to issue such an order could not be clearer. His choice to run the Department of Defense, Pete Hegseth, whom the Senate confirmed Friday, is a Trump puppet who will do whatever Trump tells him to do. During his Senate committee hearing he would not commit to refusing to obey an order from Trump even if he knew the order was unconstitutional.<\/p>\n
Hegseth absolutely should refuse an order like that, as should every person who wears the uniform, from private to general. They pledged allegiance to the Constitution, not to the president, and that\u2019s where their loyalty must lie when Trump delivers that unconstitutional order, as you know he will.<\/p>\n
(Just for the record, Hegseth has been accused of financial mismanagement at the small nonprofits he directed, is known to be a drunkard, paid $50,000 in hush money to a woman who accused him of raping her, is a womanizer who cheated on all three of his wives, has extraordinarily weak qualifications for the job, and during his Senate committee hearing displayed that he does not even understand the job \u2013 yet only three Republican senators voted against him.)<\/p>\n
I have been told by more than one reader that I should back off from Trump. Just get him out of our minds for a while. Give us a break. Let us breathe a little.<\/p>\n
But I cannot do that, and neither should you. That is exactly what Trump wants us to do — back off so he can do whatever he wants to our country while we\u2019re not looking. That is what \u201cshock and awe\u201d is all about \u2013 wear down the opposition until fatigue makes them quit paying attention, then move rapidly and consolidate your gains<\/p>\n
Shock and awe played a major part of getting Trump elected. Canadian columnist Andrew Coyne best explained the phenomena of how Trump got elected and the situation that is developing because of it when he wrote, and Robert Reich reprinted:<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing mattered, in the end. Not the probable dementia, the unfathomable ignorance, the emotional incontinence; not, certainly, the shambling, hate-filled campaign, or the ludicrously unworkable anti-policies.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThe candidate out on bail in four jurisdictions, the convicted fraud artist, the adjudicated rapist and serial sexual predator, the habitual bankrupt, the stooge of Vladimir Putin, the man who tried to overturn the last election and all of his creepy retinue of crooks, ideologues and lunatics: Americans took a long look at all this and said, yes please. \u2026<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThere is no sense in understating the depth of the disaster. This is a crisis like no other in our lifetimes. The government of the United States has been delivered into the hands of a gangster, whose sole purpose in running, besides staying out of jail, is to seek revenge on his enemies. The damage Donald Trump and his nihilist cronies can do \u2013 to America, but also to its democratic allies, and to the peace and security of the world \u2013 is incalculable. We are living in the time of Nero.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Trump\u2019s post-election shock and awe campaign began as soon as he got to his desk. Much of it is Trump ordering things he knows he cannot accomplish by a stroke of a pen but also knows the news media will jump all over them and distract the rest of us. Wear us down to the point of surrender. Examples: He ordered the Gulf of Mexico be renamed the Gulf of America and Denali be renamed Mt. McKinley, neither of which he has the authority to do. His birthright citizenship was so plainly unconstitutional that Judge John Coughenour temporarily blocked its implementation, and said, \u201cI\u2019ve been on the bench for over four decades. I can\u2019t remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one. This is a blatantly unconstitutional order.\u201d<\/p>\n But Trump also is mixing in some dangerous things that he does have the legal and constitutional power to do, such as pulling America out of the Paris Agreement and the World Health Organization. He\u2019s also making noise about pulling us out of NATO, which would destroy NATO and open the way for his good buddy Vladimir Putin to do some nasty things in former Soviet Union countries.<\/p>\n He freed even the most violent of the rioters who assaulted the Capitol in his name four years ago, a riot that he described during a Fox News interview as \u201cvery minor incidents\u201d even though 140 police officers were injured.<\/p>\n He stripped former advisers facing credible death threats of their security details.<\/p>\n He eliminated diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and ordered government workers to snitch on anyone suspected of not going along.<\/p>\n But Trump is doing some plainly illegal stuff, too.<\/p>\n Disregarding a law passed with bipartisan support and upheld by the Supreme Court, he allowed the Chinese-owned TikTok app to remain in use in the United States despite serious national security concerns.<\/p>\n He fired at least a dozen inspectors general, ignoring a law that requires him to give Congress 30 days\u2019 notice and provide specific reasons. Inspectors general are the people who monitor departments for corruption and abuse.<\/p>\n Three days before taking office, Trump released a crypto token called $Trump that together with other family tokens rose to around $10 billion in value. The tokens create new opportunities for anybody inside or outside the United States to curry favor with the new administration, even though established law forbids a president to accept donations from foreigners.<\/p>\n He gave Elon Musk, the world\u2019s richest man, a mandate to revamp the federal government that puts billions of dollars in his pocket through various contracts.<\/p>\n And he has threatened to take over Greenland, seize the Panama Canal and convert Canada into an American state.<\/p>\n So no, please, do not give up. Do not lighten up. It\u2019s all hands on deck time, so do something. Write a letter. Volunteer a few hours to the Democratic Party headquarters. Consider running for an office, or working for someone who does run. If you want an idea of ways you can contribute, call up the Indivisible organization\u2019s homepage \u2013 Indivisible.org<\/a>. Indivisible began with the online publication of a handbook written by congressional staffers with suggestions for how to peacefully but effectively resist the nation\u2019s move to the far right. You might be interested in joining a local Indivisible group or even starting one.<\/p>\n Bottom line: We\u2019re fighting the same white supremacist bigots and misogynists who our grandparents fought in America\u2019s Civil War. We defeated them then and we\u2019ll defeat them again.<\/p>\n If we stay awake and involved. If we do not quit.<\/p>\n
\n
\ncurated by the folks at GrowPurpose.com<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
![\"CLICK](\"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/CONTACT-ELECTED-OFFICIALS.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"