Balance
The media needs to “balance” their news reporting. After all, this is the era when the “friends” of the Trump Presidency “buy” the news. That’s like David Ellison through his Sky Dance corporation, who bought CBS. The rich tradition of Edward R Murrow and Fred Friendly is now sullied by the carefully “curated” influence of conservative News Editor Bari Weiss. She was brought in to “make sure” that the “Eye Network” reports as much negative news about Democrats than the MAGA Republicans in control.
Ellison’s also out to get the old “Time Warner” properties, which includes CNN. What he wants is Fox News 2 and 3; outlets for his (and his “friend’s”) MAGA views. And of the once great daily newspapers in the United States: most are owned by Gannett. One of the two independent voices of American journalism, the Washington Post, is owned by Billionaire Jeff Bezos (Amazon). It’s been pared down to Columbus Dispatch size, and warned off the toughest stories. Only the New York Times stands as the last bastion of paper and ink, willing to speak truth to power.
Rifts
So, there’s all sorts of stories about the “rifts” in the Democratic Party. There’s the ongoing “division” between the mainstream, moderate Democrats, and the Progressive, Bernie and AOC Democrats. They represent a difference in thought, but, more importantly, the Progressive wing wants to portray the moderate side as “establishment” Democrats, looking to profit from office. In fact, it’s interesting that the current Republican campaign against Sherrod Brown portrays him as the “mad liberal”, when in fact, Sherrod has been a solid supporter of the working man for his entire career. But that’s the MAGA attempt to paint every Democrat as a socialist.
But here’s the real story. It’s not about Democratic splits and shifts. It’s not about the looming Presidential race in 2028: Kamala or Gavin, Pete or Josh, Gretchen or Andy or Wes or even AOC! The Democrats are not the story of 2026 or 2028. The story is this: broken promises and corruption.
Promises Broken
Trump promised to lower prices. He (supposedly) won the 2024 election on the price of “eggs”. So let’s talk today about the price of gas. Or the cost of food at the grocery store. Or the still-escalating cost of health care. It’s simple: Trump promised America that they could look forward to a better life for our children than we have today. And that’s just not happening. In fact, the opposite is true.
Trump promised no more foreign wars. But here we are: entangled in the Middle East (once again). The greatest military power the world has ever seen is stymied by drones, speedboats, and good old-fashioned naval mines. Iran has us by the fuel pump, and they keep on squeezing.
It was a war of “choice”: Trump’s choice. And Trump never even tried to convince America that it was the right choice. Meanwhile, we still are involved in Venezuela, and now are eyeing Cuba as the next “victim”. The American military is being stretched to the point that Trump wants to double the budget, build a whole new “golden fleet” of “Trump-class battleships”, and place an untested “golden dome” of missile defense over the nation. It is Teddy Roosevelt’s 19th century foreign policy, misplaced on a modern world.
Debt and Corruption
The United States is in greater debt than ever before, over $39 Trillion. That’s $3 Trillion more than under Biden, just a year and a half ago. And who is paying for that debt. The American people, in part by taxes and cuts to social service programs, but more by the “traditional” US government way: printing more money.
And meanwhile, Trump himself is corrupt beyond imagination. Just this week, his own financial statements show that he is engaging in “insider trading” for millions in the US stock market. He buys stock in companies that he then makes government deals with. He promotes companies that he has invested in. He’s “bellying up” to the Wall Street trough, and making sure that the Trump family gets its share. It’s all illegal as Hell; but it doesn’t matter. He controls the Justice Department. He controls the Supreme Court. Trump has a “blank check” from that Court to commit any act under the color of “official action”. It’s the “Outer Limits” of corruption.
Funding Insurrection
And now, there’s the “1776 Fund”. So let’s see: the President of the United States sues the Internal Revenue Service of the United States, the IRS that HE is in charge of. He demands billions of dollars of damages from the IRS, HIS IRS. It’s like me, suing me, and making you pay for it. It’s a court case that cannot be won, because the plaintiff is essentially suing himself. But that’s what was happening, bound to be another Trump case tossed out because of bad law and bad lawyering.
But here’s some legal trickery. Trump decides to “settle” with himself, to the tune of 1.776 Billion dollars. And then he determines that the “settlement money” would be placed in a fund with the Justice Department to pay for the “damages” done to all those “poor folks” who engaged in an attempt to overturn the government on January 6th, 2021. Maybe they went to jail, maybe they lost their law licenses, maybe they got fired from their jobs. But now, Trump can make it up to them, and “pay forward” for whatever might be cooked up for 2028. And he’s doing it on “our dime”; my tax money and yours. The Courts can’t control it, and the current Congress won’t. We, the People of the United States, will be paying for the next insurrection, in advance.
Not About Dems
Ain’t that something?
It’s not about Democrats. As Democratic strategist James Carville said, we should all go on vacation until after the election. It’s not about splits in the party, or the differences between retiring Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden. It’s about what America is rapidly becoming: a rogue nation, casually starting wars without regard, spending ourselves into oblivion, and letting our leaders enrich themselves from the public treasury.
If that’s not enough to go out and vote for Democrats in November, then all I can say is the famous line from The West Wing: “…if you won’t speak up because you can’t be bothered, then, I don’t even want to know you.”
