written 9 March, 2025
published 16 March, 2025
It should be no surprise that a tsunami of chaos and disruption is sweeping the land, because some people still believe Mad King Donald, despite him having told 30,000 documented lies during his first term in office.
The GOP used to have some bedrock principles: equal justice, law and order, and integrity in business. Now that the GOP has been taken over by MAGA mentality, even those few guard rails have eroded as the action gets even greedier. Justice depends on the wealth of those involved. Law and order primarily protects personal wealth. It is illegal to defraud investors, but acceptable to lie to the customers in advertising, make others pay externalized costs, or charge outrageous consumer credit interest.
By abandoning any pretense of a "common good", the goal is clear: use political positions for personal gain, liquidate democracy, and sell public assets to the highest bidder. Putin did that in Russia. Whether the man in the White House is a Russian agent, or just a malleable fool, the result is the same.
Despite denying knowledge of Project 2025, he immediately began destroying the Federal government, starting with anything that benefits the poorer portion of the population. The GOP has always believed the rich should control everything. Some even claiming that is God's will. According to Bernie Sanders, over the last 50 years, $80 trillion have been shifted from the rest of us to the wealthiest 1 percent, and just three men now own as much as the poorest half of America.
The Republican majority on the Supreme Court worked for decades to pave the way. Corporations are people with rights. Money is speech, allowing elections to be bought by the highest bidder. Structural racism is over, freeing States to apply voter suppression. Bribery is legal, and the President is in effect a king, immune under the law.
Elon Musk, the world's richest man, spent over $200 million to help buy the presidency. His worth increased by $20 billion since the election, giving a 100:1 return on investment. He is neither elected nor confirmed by the Senate, but has been tasked by the White House to head the Department Of Governmental Efficiency and decimate the Federal government. Addicted to the horse tranquilizer ketamine, which can produce hallucinations, Musk is firing workers and closing agencies with little awareness or concern for the consequences. This is "cleaning house" by burning it to the ground. However, Musk preserves those portions of government that benefit him, while declaring “the fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy".
The announced goal is to cut $800 billion, in order to give the very wealthiest another $4 trillion tax break. This can't be done without cutting Medicare, Medicaid, and/or Social Security.
Medicare supports health care for 66 million Americans over 65, at an annual cost of $848 billion, mostly to hospitals and the medical/pharmaceutical industry, not to patients, with an estimated 8-10 percent fraud. Medicaid is a joint Federal/State program supporting health care for 83 million low income adults, children, pregnant women, and people with disabilities. The Federal portion costs $592 billion annually, with an estimated 5 percent fraud. Little of this money goes to patients either. Social Security provides financial support to 68 million elderly Americans, and annually distributes $1.35 trillion directly to individuals, with an estimated 1 percent fraud.
By contrast, the Pentagon, with an annual budget of $850 billion going mostly to corporations, can't account for 61 percent of their spending in the most recent audit attempt.
The president is not a leader, but plays one as a reality TV bully, surrounded by sycophants who boost his fragile ego. His policies swing wildly from day to day, with no coherent plan. This uncertainty risks collapsing the highly leveraged American economy. He is eliminating all climate information, and shutting down NOAA weather reporting, choosing ignorance over responsible action. Even Libertarians, who hold great distrust for the government, are concerned about the destruction now unfolding.
We are experiencing perhaps the final conflict between the illusion of the isolated individual and the reality of a fundamental unity. Many have commented on the president's deteriorating mental abilities, suggesting advancing dementia or chronic sickness. Whatever the cause, he is at war with reality, and reality will inevitably win. The only unknowns are what it will take to change, how long will it take, and what will survive.
