who they can suppress or prosecute on bogus charges in the future. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/13/briefing/immigration-supremecourt-jews.html

To believe that government is for one economic class or race or religion is the greatest enemy we face today if we want a peaceful, prosperous tomorrow in our multi-cultural, multi-racial nation. Elements in both the DSA and MAGA are guilty of promoting to powerful positions only those who are very much like them and suppressing or disadvantaging the " others".   All need a fair shot at getting their voices heard. Democracy provides the mechanics and hope for that to occur.

The American political system forces compromise and embracing of new ideas at the local and national level early in the election cycle.   Primaries are very important, and in the long run, the math counts. The bigger the tent, the more the numbers add up, and it is more likely that those appealing to the most voters win the seats of power that enable the implementation of their agenda.