{"id":8099,"date":"2025-09-04T07:59:41","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T11:59:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=8099"},"modified":"2025-09-04T07:59:42","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T11:59:42","slug":"dumb-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2025\/09\/04\/dumb-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Dumb Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Political Process<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

OK, I know what a lot of you already think:\u00a0\u00a0all politics are dumb, and ruin the lives of everyone it touches.\u00a0From local elections here in Licking County, to the \u201cRaw Milk<\/a>\u201d folks in the state legislature, to the daily shenanigans in Washington, DC: it\u2019s hard to argue that much \u201cgood\u201d is coming from politics.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, I\u2019m not trying to describe the entire political world, just one particular political move by the Trump administration.\u00a0\u00a0It’s dumb. And that\u2019s unusual; like them, or NOT, the folks around Trump are usually pretty good at the \u201cgame\u201d of give and take.\u00a0\u00a0But they are blowing this one.\u00a0\u00a0From a \u201cpolitical process\u201d side, they need to be called out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Survivors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There was a dramatic media \u201cconference\u201d on the steps of the Capitol Wednesday morning.\u00a0\u00a0Some of the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s sexual abuse openly called for the release of all of the information the government has about him, THE EPSTEIN FILES.\u00a0\u00a0They spoke in compelling terms: they were tragically damaged as young adolescents for the adult sexual pleasures of Epstein, Maxwell and their friends.\u00a0\u00a0The survivors spoke with direct knowledge about what was done to them and who did it. And now, more than twenty years later, they have not recovered.\u00a0\u00a0Some of those victims never did recover:\u00a0\u00a0suicide is a constant concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Games are being played:\u00a0\u00a0the Department of Justice released over 30,000 pages of \u201cinformation\u201d to the House Oversight Committee.\u00a0\u00a0But, almost all of those pages already were available to the public, and the remainder are so highly redacted as to be useless.\u00a0\u00a0Many thousands of pages remain under-wraps.\u00a0\u00a0The survivors are calling on the Administration, and particularly on Donald Trump, to release them all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump \u201cconspiracy\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

And in response, Trump called them a \u201cDemocrat conspiracy\u201d, and the demands like \u201cinformation about the Kennedy assassination\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0He might even have arranged for an Air Force flyover to disrupt their conference.\u00a0\u00a0So let\u2019s breakdown what actually is going on here.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE EPSTEIN FILES were a major campaign point FOR Trump.\u00a0\u00a0His folks demanded, and he agreed, that ALL the files be released as soon as he got elected. I don\u2019t think it was a pivotal issue: no one voter for Trump and full FILE release, instead of Harris. But it was one that drove his already convinced voters to the polls, helping his turnout.\u00a0\u00a0The EPSTEIN FILES were a major part of the whole “Deep State” Government concept, the “swamp” that Trump promised to drain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While swamp mitigation wasn\u2019t really on the Trump agenda, what his followers hoped for was at least a list of mostly Democratic names. \u00a0Some were\u00a0already floated: Bill Clinton, Bill Richardson, George Mitchell, Alan Dershowitz, Prince Andrew of the United Kingdom, and of course Columbus\u2019s own Lex Wexner, of Limited Brands.\u00a0\u00a0Trump essentially threatened to \u201cout\u201d them all as sexual predators, by revealing the EPSTEIN FILES.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frankly, most Democrats think the whole \u201cswamp\u201d thing was stupid (still do).\u00a0\u00a0And most of us assumed that Clinton probably was involved. It fits his well-known proclivities.\u00a0\u00a0So release the EPSTEIN FILES or not, it wasn\u2019t really a big deal for Democrats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it sure was for Trump\u2019s MAGA disciples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FILES Go On <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So we\u2019ve been dealing with the EPSTEIN FILES for a couple of months. Here\u2019s two essays I wrote about the subject already:\u00a0It\u2019s Not the Crime, It\u2019s the Coverup<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0\u00a0Tale of Two Deals<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>But, somehow, the Trump Administration has put itself on the side of the coverup, when they ran for office on the side of \u201ctransparency\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0It just seems like a politically stupid place to be.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump, and a sympathetic Melania should be meeting with the survivors.\u00a0\u00a0Trump should be pressing the Congress to reveal all the EPSTEIN FILES. He should order Attorney General Pam Bondi to put them all online, with some redactions to protect \u201cthe innocent\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0But instead, The President is telling Republican Congressmen that they will be \u201chostile to the Administration\u201d if they vote for making all the EPSTEIN FILES transparent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s just a dumb political move.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s on the wrong side of HIS OWN VOTERS.\u00a0\u00a0And while Trump (probably) won\u2019t run for the Presidency again, he still needs the MAGA-faithful to exert his personal influence over the rest of the MAGA-Republican office-holders.\u00a0\u00a0Why are Republicans Congressmen so afraid of Trump?\u00a0\u00a0Because of his power and sway over the Republican primary voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of which leads to the question:\u00a0\u00a0why?\u00a0\u00a0Why the reversal, why the sudden turn-around, why blame the Democrats for the issue Trump himself started?\u00a0\u00a0For all the political \u201cdownsides\u201d to his action, there seems to be only one, singular, solitary, answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump himself must have so much to hide, that he’s taking the heat and this damage to his own base, rather than have it revealed.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 What other reason could there be?????<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Political Process OK, I know what a lot of you already think:\u00a0\u00a0all politics are dumb, and ruin the lives of everyone it touches.\u00a0From local elections here in Licking County, to the \u201cRaw Milk\u201d folks in the state legislature, to the daily shenanigans in Washington, DC: it\u2019s hard to argue that much \u201cgood\u201d is coming from … Continue reading “Dumb Politics”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nDumb Politics : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2025\/09\/04\/dumb-politics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dumb Politics : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Political Process OK, I know what a lot of you already think:\u00a0\u00a0all politics are dumb, and ruin the lives of everyone it touches.\u00a0From local elections here in Licking County, to the \u201cRaw Milk\u201d folks in the state legislature, to the daily shenanigans in Washington, DC: it\u2019s hard to argue that much \u201cgood\u201d is coming from … Continue reading "Dumb Politics"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2025\/09\/04\/dumb-politics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-04T11:59:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-04T11:59:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Marty Dahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@martydahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@martydahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Marty Dahlman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/04\\\/dumb-politics\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/04\\\/dumb-politics\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Marty Dahlman\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\"},\"headline\":\"Dumb Politics\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-04T11:59:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-04T11:59:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/04\\\/dumb-politics\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":828,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/04\\\/dumb-politics\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/04\\\/dumb-politics\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/04\\\/dumb-politics\\\/\",\"name\":\"Dumb Politics : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-04T11:59:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-04T11:59:42+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/04\\\/dumb-politics\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/04\\\/dumb-politics\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/04\\\/dumb-politics\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Dumb Politics\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/\",\"name\":\"Trump World - Essays on Politics and the Trump Administration\",\"description\":\"Essays on Politics and Life in Our America\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\",\"name\":\"Marty Dahlman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dahlman.online\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dahlman.online\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dahlman.online\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\",\"width\":480,\"height\":640,\"caption\":\"Marty Dahlman\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dahlman.online\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\"},\"description\":\"I'm Marty Dahlman. After forty years of teaching and coaching track and cross country, I've finally retired!!! I've also spent a lot of time in politics, working campaigns from local school elections to Presidential campaigns.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dahlman.online\",\"https:\\\/\\\/m.facebook.com\\\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/martydahlman\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Dumb Politics : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2025\/09\/04\/dumb-politics\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Dumb Politics : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","og_description":"Political Process OK, I know what a lot of you already think:\u00a0\u00a0all politics are dumb, and ruin the lives of everyone it touches.\u00a0From local elections here in Licking County, to the \u201cRaw Milk\u201d folks in the state legislature, to the daily shenanigans in Washington, DC: it\u2019s hard to argue that much \u201cgood\u201d is coming from … Continue reading \"Dumb Politics\"","og_url":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2025\/09\/04\/dumb-politics\/","og_site_name":"Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","article_publisher":"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/","article_author":"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/","article_published_time":"2025-09-04T11:59:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-04T11:59:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":480,"height":640,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Marty Dahlman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@martydahlman","twitter_site":"@martydahlman","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Marty Dahlman","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2025\/09\/04\/dumb-politics\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2025\/09\/04\/dumb-politics\/"},"author":{"name":"Marty Dahlman","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c"},"headline":"Dumb Politics","datePublished":"2025-09-04T11:59:41+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-04T11:59:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2025\/09\/04\/dumb-politics\/"},"wordCount":828,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2025\/09\/04\/dumb-politics\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2025\/09\/04\/dumb-politics\/","url":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2025\/09\/04\/dumb-politics\/","name":"Dumb Politics : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-09-04T11:59:41+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-04T11:59:42+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2025\/09\/04\/dumb-politics\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2025\/09\/04\/dumb-politics\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2025\/09\/04\/dumb-politics\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Dumb Politics"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/","name":"Trump World - Essays on Politics and the Trump Administration","description":"Essays on Politics and Life in Our America","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c","name":"Marty Dahlman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","width":480,"height":640,"caption":"Marty Dahlman"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1"},"description":"I'm Marty Dahlman. After forty years of teaching and coaching track and cross country, I've finally retired!!! I've also spent a lot of time in politics, working campaigns from local school elections to Presidential campaigns.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.dahlman.online","https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/","https:\/\/x.com\/martydahlman"]}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8099"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8102,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8099\/revisions\/8102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}