Tag: Donald Trump

Project 2025

Vote for Democracy #31

Remember Project 2025, the lengthy document spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation to lay out plans for the “conservative president” they expected to be elected and which mirrored Trump’s Agenda 47 and the Republican party platform? Many public policy experts and commentators wrote about its extreme views and the impact it would have on Americans if implemented.

While Trump was on record as supporting it and many of its authors were former members of this administration, when it was more widely publicized in the media during his presidential campaign and proved to be massively unpopular with the electorate, he disavowed it.

Much of the flood of executive orders and administrative actions launched last week are in line with Project 2025, though, and people who were involved with its creation are coming back to the White House, although some, like Project 2025’s chief architect Russell Vought, nominee to be Director of the Office of Management and Budget, must be confirmed by the Senate.

Trump is still insisting he knows nothing about Project 2025.

Unbelievable.
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I’m posting this early in the day before I head to the hospital for my angiogram. I hope to get an update on that out tomorrow. Meanwhile, join us for Linda’s Just Jot It January! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/01/27/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-27th-2025/

on (not) becoming a political blog

Vote for Democracy #30

Those who are visiting here because of my participation in Linda’s Just Jot It January would be forgiven if they thought that Top of JC’s Mind is primarily a political blog.

I swear that it is and will remain an eclectic blog with personal, health, poetry, climate, music, and political posts, along with anything else at the top of my mind.

It’s just that, given where the United States is right now, political issues are smack in front of us all the time.

ALL THE TIME!

I had started a series well before the November, 2024 election called Vote for Democracy ’24 and was numbering the main posts that were part of the series. I’ve now renamed the category Vote for Democracy and am subtitling the posts with the number. (At least for now. Subject to change.)

As expected, the Trump administration has begun its term with a flurry of executive orders, most of them straight from the Project 2025 playbook. I’ve been heartened to see major non-profit organizations and state attorneys general filing legal challenges to the executive orders in an attempt to shield as many people and worthwhile programs as possible.

There is no way that I could address the huge range of issues here. I’ve decided that my role will be to highlight certain issues to raise awareness. It will be my little drop in the ocean of love, protection, and respect for people and planet. (Please forgive the very mixed metaphor. I’m super tired today.)

I hope you will drop in from time to time to see what is top of mind for me. I also hope that you will keep on reading truthful sources of news and information. I promise that I will post information that I can verify and will correct any errors that I may make. Of course, when opinions are expressed, they are my own but have been grounded in facts.

The truth matters.

Celebrating Community

At noon yesterday, Rebecca Solnit convened a live online event entitled “The Way We Get Through This Is Together: Celebrating Community.” It was much more uplifting than watching the inauguration. You can view it here.

Join us for Linda’s Just Jot It January! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/01/21/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-21st-2025/

The Six Triple Eight

During World War II, mail between service members and their loved ones was crucial for morale but delivery mechanisms broke down in Europe, resulting in millions of pieces of mail being stuffed into airplane hangars in Scotland.

Meanwhile, the 6888th Women’s Army Corps (WAC) battalion has been trained to an exemplary level but, despite their level of excellence, has not been assigned because it is comprised of Black and mixed-race women.

Finally, they are assigned the seemingly impossible task to go to Scotland and clear the backlog within six months. Under the command of Major Charity Adams, they use their training, skills, creativity, experience, and intelligence to complete the task in under three months. They then are deployed to France, where they clear a similar backlog.

This amazing history has now been brought to the screen, thanks to Tyler Perry, who directed and co-produced the film and wrote the script, based on an article by Kevin Hymel. Kerry Washington delivers a strong performance as the formidable Major Adams, with Ebony Obsidian touchingly portraying Lena Derriecott King, a servicemember of the 6888th who is grieving the loss of a friend who was killed in action.

While the film was released in theaters in December, most people are probably going to view it now via Netflix.

I wanted to lift up this film today in particular because the United States is commemorating the 95th birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. A major figure in the area of civil rights, especially for Black Americans, King was assassinated at the age of 39.

I appreciated that the film includes the later history of the women of the Six Triple Eighth. Given the racism and sexism they faced, recognition of their work was long delayed.

In 2023, a military base in Virginia was re-named Fort Gregg-Adams in honor of Lt. Col. Charity Adams and Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg, the first time Black Americans had been so honored. This was part of an initiative to finally remove the names of Confederate officers from United States military bases.

I am appalled that Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, wants to undo the re-naming. Some other Republicans have agreed.

No.

We need to recognize, lift up, and celebrate leaders like Charity Adams.

Thank you to Tyler Perry, Kerry Washington, and all who were involved with The Six Triple Eight for bringing this inspiring story to the public.
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Join us for Linda’s Just Jot It January! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/01/20/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-20th-2025/

SoCS: DT’s Cabinet picks

So, yikes! Going to try to post for Stream of Consciousness Saturday with a political post…

Linda’s prompt this week is “pack/peck/pick/pock/puck” and the first thing that popped into my head was the hearings in the US Senate over the past week for President-elect Trump’s Cabinet picks.

The scariest hearing so far has been for DT’s pick for Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth. While he is a military veteran, he is best known for being a host on Fox News. Unfortunately, he is also known for public drunkenness, misogyny, and mismanagement of charitable organizations. His defense against this evidence was that the accusations against him were “anonymous smears” even though many of them are on public record and that he has now found Jesus and is happy with his third wife and won’t drink if he becomes Defense Secretary.

While I sincerely hope that Mr. Hegseth has mended his ways and retains his new-found maturity and sobriety – or potential sobriety, as I don’t think he said that he has stopped drinking yet – this is not a person whose history suggests he is capable of managing over 3 million employees and a $1 trillion budget. (Apologies if I’m misremembering the figures. Stream of consciousness writing does not allow for side research.)

The vote on his nomination, first on the committee before whom he testified and then, if he passes that, by the full Senate, has not yet been scheduled. I would hope that such an unqualified individual would not be confirmed but the Republicans do hold the Senate majority, so it’s entirely possible.

I’m afraid.
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Join us for Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturdays and/or Just Jot It January! More information at the link in the second paragraph.

No US Expansion!

Vote for Democracy #25

One of the outrageous lines of comment that Donald Trump has hammered recently is that the United States should take over various places, including Greenland, Canada, and the Panama Canal. He seems to think he can do this by buying them or attacking them economically, diplomatically, or militarily.

This is totally unacceptable and violates both national and international law and treaties.

Greenland is a self-governing territory of Denmark, one of our NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) allies. Both the leadership of Denmark and the mostly indigenous government and population of Greenland have made it clear that Greenland is not for sale.

Like Denmark, Canada is an original 1949 member of NATO. They are consistently one of our top five trading partners. They are a nation with a long, storied history and diverse cultural influences and heritage. Canadians do not want to be part of the United States. They value their own democracy with its own laws, freedoms, and ways of doing things.

While the Panama Canal Zone was a US territory under a 99-year lease, it was returned to Panamanian sovereignty in 1999, in accord with the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, negotiated by the administration of President Carter, whose state funeral was on Thursday, which was ratified by the Senate in 1978. Panama has made it clear that they will remain in control of their sovereign territory.

So, no, Trump cannot add to the United States in violation of law and treaty. Any members of the military, Congress, or executive branch who are asked to assist in these efforts must reject those requests or orders because they violate their oaths.

If Donald Trump wants to expand the number of states, he should concentrate on granting statehood to the District of Columbia and to Puerto Rico, if their citizenry votes to change their status. He should also work toward granting House voting status for the remaining US territories and our indigenous nations. As Delegate Stacey Plaskett of the US Virgin Islands pointed out during the selection of the Speaker of the House earlier this month, 4 million Americans had no vote for Speaker because they have no votes in Congress.

I call on Donald Trump and the Republican majorities in Congress to prioritize full recognition of those living in current territories and our nation’s capital, not trying to take away the sovereignty of citizens of other nations.
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January 6th

Vote for Democracy #24

Under the United States Constitution, January 6th is the date that Congress meets in joint session to certify the electoral college votes for president and vice president that took place the prior November.

Today, this certification happened smoothly and quickly, marking the peaceful transfer of power that had been the norm in the US until it was shattered on January 6, 2021, when a mob violently stormed the Capitol after weeks of unfounded claims by Donald Trump and his team that the election had been stolen from him, even though government officials around the country had certified that the election results were fair and valid and dozens of court cases challenging the results had failed.

Members of Congress had to be evacuated to safer locations, but about 140 police officers were wounded in the assault, with five deaths being attributed to the attack and its aftermath. Donald Trump waited for hours to ask his supporters to leave the Capitol. When Congress re-convened later that night, there were still 147 Republicans who voted against certifying all the electors, which was unconscionable, given the threat that the riot had posed to them and their colleagues. (To read the most comprehensive report about the January 6th, 2021 attack, please visit this link, which has the full report from the House Select Committee plus supporting materials, such as court documents, videos, interviews, and depositions.)

Despite all of this, Donald Trump managed to convince enough voters that the attack didn’t happen at all, that it was a “day of love,” and that the people who had been convicted at trial or had pleaded guilty in the attack planning or execution were political prisoners, that he won the 2024 election which was certified today.

Trump has indicated that he may pardon all or most of the convicted after he is inaugurated on Jan. 20th. He has threatened to arrest the people in Congress and the Justice Department who investigated the attack and his role in it.

I will continue to be part of the millions of Americans who believe in the truth, the Constitution, and the rule of law. Trump and his Republican gang cannot erase the mountain of evidence against them. Bizarrely, one of the things that Trump is claiming the members of the House Select Committee did was to destroy all the evidence; the link above shows that they instead made the evidence public.

Don’t fall for Trump’s lies about January 6th, 2021 or anything else. Look at the evidence. Find the truth and proclaim it.

We are going to need to do it a lot to get through these next four years with our democracy functioning.
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Join us for Just Jot It January! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/01/06/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-6th-2025/

Vote for Democracy #23

MAGA versus DOGE

(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)

The transition to the Trump administration is a mess.

The ethics document for the transition was signed belatedly and is very weak regarding conflicts of interest. Many of Trump’s nominees for high level positions are openly hostile to the departments that they are slated to head. Some have no experience leading large organizations. A disturbing number are most well-known as media personalities rather than subject area experts. Several have had serious allegations against them that would raise red flags in a thorough background check. Many are extremely wealthy. Some of these nominees, such as Cabinet secretaries, require Senate confirmation and it remains unclear if enough Republican senators will oppose problematic nominees or not.

There is also the bizarre creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), co-chaired by billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Despite its name, it is not an executive branch department, which would require an act of Congress to establish. Its apparent aim is to cut $2 trillion from the budget, even though this would mean cutting benefits for the public, such as Social Security and Medicare. However, they seem dedicated to extending tax cuts for wealthy people and corporations.

The whole enterprise seems dedicated to strengthening American oligarchy rather than democracy.

In recent days, though, there is a major, public battle going on between DOGE and MAGA over the topic of immigration. (For those who might not know, MAGA stands for “Make America Great Again” and is shorthand for the populist, anti-immigrant, sometimes Christian nationalist, base that follows Trump.)

Musk and Ramaswamy, along with other rich, high-tech executives, some of whom gave major amounts of money to elect Trump and many of whom are, like Musk, immigrants themselves, favor raising the number of H-1B visas offered by the US. These visas are given to highly skilled foreign workers. They are controversial because some employers have used them to bring in lower-waged foreign workers rather than hiring, training, and/or retaining US workers.

Those who speak for MAGA oppose all immigration and want the H-1B program to end.

A war of words has broken out between DOGE and MAGA; Heather Cox Richardson published a helpful recap. A lot of it happened on Elon Musk’s platform X, formerly Twitter. (I used to cross-post from Top of JC’s Mind to Twitter/X but no longer do so.)

To have this level of in-fighting before we even get to inauguration day on January 20th does not bode well for the functionality of the incoming administration.

The differences between the rich, powerful DOGE faction and the large, non-wealthy, populist MAGA faction extend to other areas of endeavor. For example, DOGE is talking about cutting earned benefit programs, such as Social Security and Medicare, as well as social safety net programs, such as SNAP, formerly known as food stamps. Many MAGA households rely on these programs to make ends meet. The House Republicans haven’t been able to get their act together this last term and their majority in the next term is even smaller.

I don’t know if we will have a largely dysfunctional government or one in which Trump attempts to concentrate all power in the executive branch, trying to govern by executive order and intimidation rather than legislation.

I’m scared but trying to listen to trusted voices and organizations that are preparing for all eventualities.

We need our diverse, pluralistic democracy to prevail.

Vote for Democracy ’24 #21

a political fantasy

(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)

As I watch with growing alarm the parade of unqualified and corrupt cronies that DT is nominating for his administration, I have started to indulge in a political fantasy regarding Congress.

As has become more obvious with each passing day, DT is planning to grab all the political power possible to make money for himself and his already exorbitantly rich cronies, to cut government services for the citizenry, and to keep Congress and the courts from checking him.

The Republican majorities in both houses of Congress are very slim, so it will only take a small number of members to keep the Republicans from enacting legislation that DT demands.

During part of the Andrew Cuomo administration in New York, the State Senate swung from many years of being majority Republican to majority Democrat. However, several Democratic senators formed their own independent caucus, resulting in the Republicans still being able to maintain majority control.

I call on all Republican members of Congress who are non-MAGA and care about our democracy and governing for the good of the people to establish a caucus independent of the Republicans. Even if there were only a handful in each house willing to do this, it would give control of legislation to the Democrats and prevent gutting Social Security, our health care system, government services, and our tax system. It would also make it more likely that the Senate would reject DT’s nominees for positions that are meant to destroy the departments or agencies that they would head.

Maybe they could be called the Constitution Caucus. Or the Independent Conservative Caucus. Or the Protect Democracy Caucus. Or the Political Courage Caucus.

Whatever they chose to call themselves, they could join with Democrats to craft and pass reasonable budgets and legislation and keep the United States from degenerating into a kleptocracy, plutocracy, autocracy, oligarchy, or any of the other forms of government that are threatening us.

The United States Constitution established a federal democratic republic.

Congress needs to fulfill their duties to keep it.

It’s time for Republican members of Congress to step up and take a stand for the Constitution and the American people. While it’s true that these members could be primaried in their next election, these next two years are crucial for the country to continue to have a functioning federal government.

So, Congressional Republicans of conscience and courage, step up! I know I am indulging in a political daydream but, sometimes, fantasy can become reality.

Vote for Democracy ’24 #20

Aftermath – part 1

(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)

My apologies for the long gap from United States Election Day and this post. We’ve been having a lot happening on the health front here and my limited brainpower had to tend to that over blogging. This post will concentrate on the aftermath of the election itself, not dealing with things like Trump’s staffing decisions and policy pronouncements for his impending administration.

If you have been reading this series, you know that I am upset and worried that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz lost the election. I am, however, grateful that my district (New York 19) elected Democrat Josh Riley over incumbent Republican Marc Molinaro and kept in place State Senator Lea Webb and Assemblymember Donna Lupardo, both of whom were instrumental in the passage of the ban on carbon dioxide fracking in our state.

While I am very worried about the impact that Trump and MAGA Republicans will have on the country, I was encouraged by the reaction from organizations with which I am involved, commentators and experts that I read, and from Vice President Harris herself that we would all continue to work to protect democracy, people, and the planet, especially those who are most vulnerable. Because I have a long history working on environmental/climate and social justice issues, I was comforted to receive so many supportive messages from trusted people and organizations. Many are already making plans within their expertise to protect our civil rights, enforce environmental laws, expose corruption, etc.

I have been somewhat puzzled by those who are saying that the Democrats failed in their message and policy ideas. They tend to say that the Democrats should have talked about fighting inflation, increasing affordable housing, health care, labor issues, and affordability in general, but the thing is, they were talking about those things – over and over for months. Somehow, though, these people missed it.

I think the biggest reason for Trump’s victory, narrow as it was in that more people voted against him than for him, is that there was a massive amount of mis- and disinformation in the campaign. Much of it came directly from the Trump campaign itself but there was also a lot coming from our Republican campaigns, PACs and superPACs, and from foreign entities, including Russia, China, and Iran. For example, Russia put out a fake video purporting to show non-citizens voting in the state of Georgia in the days before the election. There was also a flood of mis/disinformation coming through Elon Musk’s X, as well as other online platforms. Besides Musk, other billionaires and rich heads of companies spent heavily on behalf of Trump and Republicans.

Because our NY-19 House of Representatives district was so hotly contested, we saw this sort of misleading information effort in action. We got mail every day for weeks with lies about crime statistics, immigration, economics, reproductive rights, and more, trying to get votes for the Republican incumbent. Everything was designed to invoke fear and grievance.

Enough people in our district saw through these tactics to elect the Democratic challenger, who was also able to tout his hometown roots, but, nationally, the disinformation held enough sway that Harris lost. There also appeared to be a lot of voters, especially non-college-educated, young, male, lower-income ones, who voted for Trump without having much information at all. One of the most popular Internet searches on election day was about if Joe Biden was running, which seems incredible to those of us who follows news consistently, but apparently there were a lot of people heading to the polls without even knowing who the main party candidates were. There have also been reports of many Trump voters being surprised to find out that he actually intends to follow through on his rhetoric regarding tariffs, deportation, cutting government services, etc.

I can understand how some of the Trump voters fell for the lies and felt they needed a strongman to protect them from these perceived, if not actually real, threats. Unfortunately, fearmongering and grievance can work. I am disturbed, however, by those who voted for Trump because the racism, sexism, and/or Christian nationalism appealed to them. There was so much hateful rhetoric during the campaign and there have been increased threats and harassment against women, people of color, non-Christians, and members of the LGBTQ+ community both during the campaign and since the election. Some of this has impacted people that I know personally while others have been large-scale, such as threatening texts and emails sent with racist or homophobic messages.

I am grateful that the Biden-Harris administation is dedicated to the peaceful transfer of power and we don’t have to worry about violence in the streets or in Washington from Harris’s supporters as we saw from Trump’s after his loss in 2020, especially on January 6, 2021.

I’m afraid that Trump will pardon all the people who committed crimes in connection with Jan. 6th, which he has re-cast as a “day of love,” even though we all saw the violence and destruction in the Capitol that day.

Don’t fall for Trump’s lies.

Find knowledgeable, factual sources and stand up for truth.

Millions of others will be standing with you.