By Arthur E. Sowers
Three recent polls are discussed in this Feb. 12 Axios.com website article with this title: "A year into Trump's term, voters say Biden was better."
It is remarkable that polls show that a continually increasing number of people are seeing that Trump's promises, statements and actions are doing more bad than good.
The next day, the same website carried an article with this title: "Behind the Curtain: Resistance rising." That article listed eight major serious national issues that were not only all over the media but were discussed in the context of some GOP elected officials openly opposing parts of Trump's agenda.
Those issues are: Retribution, ICE raids, National Guard, Tariffs, Epstein, Racism (the Obamas portrayed as apes on a Trump-backed video clip which Trump did not apologize for), Greenland and the Fed. Otherwise, within that article is a link to another, older article on the same website and it is titled: "Behind the Curtain: MAGA's metastasizing mess."
In a different article, on the politico.com website, the title says: "MAGA infighting erupts at Turning Point USA Conference"
A quote from that POLITICO article gives a sense of the fireworks that took place: "(Ben) Shapiro particularly focused on (Tucker) Carlson — both for elevating Owens’ conspiracy theories about Kirk’s murder and for his recent interview with far-right influencer Nick Fuentes, a Holocaust denier who has repeatedly pushed antisemitic tropes."
And, this NPR article makes it look like Mike Pence now has the moral high ground: "A rift in MAGA has top Heritage Foundation officials leaving to join with Mike Pence."
But, wait, there is more. On the reason.com website is an article with this title: "Heritage Foundation Undergoes Mass Staff Exodus as Cracks Open on the New Right."
This first sentence of that article: "Nearly the entire legal and economic policy staff of the Heritage Foundation is departing the conservative think tank, and many will be taking up posts at Advancing American Freedom (AAF), a nonprofit founded in 2021 by former Vice President Mike Pence."
Other Republican pushback on Trump is expanding. This article is on the MS.NOW website: "House Republicans revolt over GOP’s attempt to hand Trump Congress’ tariff authority."
And, from the Politico is this article: "Meet the YOLO (You only live once) Republicans: Lawmakers with nothing to lose are threatening Trump’s grip on Congress."
In another example of Republican pushback on Trump, the chairman of the National Governors Association, Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-Oklahoma) decided to not formally hold its meeting with Trump because Trump did not invite any Democratic governors to come! It is all described in more detail in this PBS article: "Governors won't hold meeting with Trump after White House only invited Republicans, Stitt says."
Then, shortly after that, Trump reversed himself and added his own spin as reported in this followup article: "Trump attacked this GOP governor while claiming Democrats were always included in annual meeting."
At least one more new protest group has appeared, ThirdAct.org. It is aimed at boycotting ICE contractors.
This is in addition to the protest website for the existing ICE OUT OF MN group as well as for the No Kings group.
Trump's "manual override" mindset ignores our Constitution. It looks like ICE breaks the laws, too, as reported in this Reuters' website article: "Courts have ruled 4,400 times that ICE jailed people illegally. It hasn’t stopped."
The Tech Policy Press website has this article: "How ICE Will Spy On Protesters, And How You Can Protect Your Privacy."
Also, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation's article: "Yes, You Have the Right to Film ICE."
An internet search using this keyword string, "DHS ICE spying for anti-ICE people," brought me many links to information on surveillance of immigrants, activists, and individuals who criticize the agencies. Information being collected seems to be just about everything about each one of us. Even if you are a citizen or you are doing nothing, you can be detained or arrested by mistake. This article on the ACLU website should also be helpful: "Stopped by Police: Learn about your rights when stopped by the police, and how to stay safe."
Next, are you following all the articles about how Trump is planning to rig the 2026 elections by unconstitutionally nationalizing elections?
See this article: "Trump’s calls to ‘nationalize’ elections have state, local election officials bracing for tumult."
And, here is more on that subject: "Even Republican election officials are balking at Trump Justice Department’s voter roll crusade."
So, what is the bottom line? It is not MAGA. It is not America First. It is not the "golden age." Instead, the world is going to get a unique Trump creation: the Board of Peace (to rebuild Gaza). It's a doozie.
It is extensively explained in Wikipedia. It is a "pay to play" club. Trump created the BOP and installed himself as permanent chairman (dictator) for life. Since only he can veto anything, he made himself even more powerful than POTUS. There will be no SCOTUS or CONUS to stop him in BOP. Since only Trump can name the successor to his chairmanship, BOP resembles the form of a medieval kingdom where the eldest son of the king becomes the next king. It will not be transparent. It will usurp the U.N. The downsides are explained in an anti-BOP article "International: The ‘Board of Peace’ undermines international law." The BOP leaves out Palestine, the Palestinians and human rights. The land grab -- another big part of the BOP Gaza project -- is explained in the article "Israel to restart land registration in West Bank. What that means."
I would dare to speculate that the re-built Gaza will eventually become invested in and owned by Trump's rich supporters and other like-minded worldly rich authoritarians. Surely there will eventually be "Trump Golden Peace Prizes" (instead of Nobel Peace Prizes) for those that help BOP. Gaza will also likely be eventually renamed to erase its history. Thus, Trump will be turning himself into "king of the world" while more citizens will be turned into groveling peasants.
Arthur E. Sowers is a resident of Harbeson.
