IndieDems.com

NBC News: "Trump signs executive order requiring proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections"

IndieDems Comment:

The Republican Party since its inception has shouted its commitment to states rights and limited government. This is the latest executive order that tramples those principles into the mud. Isn’t it time we demanded that Republican politicians cease their flagrant hypocrisy about their basic beliefs?

(Editor's note: The following headlines are a small selection of those currently available. This is by no means an exhaustive list.)

Trump Is Doing Real Damage to America
New York Times - March 2, 2025

“I’m the Canadian who was detained by Ice for two weeks. It felt like I had been kidnapped”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/19/canadian-detained-us-immigration-jasmine-mooney?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

 Judge says Trump penalties on law firm send ‘chills down my spine’

‘People will die’: alarm after US orders removal of identity references from anti-trafficking efforts
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2025/mar/21/anti-trafficking-race-lgbt-immigration-demographics

'Never seen anything like it': Ex-Republican lawyer labels Trump order a 'confession'
https://www.rawstory.com/confession-trump-law-perkins-order/?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Mar.13.2025_11.58am

 Food Banks Left in the Lurch as Some Shipments Are Suspended
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/us/politics/food-banks-usda.html

Musk Said No One Has Died Since Aid Was Cut. That Isn’t True.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/03/15/opinion/foreign-aid-cuts-impact.html

 Under G.O.P., Congress Cedes Power to Trump, Eroding Its Influence
On spending, oversight and other issues, Republican lawmakers have willingly ceded power traditionally reserved for Congress to the Trump White House.

Wall Street Journal slams Trump for ‘dumbest trade war in history’
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/donald-trump-tariffs-25-percent-mexico-canada-trade-economy-84476fb2?mod=Searchresults_pos4&page=1

‘Unlawful, dishonest, and lack of decency’: Andrew Weissmann on mass firings from the federal government
Weissmann, a former top prosecutor at the Justice Department, discusses the latest ruling from a federal judge ordering some federal agencies to reinstate thousands of federal employees who were fired by Trump/Musk.
https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/watch/-unlawful-dishonest-and-lack-of-decency-weissmann-on-mass-firings-from-the-federal-government-234351685867?utm_source=pocket_saves

Trump is reorienting America's moral compass
President Trump's actions make one question whether America is still a force for good in the world. March 2, 2025
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/03/02/trump-zelensky-vance-freedom-policy/

Kremlin says U.S. foreign policy shift aligns with its vision
https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/international-relations/kremlin-says-perceived-us-foreign-policy-shift-aligns-with-its-vision/ar-AA1A5tdx

Where’s the economic sense behind Trump’s tariffs?
Not even Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent can convincingly defend the president’s trade policy. (March 12, 2025 at 4:41 p.m. EDT)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/03/12/trump-tariffs-allies-trade-war/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=wp_opinions

Tuberculosis Is Resurgent as Trump Funding Cut Disrupts Treatment Globally
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/11/health/tuberculosis-kenya-us-cuts.html

Mass Firing of Federal Staff may Imperil Food Supply, Cattle, and Pets
NYT 3/2/25

The "Stand Up for Science" rally took place on March 7, 2025, in Washington, D.C., and across the U.S. to protest funding cuts and job losses in scientific research under the Trump administration. Thousands of participants gathered to advocate for the importance of science and to demand increased support for research initiatives.

The Diseases Are Coming
By Craig Spencer
Elon Musk’s slash-and-burn government tear will have lasting effects on global health.

Department of Veterans Affairs Hard Hit by Musk Cutbacks
The New York Times reports that mass layoffs at the Department of Veterans Affairs have disrupted everything from clinical trials for veterans with cancer to local facilities being able ability to answer incoming phone calls. The agency has fired about 2,400 employees and plans to lay off a total of 80,000.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/05/us/politics/veterans-affairs-cuts-trump.html?searchResultPosition=1

How Trump Is Crushing U.S. Climate Policy
President Trump has quickly transformed America’s approach to the environment, withholding funds and stretching the limits of presidential power.

The Mahmoud Khalil arrest is also what cronyism looks like
The administration’s explanations are a cover: Trump is using his power to shield allies and punish opponents.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/03/12/trump-columbia-deportation-justice-cronyism/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=wp_opinions

The Social Security Administration is cutting 7,000 jobs and closing half of its regional offices.

Trump draws condemnation for using ‘Palestinian’ as a slur against Schumer
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5192699-trump-schumer-palestinian-advocacy-groups/

Trump’s USAID cuts are anti-Christian at the core

By Gregory E. Sterling, dean, Yale Divinity School

(Excerpts)

• Evangelicals and Christians who voted for Trump should be outraged that administration funding cuts will hurt charitable groups, including Christian organizations.
• …what is particularly alarming is that (the gutting of USAID) is destroying this humanitarian work with the tacit (if not explicit) support of too many people who cite the Gospels as their guide.
• Two of the largest Christian charitable groups that receive financial assistance from the U.S. government—Catholic Relief Services and World Vision—are heavily dependent on government funding to perform their lifesaving work. Both are now facing massive layoffs.
• Also disturbing to me are radical cuts to efforts by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide relief for areas hit by major disasters in the U.S., and layoffs at the Federal Housing Administration that threaten to disrupt its ability to provide the mortgage insurance on which millions of Americans depend.

FULL STORY

Trump is even stronger than he looks against his Republican rivals
-CNN December 9

READ MORE:

Trump's Mein Kampf: He Proclaims His Intention to Destroy Democracy, Establish an Authoritarian Regime if Re-elected

Trump's Resemblance to Hitler Is Increasing, Not Diminishing

Trump is showing how a second term would rewrite the rules of presidential power

D.C. Circuit largely backs up Lower Court and curbs Trump’s threats

With gag order fight, Trump is testing the entire judicial system

Trump’s galling immunity stunt is doomed. But it may delay his trial

The Kafkaesque trial of Donald Trump (Satire)

The fear of a looming Trump dictatorship

Excerpt:

Trump has made clear his stark, authoritarian vision for a potential second term. He would embark on a wholesale purge of the federal bureaucracy, weaponize the Justice Department to explicitly go after his political opponents (something he claims is being done to him), stack government agencies across the board with political appointees prescreened as ideological Trump loyalists, and dole out pardons to myriad officials and apparatchiks as incentives to do his bidding or stay loyal.

A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending.
-Robert Kagan, Washington Post

(IndieDems note: the redacted highlights below are a bare outline of Kagan’s analysis. In the article, he presents in detail the very plausible scenario that could lead to a Trump dictatorship).

(Excerpts)

• For many months now, we have been living in a world of self-delusion, rich with imagined possibilities
• When Trump becomes the Republican nominee for president, there will be a swift and dramatic shift in the political power dynamic, in his favor. Republicans will unite behind him
• Trump will use any trial to boost his candidacy and discredit the American justice system as corrupt — and the media outlets, serving their own interests, will help him do it.
• Trump will thus enter the general-election campaign early next year with momentum, backed by growing political and financial resources, and an increasingly unified party.
• Can the same be said of Biden? Is Biden’s power likely to grow over the coming months?
• Large numbers of Americans—Democrats and Republicans—view the political system as dysfunctional. Trump is running against the system. Biden is the living embodiment of the system. Advantage: Trump.
• If Trump wins the election, he will the fewest constraints of any president.
• Career bureaucrats will be gone, replaced by Trump loyalists.
• Trump will give not a damn about a legacy that benefits America. His loyalists will ask only that he triumph over the forces they hate in American society. That will be Trump’s primary mission as president.
• Odds are, his presidency will turn into a dictatorship. He has plainly stated he will “root out” his political opponents, and his words and deeds show he has no regard for the rule of law.
• Will the American people rise up in outrage? Don’t count on it.

“We are closer to that point (of a fascist-type dictatorship) today than we have ever been, yet we continue to drift toward dictatorship, still hoping for some intervention that will allow us to escape the consequences of our collective cowardice, our complacent, willful ignorance and, above all, our lack of any deep commitment to liberal democracy. As the man said, we are going out not with a bang but a whimper.”

IndieDems Comment:

My fellow Democrats, Kagan has written our Bible for the 2024 elections. We must heed his words and double down on our efforts to prevent the Trump dictatorship. Whatever we are doing, it’s far from enough. My top list of what we can do the most to rectify:

1.  Stronger leadership by Biden, both in image and policy proposals. Starting with the immigrant crisis on our southern border.
2. Stronger counterattack against those who support a third party candidate.
3. Pressure on the media to depict Trump and Republicans for what they are: the gravest threat to democracy in American history. Tell it like it is: the Republican Party has made real our worst nightmare: it has become a proto-fascist party.
4. Unrelenting actions to tie the Trump noose around the necks of our Republican U.S. Representatives and local officials. Daily phone calls and emails. Personal visits to their local offices. Use Trump’s own words over and over again. Sample statement: “Are you really going to support a presidential candidate who has stated publicly that he will ‘root out’ his political opponents without regard for the rule of law? Who calls his opponents by the fascist label “vermin?

An eloquent, comprehensive examination of that question is found in the book  “American Psychosis: A Historical Evaluation of How the Republican Party Went Crazy,” by David Corn. Check out these reviews:

Amazon

Kirkus

Barnes & Noble

IndieDems Comment:

The Republican Party’s downward spiral hit high gear when it nominated for President an immoral reprobate caught bragging about sexually assaulting women. Who then proceeded to mock the handicapped, demean the military service of John McCain, be found guilty of sexual assault. Want to do all the above and get elected to office? Run on the Republican ticket.