Expect the worst from Trump and you’ll never be surprised.
The world teeters, burns, floods, shakes. Europe. Japan. Venezuela. The American West. Nepal. A new word enters my lexicon: pyrocumulonimbus or “fire cloud.” It has been a long summer. Iran, Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon. Trump’s absurd ballroom. We poison or shoot the chickens rushing home to roost. We may have elections, but then again we may not; just because elections have never been suspended before doesn’t mean it won’t happen now. Expect the worst from Trump and you’ll never be surprised. He’s got his snout deep into the federal trough and won’t abide semi-adult supervision by Congress. He’s not a president, he’s a gangster, Michael Corleone protecting his father, and he won’t let go unless and until he’s forced. Will Trump’s rolling coup succeed? I don’t know. But he will try, no doubt about it. The question is, will we let him? Despite the No Kings demonstrations, as large and energetic as they were ( I was involved in all three in my city), too many Americans remain uninterested and apathetic. Ten million people in the streets isn’t anywhere near enough, not for a country this size. I know politics leaves many people cold, disgusted or frustrated, but November 2026 is different because we’ve never had a president as lawless as Donald Trump. Trump scrambles every calculus.
One day a historian will map the entirety of Trump World and show us the full expanse of this constellation of graft and corruption, its ties and connections to the entire world. Everything’s for sale under Trump, the US Government is open for shady business and very little is off limits. Full service. Want a pardon or some help from the DOJ? Put your money down. Need some regulatory relief? Invest in Trump’s crypto company. In their crypts James Madison curses, Thomas Jefferson moans, Abraham Lincoln sobs. Heart-wrenching wails, especially from Jefferson. They thought they had insulated our country from mad kings.
Average Americans from coast-to-coast are angry about the economy and the corruption, but are they willing to sacrifice to save this democracy? The more costly the sacrifice, the fewer people are willing to endure the discomfort. Human nature. What sacrifice am I talking about? Time. Inconvenience. Money. If it comes to it, will you stand in line for hours to vote? Will you participate in a nationwide economic boycott? Take to the streets if Trump meddles in the election? People have real skin in the game right now, and it’s time our needs and aspirations are heard in Washington, but only massive voter turnout in November can start that conversation. Make sure you’re registered. Make a plan to vote. Don’t switch off until a new Congress is seated.
Working-class people need affordable health care, housing and education, among other social investments. Our political class has utterly failed on so many fronts, but particularly by failing to enact legislation to protect the climate on which we all depend; instead it decided to bow to the rich and tell them not to worry about pesky government regulations, permits, testing, wage and hour laws, conflict of interest prohibitions. None of that unmanly, low-testosterone bureaucracy. The red light in Congress only flashes when proposals to help people come up for a vote. The Pentagon always has the green, as do tax cuts for those that don’t need them. Are you tired of getting the short end of the stick year after year?
We’re deeper in the shit than we realize or care to admit. The wealthy will never voluntarily surrender their priority and privilege. They will fight like rabid wolverines. We have to match them, snarl for snarl, claw for claw.
