Trump Is Going Down

President-elect Donald John Trump is going down.

Although incoming presidents are traditionally given a honeymoon that lasts from a few weeks to a few months, Trump’s honeymoon has ended before it began. Before he even got to the White House.

But before I go any further, I need to tell you there is nothing new here. It’s just a condensation of what’s been going on over the last few days. It is a look at where we are as the New Year begins.

President-elect Donald J. Trump suffered a very bad stretch of days a couple of weeks ago, and then the bottom suddenly dropped out last Thursday night when civil war suddenly broke out in the Republican Party. It’s a war between MAGA Republicans and Billionaire Republicans, and Trump has solidly planted himself on the Billionaire side.

Also, the House Ethics Committee had released a report that says there is substantial evidence that Matt Gaetz, Trump’s first selection to become attorney general, violated state laws and House rules “and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress.” The revelations forced him to remove his name from consideration.

Also, Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, withdrew her name from consideration for the Florida Senate (after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis made it clear he was going to ignore Trump’s demand to appoint her).

Also, the strong and stable U.S. economy is suddenly looking a bit wobbly due to fears that Trump’s economic agenda of tariffs and mass deportations will raise prices, re-ignite inflation, slow economic growth, increase the deficit, and retaliatory tariffs and destructive trade wars with our closest allies. The markets are not happy.

Also, Republican House members rejected Trump’s demand that they suspend the debt ceiling so he won’t have to deal with that issue when he’s in power.

Also, a judge ruled that Trump’s 34 felony convictions cannot be tossed, which means that he could be heading for prison as soon as he leaves the White House.

Also – and this probably is the hardest pill of all for Trump’s ego to endure – people have started referring to Elon Musk as President Musk, and some Republicans in Congress are beginning to treat Musk that way. They are talking about President Mump, because Musk is beginning to matter more to them Trump does. Musk is the one with the money, the one to whom Trump owes debts, the one who has a much livelier sense of his own interests, the one displaying more energy. When their ideas clash, as over China in the recent shutdown dispute, Musk gets his way.

But Trump’s worst day came when Republican senators rejected his demand that they appoint John Cornyn, R-Tex., Senate majority leader. Trump wanted Cornyn in the job because Cornyn had promised to recess the Senate for 10 days, which would allow Trump to make constitutionally allowed recess appointments and thus name his Cabinet members without a public hearing. The senators, however, chose John Thune, R-S.D., and Thune has indicated he will have the Senate do its normal business and hold the hearings.

So, here’s a list of people Trump has appointed to run our nation’s business, people who will be up for nationally televised questioning soon by Democrats as well as Republicans:

Mike Huckabee, Ambassador to Israel. Huckabee supports Israel annexing the West Bank and resettling Gaza with Israeli citizens. He’s also said that there “isn’t such a thing” as a Palestinian.

Pete Hegseth, Secretary of the Department of Defense. Hegseth has tattoos that are popular with white nationalist anti-Muslim groups in the U.S. He wrote in a 2020 book, “Just like the Christian crusaders who pushed back the Muslim hordes in the twelfth century, American Crusaders will need to muster the same courage against Islamists today.”

Matt Gaetz, Trump’s first selection to become attorney general. (I know I wrote about Gaetz earlier, but I include him here again to put him in context.) The House Ethics Committee found plenty of evidence that Gaetz violated state laws and House rules “and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress.”

Pam Bondi, Attorney General, (Trump’s second choice, after Gaetz was forced to resign): Bondi was Trump’s senior adviser and attorney during his first impeachment. She also is a former Florida attorney general who nixed an investigation into a Trump University fraud case after Trump’s foundation improperly donated $25,000 to her political election committee.

Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence. Gabbard has a long affinity for Vladimer Putin and former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. She has championed Russia’s interests against the U.S. and our allies, blamed NATO and the U.S. for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, repeated Russian propaganda claims that the U.S. has set up secret bioweapons labs in that country, and has argued that the U.S. is wholly responsible for Putin’s nuclear brinkmanship.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy believes, without offering any evidence, that vaccines cause autism, and that no vaccine exists that is safe.

Billy Long, Internal Revenue Service Commissioner: Long has spent his career fighting for billionaires. While he was a congressman he tried to dismantle the IRS and repeatedly co-sponsored legislation to replace income taxes with a national 30 percent sales tax because it would shift the tax burden away from billionaires and onto working families. After leaving Congress in 2023, he helped employers exploit the Employee Retention Trax Credit, a program rife with fraud that cost taxpayers billions.

And then came the civil war.

The next step will be the hearings, and that’s where we come in – we, the people who love our democracy. It’s all hands on deck time. Each of us may only be a cog in the wheel, but we’re a cog, and if cogs don’t work the wheel doesn’t work. It may be a hackneyed phrase, but it’s true. Each of us can do something.

So, what can I do?

One important thing is call, write or email your senators today, before the hearings, and tell them you are appalled that Trump could put forward such outrageous people to lead our nation, and you expect them to put nation over party and refuse to install them and his other outrageous nominees. You can just click on the box at the end of this posting and follow the simple directions. Just a few pointed words is best.

It matters. Senators want to know, and they need to know, what their constituents are thinking, and they cannot know if we do not tell them. We need to flood their offices with our thinking and make sure Trump keeps losing. Strongmen lose their grip when they are perceived as weak and incompetent, and the fact that Trump has stumbled this badly even before taking office has been a jaw-dropping but welcome development. So let’s keep the pressure on. Be aware of what you will say when in the future you hear the words, “Well, what did you do during those times?”

Onward and Upward!

---