Below is my column in The Hill on the defeat of Viktor Orban. There was good-faith criticism of Orban as autocratic. However, the irony is that Hungary may have now cleared the way for the final stage of the European Union in overruling individual nations and their citizens on core policies.
Here is the column:
The defeat of Viktor Orban in Hungary last weekend was celebrated by many who saw the former president as establishing single-party rule in his central European nation. The irony is that this claimed victory for democracy may fuel the establishment of a global governance system that is neither democratic nor accountable to citizens.
The European Union was criticized by many for taking sides in the Hungarian election and for undermining Orban, who asserted national priorities in disputes with the EU. No sooner had Orban conceded defeat than a jubilant European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for the final coup de grace for national identity and sovereignty: the elimination of the ability of nations to stand against EU policies.
Orban was controversial for his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his lack of support for Ukraine. He was also accused of authoritarianism and corruption. I shared in some of those criticisms. However, the unintended consequence of this election could be the removal of a single autocrat in favor of a global bureaucracy.
Van der Leyen helped elect the pro-EU Peter Magyar in order to remove a barrier to the EU’s ultimate exercise of power. The EU had been squeezing Hungary over its defiance by holding back billions in funds. Despite his tough talk on negotiations with the EU, Magyar is expected by EU bureaucrats to be a suppliant, willing to fall into line with the EU agenda.
The EU Chief has reportedly already given Magyar a list of 27 demands he must meet before she will turn the spigot back on. She did not try to hide the agenda, announcing that the EU needed to “use the momentum now” to consolidate its power.
Under the plan, member states would lose control of their policy and could be forced to adhere to the priorities and values of the EU majority.
The EU Chief celebrated the new day of global governance in the making: “Moving to qualified majority voting in foreign policy is an important way to avoid systemic blockages, as we have seen in the past.”
In “Rage and the Republic,” I discuss the dangers posed to the American republic this century by the rise of global governance systems like the EU. The book explores how globalists planned to gradually get nations to yield their authority to the EU — destroying national identity and sovereignty in favor of an EU bureaucracy in Brussels.
As the EU moves to kill off national sovereignty, EU commissioners are calling for a single European military command, completing a longstanding globalist goal.
The 250th anniversary of our republic is occurring as we face an unprecedented EU threat. Our revolution was fought against a foreign empire. It now faces an even greater threat from a global government asserting the right to compel American companies to censor Americans and comply with environmental, social and governance or ESG policies.
At the same time, American figures such as Hillary Clinton are encouraging the EU to deprive Americans of their First Amendment rights using the infamous Digital Services Act to restore speech controls to social media. Other Americans have testified before the EU, calling on it to fight the U.S. Banners are now flying in Europe declaring, “We are the Free World Now,” as the globalists attempt to supplant freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
If the American Republic is to survive another 250 years, it must preserve key rights that the EU has been systematically destroying in Europe — freedom of speech, division of powers and political accountability of decision-makers.
That is why, I believe, the EU is inherently unstable and likely to ultimately collapse.
The EU has worked very hard to dismantle national sovereignty and identity in its member states. Historically, such collapses have been followed by different forms of tyranny.
Whatever comes next — and I could be wrong in my pessimism about the EU — the U.S. must take seriously the threat that this global governance system poses to our own values and sovereignty.
Von der Leyen is right that there is “momentum now” for the globalists, but the momentum of history still rests with the U.S. and its unique experiment in self-governance.
We saw this threat before, and we defeated a world empire. If we are to survive and thrive in this century, we will need to return to our own creation as a republic — to dig deep down and remember who we are as citizens.
Ours was the first Enlightenment revolution that embraced natural rights originating not from government but from God. We remain a unique people, joined by an article of faith found in our own Declaration of Independence. If this republic is to survive, it will be up to each of us, in the words of Benjamin Franklin, to “keep it.”
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
The European Union will ultimately fail, not because it is a bad idea, but because it will not be able to overcome Nationalism. Orban had his problems, but he held Hungary first. There is a constant tension between the EU and nationalists. I would not bet against the nationalists. It will not take much to turn their passions up. We are talking about people that are well over 1000 years old with long held opinions about each other. The differences are much larger than similarities. A United States of Europe is a great idea, but they need to come together and unite in reality and not just in name.
MAY DAY IS COMMUNIST CRIME DAY
Unions are illegal and unconstitutional communist gangs composed of thugs. No private or public organization may negotiate with criminal organizations, aka organized crime. The sole and only bargaining chip of unions consists of breach of contract, intimidation, threats, vandalism, violence, criminal trespass, property damage, bodily injury, mayhem, etc.
There is no such thing as “labor” in the popular sense. Labor is the expenditure of human energy. All humans perform labor, including theoretical physicists, doctors, trashmen, and janitors. Communist unions have no legal rights to or dominion over the term “labor.” Karl Marx referred to workers as the proletariat. What he actually meant was unskilled, poor, and parasitic workers who were seeking other people’s money, usually referred to as thieves.
Unions and communists are direct and mortal enemies of the American thesis of freedom and self-reliance, statutory law, and the Constitution. the Bill of Rights, actual Americans and America.
Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto 59 years after the adoption of the Constitution because none of the principles of the Communist Manifesto were in the Constitution. Had the principles of the Communist Manifesto been in the Constitution, Karl Marx would have had no reason to write the Communist Manifesto. The principles of the Communist Manifesto were not in the Constitution then, and the principles of the Communist Manifesto are not in the Constitution now.
wow, stfu dinosaur
“may fuel”
Another display of lack of conviction in the predicted outcome. It’s so strange to use that as an argument.
Perhaps an analysis of what being in a “union” means. Something about working together towards a common goal.
If the US Is terrified of the European Union, it should be happy to be a union of American States, even a United States, as some would put it.
The main US oligarch worry is that, much like Man was before God intervened over the whole Tower of Babel problem and divided people with different languages*, that the American God is worried about a revival where the divided nations of Europe regroup.
I can imagine the damage the EU could do to the US. Universal healthcare, for example. Clearly a tragedy when no longer having that Sword of Damocles hanging above the head of the average American wage slave, allowing the workers the chance to more easily vote with their feet and find a less belittling job than they currently have.
*total fiction, written by a Bronze Age people show as a false proof that they were God’s chosen.
Sounds like a return to a “1-party” rule system over all of Europe. Can a King be far behind?
I remember when all the leftists were upset about Brexit. Looks like they were right.
I don’t accept anything that the FILTH running the EU say about Orban.
From 2 Years Ago..
Orbán Damaged By Pedophile Scandal
Hungary’s carefully nurtured image as a safe zone for traditional values suffered a damaging blow this month from revelations that a man who was pardoned last year had been convicted of covering up sexual abuse by the director of a state-run children’s home in Bicske, near Mr. Orban’s home village. The crime for which the man was convicted was not made public at the time of his pardon.
Mr. Orban’s party, which has won four elections in a row, does not face another general election in Hungary until 2026, and so it is securely in power. But the scandal has severely embarrassed the government — and invigorated the prime minister’s opponents.
That a man convicted of pressuring victims to retract complaints of sexual abuse had been pardoned stirred widespread outrage, including among supporters of Mr. Orbán’s party.
The fight against pedophilia, which Hungary’s 2021 child protection law linked to restrictions on displays of gay and transgender people, has been at the center of Mr. Orban’s political messaging for years. In November, his culture minister fired the director of the Hungarian National Museum for hosting a photo exhibition that included a handful of images of men dressed in women’s clothing.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/16/world/europe/hungary-viktor-orban-fidesz-resignations.html?smid=nytcore-android-share
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Viktor Orbán had his own, Epstein-like scandal. And it certainly didn’t help his reelection bid.
Orbán Ran A Kleptocrisy
Part of Orbán’s appeal stems from a genuine and arguably reasonable sentiment shared by many Hungarians and others in Central and Eastern Europe: The European Union can be a heavy-handed, distant bureaucracy that constantly imposes rules and values from above. Orbán’s defiance of what some see as EU overreach or bullying feeds into his image as a defender of national sovereignty.
However, Orbán’s main grievance with the EU is that Brussels stands in the way of his ability to enforce his personal preferences on the Hungarian population, funnel rewards to cronies, and dismantle media freedom and judicial independence. The system that Orbán and his government has built is the very opposite of the American tradition of limited government, rule of law, and free markets.
Viktor Orbán loves to describe himself as a “freedom fighter,” emphasizing his battle against the European Union’s constant meddling. But while the Hungarian prime minister may have acquired greater freedom to act according to his will, hard numbers show that this has resulted in a drastic decline in liberties for Hungarian citizens since 2010.
https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/how-viktor-orbans-hungary-eroded-rule-law-free-markets
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The admiration Trumpers have for Orbán is based on the premise, “Any friend of Putin’s must be a friend of ours”. Because honestly, nothing about Viktor Orbán really sounds that great.
The Houck family was just awarded more than $1M in damages based on Merrick Garland sending his goons with guns drawn to arrest the father in front of his kids for the crime of being a pro-life Catholic. The Soviet style message was received by all pro-lifers. If there was any justice in this world Merrick Garland would be personally liable to pay the award … and then would have to spend some time in prison.
Unfortunately, we tend to overlook the insufferable dual state prerogative powers invoked by Merrick Garland and his band of brown-shirts are not being punished here. That $1M in damages comes from the people who these contemptible power mongers abused in kind – the taxpayers and citizens whom are now being flayed for the police state’s action as compensation for their shameful abuse of the Houck family.
Right, garland– it’s not my money
The Houck family was just awarded more than $1M as a reward for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, a 1994 federal law that protects access to abortion services and places of worship.
This is similar to how Trump is rewarding himself for suing himself. The goal is to drive up the national debt and increase the number of motivated lawless.
Houck was awarded a seven-figure settlement for a lawsuit against the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI following a 2022 SWAT-style raid on his home, which his lawsuit described as a malicious and retaliatory prosecution involving excessive force, an acquittal on federal charges, and significant emotional and physical damage to his family, including three miscarriages suffered by his wife.
If you have to start with “Houck was awarded money for breaking the law,” a supremely irrational position, then you’ve lost the argument already. Congratulations on the stupidest comment of the day. If I made garbage comments like you do, I’d remain anonymous too.
If I made garbage comments like that, I’d shoot myself in shame. Of course, what can you expect from people whose ideology is their religion.
Lying about the claimed damages isn’t new.
Upon his arrest, Houck was charged with alleged violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, a 1994 federal law that protects access to abortion services and places of worship. If convicted, Houck faced up to 11 years in federal prison and up to $350,000 in fines. Under the Biden administration, many pro-life activists were charged with violating the FACE Act in what the Justice Department now claims was a weaponization of the law.
Seems like Houck getting arrested had ample support from the law.
He didn’t win the settlement. The Trump administration gave him the money as a reward for hassling people at abortion clinics. Usually defendants settle over a concern the jury will recommend a higher payout; if so then the Trump administration short-changed him, but I think they were on track to pay little to nothing and the settlement was the only way to do the pay-off.
The claim of three spontaneous abortions due to the stress of having gone to intimidate people seeking medical help is ironic.
They weren’t “awarded” anything. Trump GAVE them $1 million of our tax dollars to settle their civil case based on their attack on an abortion clinic. They didn’t win any lawsuit.
Trump blows our tax money like water. Unsurprisingly, the national debt has grown to a new record high. He’s planning on awarding himself billions of our money based on the release of his tax returns and intends to award The Proud Boys and other criminals who carried out the insurrection he started reparations because he can’t handle the rejection of the American people. As if a pardon wasn’t enough, including those who pleaded guilty and/or were found guilty by a jury.
Rabble:
What I would give for just 2 minutes in your ‘reality’. Maybe I’d sympathize with your rotting cerebrum just a little.
The most famous Republican in American history – Abraham Lincoln – warned that America would never be destroyed by a foreign power. If the USA were destroyed it would be from internal division. Americans hating their fellow Americans.
There are a few things Republicans, Democrats and Independents have in common. All of us love our country but have different ideas of what that means and how to get there.
So even your biggest political opponent loves the country like you do, and shouldn’t be demonized treated like an enemy.
Another thing that unites all of us. The U.S. Constitution and constitutional-rule of law system benefits all of us. It protects property rights, women’s rights, gun rights and equal Justice under the law.
One big thing that all of us have in common is that over several decades, the $1.5 trillion failed War on Drugs has created more drugs, created more non-violent prisoners, less tax revenue and totally destroyed our 4th Amendment and constitutional due process.
Politicians then exploited the failed War on Drugs to bypass the 4th Amendment laws after 9/11 and politicians are still destroying more rights since then. Politicians have us fighting each other while they destroy our rights!
Reminder: it’s illegal to violate the letter & spirit of any constitutional right without a constitutional amendment. Congress and the courts can’t do that without a constitutional-amendment.
Whatever party you favor, tell your party leaders to restore constitutional rights! They won’t do the right thing without pressure. Don’t let them continue to divide us!
Who are you to tedll us what to do? If the site’s host wants to tell us what to do that’s okay but your ain’t him. If you want to be the man first you have to beat the man.
“If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher.”
– “Crazy Abe” Lincoln, Communist Author and Finisher
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“Crazy Abe” denied fully constitutional secession and threw the baby (i.e. Constitution) out with the bathwater (reprehensible slavery).
As president of the United States, “Crazy Abe” was compelled and sworn to support the Constitution which did not prohibit secession or allow the arbitrary commencement of war agaisnt a sovereign foreign nation.
People must adapt to freedom; freedom does not adapt to people. Dictatorship does.
That precisely what “Crazy Abe” did; forcibly impose anti-American, anti-Constitution, communist dictatorship by brute military force.
If secession were made as easy and painless as you think it should be, the whole idea of stable government would be destroyed. It’s easy to break things, very hard to build them. You therefore don’t want to give the upper hand to the discontents and institution destroyers.
Most people in what was once the Confederacy are very glad to be a part of the strongest and most prosperous nation on Earth. There’s power in numbers and unity. There’s weakness in splintered “us vs. them” politics.
If you understood law, you would understand that people and elected officials must obey and adhere to law; in a society of laws, the laws must be adhered to or there is no society.
Secession and its availability were referred to in the state documents ratifying the Constitution, wherein the representatives of certain states wrote that they would return to and resume their sovereignty in the event of their unhappiness with the union. Secession was allowed by omission. You have gone far afield from a debate over American fundamental law and begun a discussion of your proclivities and desires, which are irrelevant and immaterial and a complete waste of everyone’s time. Read and obey the law.
The existential threat to America isn’t from the EU–it’s from MAGA, Project 2025 and the sociopathic narcissist who lied to get into office by promising to precipitously drop the cost of groceries, who denied knowing anything about Project 2025, and then immediately implemented it, and who keeps lying every single day. This loser just can’t get enough of the perceived trappings of power and glory. Trump ordered a gold-embellished statue of himself with the fist-pumping image following the ear scratch he got from the alleged assassination attempt that many claim may well have been staged–but the sculptor has it locked up because he is owed $90,000. Trump thinks he’s going to install an Arch D’Trump monument to himself and his perceived glory, complete with gold-embellishments, near Arlington National Cemetery, but is being sued by a Viet Nam Veterans Groups to stop it. You know—Viet Nam–that war going on when Trump faked bone spurs to keep from serving his country. You know–veterans, especially those who have died–the ones Trump calls “suckers and losers”. Trump has installed banners with his ugly, jowly face on several federal government buildings. Trump tore down the East Wing of the White House to build a vainglory ballroom that would dwarf the historic White House itself, all without asking Congress or the Historic Preservation people–who have sued successfully to stop it. Trump’s lawyers lied and said that the ballroom was needed for national security–the Judge laughed them out of court. Trump installed tacky gold embellishments in the Oval Office and all over the White House that look cheap and gaudy. He wants his face added to Mount Rushmore. He has set a record for low approval ratings. His party faces a landslide defeat in the midterms, so he’s trying everything to stop the will of the American people–from getting red states to add more Republican districts, to trying to limit who can vote, by lying about nonexistent widespread voter fraud and trying to limit mail voting. Interim state and federal elections have flipped Republican seats to Democrats. Historically, the American people are taking to the streets in protest of Trump and his policies–by the millions–the numbers keep growing.
Trump started a war with Iran after promising “no new wars”. He didn’t consult with Congress, much less our EU and NATO allies, and then can’t understand why they won’t bail him out of this mess he caused. Another reason–Trump accused our allies of “ripping us off” and has threatened to take over Greenland, a Danish territory, and NATO ally. He thinks he can command that Canada become a 51st state. He keeps trying to bully Iran with threats of genocide that violate the Geneva Convention–proclaiming that he would wipe out their civilization and bomb every bridge, desalination plant and electric generating station (deliberately targeting such civilian necessitites and residential buildings are additional violations of the Geneva Convention)– and keeps lying about starting this war because Iran was an imminent nuclear threat to the US, even though our own intelligence says that Iran did not have any missiles capable of reaching the US, nor did it have any nuclear bombs. The matter of nuclear bombs wouldn’t exist if Trump hadn’t torn up the agreement reached by Obama. The truth is, Netanyahu coaxed Trump into starting this war–after he couldn’t get Biden, Obama or Bush to fall for his lies. Netanyahu wants more territory for Israel, so it started bombing Lebanon–just like Israel stole the West Bank from Palestine and moved in 800,000 Israeli settlers. Trump is going after the Pope who pointed out that war should be a last resort–after diplomacy fails.
Now, thanks to Trump and his illegal tariffs, grocery prices are higher than ever, gas went up an additional dollar a gallon in a matter of days–Trump lies about the cost of gas, saying it’s going down–it isn’t, and won’t for months, if not years. Trump was warned that Iran could close the Strait of Hormuz–which they have done. Trump lies about “regime change”–the new leader is the son of the former leader, and is more radical. All Iran has to do is hold on–every day the Strait is closed, it puts a strain on international economics–and it is all Trump’s fault. Inflation is going up, and unemployment is rising. But, those very wealthy got historic tax breaks. If anyone is destroyng our national sovereignty and democracy and our relations with the EU, that we need, it’s Trump and MAGA.
PSYCHOBABBLE! Take your medications ANON!
That was Gigi, who doesn’t realize that when she posts a 5,000,000 screed full of MAGA, MAGA, MAGA, blah blah blah, nobody will waste their time reading it.
I won’t
It’s Nutchachacha!
And that’s exactly what I did. I don’t read rants. I prefer comments that logically deal with the issue at hand not those where the poster has thrown up a bunch of illogical crap based on their feelings. Give me logical argument and reliable evidence every time. By the way, the requirement applies to both sides of the fence. While the problem seems to be more prevalent on the left, some of the same crap appears on the right also.
Nice, off-topic rant.
Are you sure it’s not “hegemony”, or is “psychobabble” your new word?
Your ‘concerns’ are noted. And now, back to the MAGA winning, worldwide, 24/7! Thank you for your attention to this matter!
What has MAGA “won”? Certainly not approval polls or the US economy. It sure isn’t local, state and federal interim elections, in which Democrats have flipped dozens of former Republican seats, nor is it the respect of world leaders or Catholics. You can’t mean the Iran war of choice Trump started either. Despite billions spent bombing them, Iran still controls the Strait of Hormuz and 20% of the world’s petroleum resources, which is affecting the world’s economy every day, and Iran still has half of its missile launchers and enough drones to defend the Strait of Hormuz. Trump keeps making baseless threats to annihilate an entire civilization and to deliberately destroy civilian infrastructure— which are war crimes, and even some MAGAs are turning against him. Gas and grocery prices are soaring. So, what has MAGA “won”?
Well, I’m not MAGA by a long shot.
But the market is doing well because as silly/diotic as Trump can be at times he’s not crushing us with massive ‘Weimar-Republic’ deficit-spending/money printing like the Democrats did. Under the Democrats/Biden my post-tax investment portfolio, at one point, lost just over 21% (down to $525K) from 2021 through 2023. While it rebounded it ultimately, lost 21%when adjusted for inflation after rebounded to $662K.
Under Trump my post-tax portfolio has gone from that $662K to $899K. So my inflation losses have been recouped as my portfolio has increased 35% since Trump and Republicans took over. I’m still not where I should be if the Democrats hadn’t crashed/hampered the market so much. BUT things have improved.
Others have done well, too.
While I’m retired, I do see the US has had REAL WAGE GROWTH under Trump (both terms actually) which was NEGATIVE (-1.7%) under Biden.
Rents and housing have stabilized in non-idiot states (sorry Blue States).
Inflation is reasonable.
Social Media is no longer being pressured to censor people.
Law enforcement is happening.
Border enforcement is happening.
Trump and MAGA like to lie about nonexistent successes because they are pathological liars. Anyone who goes to the grocery store or gas stations knows that things are not going well.
From “Economic Sense”:
“Trump has repeatedly claimed that wage growth (as well as many other things) were the highest ever during his administration, but that is not the case. The most that Trump can rightfully claim is that he did not mess up the growth path that Obama had put the economy on following his reversal of the economic and financial collapse that began in 2008, in the last year of the Bush administration.”
So, there wasn’t any real wage growth under Trump.
The market has fluctuated wildly–but overall, the gains of the past year have been erased because Trump started this stupid war based on lies. Rents and housing remain unaffordable. Trump and members of his administration have sued non-MAGA media repeatedly to try to silence them. The latest–Kashyap Patel is suing The Atlantic for reporting on his alleged excess drinking, lateness for meetings and other signs of issues with excess drinking. Inflation is going up and will keep going up because of the cost of petrol because the Strait of Hormuz is closed –again, because of the stupid war Trump started. Oh, and Whiskey Pete has tried to bar non-MAGA media from Pentagon briefings. Leavitt chooses who is allowed to ask her questions she will lie about. So, please don’t try to talk about censorship.
“Law enforcement”? WTF are you talking about? Trump pardoned the President of Honduras who imported literally tons of cocaine into the US. He pardoned the Proud Boys, including those who pleaded guilty or were found guilty of beating up police officers. His ICE thugs murdered 2 US citizens in Minneapolis. He is using the DOJ to go after his perceived enemies. The DOJ is hemorrhaging experienced prosecuting attorneys and Winebox Pirro can’t indict a ham sandwich. Trump keeps losing court case after court case because of his illegal tariffs, tearing down part of the White House, and other abuses. What a joke!
The market is doing well because it’s a Ponzi scheme that no longer is tied to company performance. Instead the balloon is due to inflation pressure from lack of alternative for investment as US major companies move expansion overseas and with it the host of lower tier companies that used to employ a good chunk of the American blue collar workers.
MAGA won free rent in your head for one…
No more than cancer lives rent free for those on the oncology ward.
Probably could use a new WH , TOO. Leave the old one as a museum but the dems will want to destroy it because of the US awful history. Eye roll
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The “Dems” are the ones trying to stop Trump from destroying the dignity and decorum of the White House and grounds. It is a historic structure and a temporary occupant has no right to make any substantial changes without Congressional approval and approval of the historic preservation people. Dems can’t wait for Trump to get out so they can pry off the cheesy gold embellishments, pry up the pavers and restore Jackie Kennedy’s Rose Garden, pry off Trump’s name above that of JFK on the Kennedy Center, and fumigate the place. Veterans have sued to stop the Arc d’Trump and historic preservation has gotten two court orders preventing the stupid, unnecessary ballroom that would dwarf the Executive Mansion and destroy the entire ambiance of the White House. There are lots of reasons why we don’t need a ballroom at the White House. There are usually several Inauguration Balls–held in various venues, by various groups. There’s not sufficient parking to have an Inaugural Ball or other large gathering at the White House, which was never intended to accomodate groups of several hundred people. State dinners are not supposed to involve large numbers of people. It’s just a reflection of Trump’s vanity–but most Americans oppose it. The cost is not the issue.
did you get it all out of your indigestion, gigi? Good. Now try and make an on-topic comment.
He did easy stuff we wanted — letting Border Patrol do their jobs and enforce the laws as written.
He did great things because of his pro-business attitude, such as recruiting $18T cap-ex investments.
He lowered taxes on business, tipped service workers, overtime workers, and seniors, all of which is building a resilient economy.
He has begun the difficult process of turning back Chinese influence in our hemisphere, dramatically with Venezuela.
OK, he suffers as an egomaniac and narcissist, and it makes him vulnerable to being “played” by adversaries like Putin and Xi. He speaks without thinking about consequences. He is undisciplined in his approach to written communications, giving the impression of an individual who is media-performative but not a serious player.
A smart person asks, what can we accomplish with this person as President? And, how can we help steer him away from blunders?
Trump is NOT great, except in his own mind and can’t be “steered” anywhere because he thinks he is a “very stable genius in astonishingly good health”. Just look at him–he is grossly overweight, has swollen ankles, a neck rash and unexplained bruises on his hands. He arrogantly believes he’s right and lies and projects blame when he gets caught screwing up–which is often. He bragged that he only hires the “best people”. So far, he’s fired 3 cabinet members–all women, and needs to fire more of them, like Hegseth and Pirro. He is a grifter, chronic liar, a misogynist, racist and serial bankrupter. He is cashing in on the presidency by selling cryptocurrency, accepts gifts from foreign governments and believes the lies of Netanyahu which has resulted in the deaths of 13 American servicemembers and injuries to hundreds more. There’s no end in sight to this war of choice. He tore up the agreement brokered by Obama which provided that Iran would not ever seek to build a nuclear weapon. Now, we’ll be lucky to get that deal back, and if he does, he will lie and claim it is better than the deal Obama had.
There is no “we” when it comes to Trump–most people who voted in 2024 did NOT vote for Trump–he received less than half of the votes cast. His “big beautiful bill” mostly benefits the ultra-wealthy, and it is costing us dearly–the national debt has soared. He’s going to have to pay back billions of the illegal tariffs he imposed, starting right now. And, Scott Bessent lied when he said that the money would be paid to China–China never paid the tariffs–US importers did. Wal Mart alone will receive several billion in refunds. According to PolitiFact:
‘The White House has publicly disclosed far less than $10 trillion in investments; it cites $2.1 trillion in corporate investments, or $5.1 trillion when including investments countries have promised.
Closer scrutiny of the White House’s data shows the $5.1 trillion figure has caveats; it included some already existing investments and represents about $4.3 trillion in newly pledged investment in the U.S.
The $2.1 trillion cited in White House documents also merits a grain of salt, experts said, because there is no guarantee that the full amounts promised will come to fruition, and some of this investment would have occurred regardless of who was president.”
The bottom line is: you can’t believe anything Trump or his administration says about anything, especially about alleged “achievements”, because they constantly lie. The economy is not “resilient” either–recall that he promised to substantially lower grocery prices “on day one”. He didn’t–grocery prices are up and will keep going up because of the stupid war he started. Suppliers have to pay more for fuel to deliver food to grocery stores, and companies like Amazon are imposing a fuel surcharge. Airline fares are going up, too, because of the cost of fuel, and we are on the verge of the summer vacation season. It is planting season, and farmers can’t get fertilizer because of closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which is also causing the price of diesel they need for farm equipment to soar. Trump lies when he says that Iran has closed the Strait before–they never did before he just started bombing them based on the lie that they were on the verge of nuking us.
You speak of enforcing laws–since when it is OK to beat up police officers, break into the Capitol and trash the place because your political candidate lost an election and urged his fans to “fight like hell” to try to prevent the rightful winner from taking office? Now, he’s got the DOJ trying to confiscate ballots in swing states from 2020–they will tell whatever lie they are told to tell about those ballots–which have already been audited and recounted multiple times. He’s planning on paying The Proud Boys and other insurrectionists reparations, in addition to the full pardons they already received. He paid Babbitt’s family millions for “wrongful death”, even though she was trying to breach the barrier to the Speaker’s Lobby. He is planning on awarding himself money for the IRS allegedly disclosing his tax returns, and paid some anti-abortionist $1 million to settle a frivolous civil lawsuit. He constantly loses court case after court case. He lies about only arresting the “worst of the worst” migrants–but entire families are grabbed up and disappeared. He’s trying to open concentration camps in various communities, but communities are fighting back–we don’t want them. Trump is the worst President in history.
and you are trying hard to be the worst commenter in history.
Scientists could not steer Trump from staring at the Sun during an eclipse; I don’t see any way to steer him except by offering him money or praise. It won’t get Trump to do good for anyone but himself.
Rabble:
Alright Carville, time for your meds and tapioca.
Whenever I get sick of Trump and all his lies, which is often, I tune in here and these babbling brooks make me feel like voting for him all over again
Most government employees are really good people usually with good intentions. But the Nanny State bureaucracy creates some really evil results for average people. Not through malicious intent but simply bureaucratic systems.
Even the nicest government officials with good intentions have blind spots and are tone deaf in problem solving.
Many bureaucrats (through no fault of their own) have little experience in non-government jobs and many college educated with no knowledge of how regular blue-collar people live or survive.
The bureaucrats also use their own value system to solve problems that don’t always match the people they represent. Good intentions but sometimes totally tone-deaf creating evil results for average people.
For example:
according to FOIA requests from the federal government itself, there could be up to 1 million people worldwide (up to 40,000 Americans on U.S. soil) falsely blacklisted by the American government – denied all constitutional due process for 25 years.
Apparently the bureaucrats realized they screwed up, but instead of apologizing and owning it up to it, they engineered it so that their torture victims have money, food and shelter likely to minimize future lawsuits.
The bureaucrats destroyed these innocent people’s careers and livelihoods, they destroyed their dignity of livable wage but they won’t officially apologize in any public way. So these innocent Americans have been interrogated for over 25 years by their employers (or customers if self-employed). These bureaucrats today in 2026 still won’t allow their faux-prisoners to make a livable wage on anything considered a risk to national security.
Their faux-prisoner could be allowed to do the dangerous job of tree pruning but not allowed to make a livable wage to do safer jobs working on tall buildings in cities (due to fraudulent 9/11 reactions). So that increases the risk of serious injury or death, but they have totally bypassed judges altogether. If their faux-prisoner dies they apparently act as though they had nothing to do with it. If allowed to work these Americans are being illegally interrogated and abused every day for 25 years. These bureaucrats seem totally clueless as to the harm they are doing to innocent Americans. If Congress can’t fix this genuine evil in over 25 years, how can they supervise an international nanny state?
Here is a fact of life: even well-meaning nanny state bureaucrats create extremely evil results especially in the electronic internet age, with covert blacklisting technologies. An international Nanny State would be extremely dangerous.
re: “well-meaning nanny state bureaucrat” blather
I don’t care how damned “well-meaning” a Federal employee might be, if he or she has the typical mindset that their job is a sinecure; i.e., guaranteed by right, no matter how abysmally they perform, or even whether or not they do *anything* that most of the most of the rest of us would recognize as actual work, they are the root of the problem, and we need them to be weeded out, ASAP. So-called “good intentions” can and will never overcome indolence and stupidity.
re: I Don Wannutono
It’s a bit more complicated than that. Unintentionally and unluckily I’ve become an expert on government corruption and the problem starts at the very top of an agency (political appointee or top management).
The lower level subordinate government employees – like you and me – have to pay rent/mortgage, children’s expenses and basic living expenses.
These low level employees follow orders from superiors (including illegal orders) to keep getting a paycheck. The top management is 100% responsible for changing a corrupt culture in their agency, not those following orders.
In the national security government jobs, these low level employees must follow illegal orders but then can’t legally talk about – not only could they lose their paycheck but could go to prison for following the law.
In the early 2000’s the Bush Administration systematically dismantled the internal whistleblowing system for government employees/contractors working on secret national security issues. Bush then systematically fired Inspectors General of the CIA and other agencies – if those IGs were too honest and too loyal to their Oath of Office.
After Bush destroyed this internal whistleblowing system, if a government employee were given illegal orders. The only recourse was to resign their job and then they were black-balled by the Bush Administration.
Former CIA agent John Kiriakou simply refused to participate in torture. The Bush DOJ framed him and sent him to prison for about 2 years. For context, obtained through public FOIA documents, about this same time 200 FBI agents threatened to resign over Bush’s illegal interrogation program. Kiriakou is only one of many such cases.
Then Obama refused to investigate or prosecute Bush interrogators. Maybe Obama had good intentions not prosecuting Bush officials but it only created an incentive for future abuses of power.
Just recently, the most loyal members of CIA, most loyal military members and John Kelly (former astronaut) were featured in a TV ad promoting the U.S. Constitution and the American Oath of Office. The top management in the Trump Administration tried to arrest them and put them in prison.
Pam Bondi apparently to avoid being disbarred as a lawyer wasn’t fast enough for Trump, so Trump fired her.
The big issue here is firing the low level government employees (who have little power) does absolutely nothing to help the innocent Americans that were destroyed by the fraudulent response to 9/11.
Not to minimize the evil of the 9/11 perpetrators that killed over 3000 Americans, but Congress responded by destroying over 40,000 innocent Americans through covert blacklisting over 25 years. Punishing the wrong people makes America less safe.
Congress has made the choice to let these Americans die and do nothing, then one day will act shocked and repulsed. Same thing they did to Japanese-American citizens during World War Two except covert blacklisting is way more evil. Firing the low level officials don’t solve this evil.
Nobody cares about your “big issue” or is remotely threatened by your laughable assertion that we’re “less safe”. You’re a nothing burger. Go down to your mother’s basement and don’t come back out. We’ll send you down some snack. Bet you like that Hot Pockets, yeah?
STFU your stupid worthless psycho-babble.
Way off Topic: If there is a lawyer or past lawyer perhaps you could answer this question? As I understand it the statute of limitations is 5 years for most crimes. With the information being released, giving the impression that several individuals in the government worked together to crush Trump, what is the time frame, if any, if it can be determined a conspiracy?
Thanks in advance.
richard
The nasty anonymous and X need not respond.
” what is the time frame, if any, if it can be determined a conspiracy?”
IANAL, but that has question been discussed here before on multiple occasions. My recollection of the consensus legal view is that the conspiracy remains ongoing as long as any of the conspirators are taking any action to keep it going, including activity such as concealing funds. Whether or not that scope extends to overt actions taken to keep the previous activity secret, I do not know.
thanks
Crushing Trump is not a crime. Using a wood-chipper would be.
Be honest. Who do you trust more? Do you trust your spouse, family and friends more than a politician you’ve never met running for election?
For most people worldwide that would be an easy answer, you have the least amount of trust in the politician running for election.
Democracy is a “bottom-up” system of representation. Local voters casting ballots to elect leaders. In the USA we call it self-governing.
In an international governing body, you have politicians you’ve never met trying to impose a “top-down” system of government. They aren’t representing local citizens, they are dictating to local citizens.
This “top-down” system never works in the long run. Why would Congress approve any of it?
Please stop polluting with your sophomoric sophistry. It’s so unwelcome.
Rabble:
Congress would gladly approve it, have been worming their way towards it since WW1. Think about it: the ability to stay in power, not beholden to anyone you are “representing”, and all the while taxing them dry and reaping the profits? Who wouldn’t want that? *why do you think Pelosi, Schumer, McConnell, et. al, all stay in so long? it’s not the love of the game, it’s the exploitation and profit*
The American Founders and their posterity took the colonies and the territories to the Pacific Ocean from Great Britain, the Indians, and Mexico.
Certainly their posterity now are capable of taking the United States of America back from the communist invaders.
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“[We gave you] a [restricted-vote] republic, if you can keep it.”
– Ben Franklin
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You couldn’t.
“The American Founders and their posterity took the colonies and the territories to the Pacific Ocean from Great Britain, the Indians, and Mexico.”
Are you certain that the expansion process to which you refer did not itself dilute the essence of that Republic? Don’t forget that the initial giant step in that expansion taken by Jefferson, the Louisiana Purchase, was arguably handled contrary to the powers specifically enumerated in the Constitution before the ink on that document was truly dry. Yes, it was rationalized and approved by the Senate, but it may very well have been a very early step in the dissolution of the Republic.
Louisiana and Alaska were treaties approved by the president and Congress.
The point is that it all needs to be taken again with the same capacity and resolve.
An even earlier step was the passage of the of the Alien and Sedition acts in 1798. The sedition act made it made it a crime to publish “false, scandalous, and malicious writing” against the government or Congress. I’d argue that the passage of the Sedition Act was the first step in the destruction of the republic.
A Republic to negate the inevitable pitchforks and torches mob rule over individual rights. Brilliant men, those founders.
The dictatorship of the majority—the poor.
America has forgotten all about the Mayflower Compact of 1629 at their peril. This document managed the implantation of a civil body politic that maintained order in the colony. Now all there is is disorder and chaos. You can call it freedom if you like but I call it entropy.
Freedom to fail?
Mayflower Compact of 1629 = rejected forced socialism
The vast majority of citizens worldwide are opposed to government “Nanny States” including both Democrat and Republican voters. Not only are nanny states unpopular but they simply never succeed by their very design.
A top-down totalitarian style government doesn’t live in your neighborhood. When they make bad decisions at the local level, they have no skin in the game – they are not harmed by the consequences of that bad governing.
A great example was ICE in Minnesota: federal officials flew into the nearby airport, cause mass destruction and death to local communities – then they flew back home. They never have to deal with the longterm damage they caused.
By contrast, assuming it was legal constitution action, if ICE had deferred authority to local and state officials there likely would have been no deaths and minimal destruction of property – since local officials know the neighborhoods and have to live with actions since they live there. Local officials can’t simply fly away and never return.
Both Democrats and Republicans hate nanny state governing. Women don’t want men to tell them what they can do with their own bodies or what types of jobs they can do. Gun owners don’t want a nanny state telling them they can’t go hunting in rural areas.
An international “Nanny State” government would be equally tone-deaf to its member nations. Americans have guaranteed constitutional rights that can only be altered through a constitutional-amendment process. An international nanny state can’t take away any American’s First Amendment rights or any rights.
You know you’re completely delusional, right? The deaths at hands of ice were martyrdoms. The crazies were encouraged to act out in ways likely to get violent responses from the badged patriots. This suicidal cult was successful and probably lead to a shake up in the deportation program of the administration and termination of operation in the locality of the suicide cult. Death of few crazies isn’t long term damage. It isn’t damage at all.
As for guns, forget the dog – beware of owner.
You need to have your head screwed on right.
Pretti helped a woman to her feet. That was what got a violent response from the badged goons.
He also kicked out a tail light like he was the very angry hulk! I thought he might be bulletproof too.
he was not. Same kinda violence that comes from many mental patients.
anonymous (2:07) Yours is one of the dumbest comments yet.
YOU said,
“A great example was ICE in Minnesota: federal officials flew into the nearby airport, cause mass destruction and death to local communities – then they flew back home. They never have to deal with the longterm damage they caused.
By contrast, assuming it was legal constitution action, if ICE had deferred authority to local and state officials there likely would have been no deaths and minimal destruction of property – since local officials know the neighborhoods and have to live with actions since they live there. Local officials can’t simply fly away and never return.”
Look, dumbass, ICE comes in AFTER there is a SIGNED AGREEMENT/Memorandum of Understanding between the states and municipalities and ICE. Read it, dope.
https://www.ice.gov/identify-and-arrest/287g
“cause mass destruction and death to local communities” is a problem for dum-dems because that’s THEIR job!
lol. If the DEMOCRAT CITIES had enforced the law instead of letting the protestors riot, destroy property and assault ICE officers those problems wouldn’t have happened. But they didn’t.
For example, Pretti should have been in jail for his earlier actions. Yet the city did nothing. Then, in the confusion (and stupidly bringing a gun) of low-intensity riot he got capped.
I’m for the Second Amendment, and a gun owner, but I ‘m not an such idiot to take a gun to what is likely to be yet another violent protest. Especially if I was one of those idiots who was instigating violence.
The Republicans let MAGA riot and vandalize the Capitol building; Trump not only pardoned them, but appears to be seeking some reward payments for them.
2nd amendment and they shot Pretti in the back after disarming him with officers crushing him to the ground. It was an execution. They did it because Pretti tried to help a woman to her feet after she was violently attacked, interfering with the plan of the ICE officers to cause her painful injury in one of many street-justice beatdowns the ICE agents enjoy performing.
WOW: The definition of psychosis is a complete departure from reality and this is a prime example!
Typo alert: Orban was prime minister, not president. The President of Hungary (for now) is Tamás Sulyok.