...who is amoral enough to facilitate their evil plans.

of a malignant narcissist, and it is contagious. I mean, literally, according to psychologists, contagious. When he is gone some percentage of his followers and sycophants will go back to normal. You know, insensitive and greedy but not delusional and turning their backs on everything they used to believe. Of course, that depends on our also removing any malignant narcissists trying to take his place.

The Republican Establishment didn't want him.

Then he became the Establishment and transformed it into a member of an international crime organization the U.S. wasn't in control of or aware of the consequences. Won the popular vote in 2024 because people, like, wanted Season 2 of The Trump Show

The people did this. More fun to blame it on scary conspiracy theories about oligarchs under the bed and billionaires in the closet, but not what happened.

European countries with far less economic inequality than the U.S. also have problems with anti-immigrant racism and anti-Semitism, right-wing parties. It's not "economic anxiety" that turned people hateful. There has to be a rabbit in the hat before the magician can pull a rabbit out the hat.

Last edited Thu May 21, 2026, 10:30 AM - Edit history (1)

Billionaires own increasing acerage of our media landscape, and grifting influencers thrive on the internet. AI is becoming a more effective tool for the oligarchs supporting this fascist regime.

These more recent developments build on the groundwork laid by decades of rightwing talk radio and Faux News.

To be sure, the ground was already fertile with ignorance and bigotry. Jim Crow was still thriving when many of us boomers were kids. The "Solid South" was the bastion of the Democratic Party before LBJ ushered in the civil rights legislation of the mid-1960's.

But that old Democratic Party was also the party of FDR and the New Deal, serving the economic interests of common folk while the Republican Party was in the hands of the rich.

Reagan's southern strategy capitalized on the anger of white racists who felt betrayed by the enforcement of civil rights, and the South flipped to the Republican Party -- even though it still served the rich, rather than the common folk.

Where am I going with all this history?

The growing saturation of soil with misinformation and vile propaganda has conned broad swaths of the populace into voting against their own interests. This goes beyond the racial bigotry that already existed. Religious folk have been persuaded that the most immoral un-christian liar ever nominated to the presidency was sent by God to save America. People struggling to make ends meet voted multiple times for a thoroughly corrupt billionaire whose policies transfer more wealth to the rich while cutting safety nets that so many depend on. Flag-waving "patriots" vote for a would-be dictator who is systematically destroying the Constitutional rule of law created by America's Founders.

That is not natural soil. It has been poisoned by the malefactors of great wealth cited by FDR, the owners of the military industrial complex Eisenhower warned against, charlatans, con men, and 21st century tech lords.

The American People are not Donald Trump. A large chunk have been systematically programmed into swallowing what the poisoned soil sprouted.

Finally, they are beginning to choke on it. Approval ratings have plunged to the mid 30's and are unlikely to rise. The diehard core of racists and fools who can't admit even to themselves they've been conned are beginning to meet the face-eating leopards set loose by the feckless ignoramus who wasn't able to keep his own casinos out of bankruptcy, let alone manage the hugely complex American economy.

What this bodes for the near and long term future is difficult to foretell. American voters haven't gotten smarter; connecting the dots of their pain to the cause of it has gotten easier, at least for now. The heavily bankrolled propaganda networks are still in place. Trump is still president wielding the vast powers of the federal government; his party still controls Congress; and Red states are pulling out all the stops in voter suppression and gerrymandering, backed by a supermajority rightwing Supreme Court.

Battles lie ahead. The fate of our Constitutional democracy hangs in the balance.