Arthur E. Sowers is a resident of Harbeson.
Donald Trump recently had the house of his former adviser, John Bolton, raided by the FBI for possibly holding classified information. My bet is that Trump just wanted to give Bolton some payback for things that the adviser said earlier that Trump did not like. I think Trump also wanted to prove that he can be a bully and that nobody can stop him. Bolton’s case is just one of many persecutions and prosecutions Trump is launching against his enemies. The president is abusing the powers of his office for personal vendettas. And, I would say, Trump is simply being immature and childish.
In another recent example, his abuse of office is more complicated. Three decades ago, the Supreme Court ruled that burning an American flag is protected under our right of freedom of speech. Here is one National Constitution Center article that goes into some detail: “When the Supreme Court ruled to allow American flag burning.” In announcing a recent executive order, Trump said burning an American flag is bad. But I and others looked at the wording in the order, and I would say Trump is being sneaky about “tweaking” the context to create an opportunity to further expand his power and dominance. This CNN article gives a similar analysis: “Trump’s new ‘dictator’ comment betrays his trick for expanding his power.”
Altogether, this is another way that Trump gives himself a “manual override” on both our constitutional rights and the SCOTUS ruling. In the spirit of “ands, ifs and buts,” we should remember to read the “fine print.”
Still another example of how Trump is doing a “manual override” on our First Amendment right is in this Axios article: “Trump threatens ABC and NBC over ‘BAD STORIES.’” So, he or his gestapo will investigate you, sue you in court, raid your house or cause something else bad to happen to you.
Wild ideas about our voting rights came out around the middle of August. Defense secretary Pete Hegseth began to talk about three things: First, only families — not people — would vote. Second, women’s right to vote would be revoked. Third, by default, men would dominate the decisions. This Politico piece goes into considerable detail about what this is all about: “Are Christian nationalists targeting women’s right to vote?”
Trump’s damage to our economy is reported in these articles. First, from MarketWatch: “BJ’s will ‘hold prices as long as we can’ says CEO, amid a tough tariff backdrop.” Second, from CNBC: “Cava, Chipotle and other fast-casual restaurant chains are finally hit by consumer slowdown.” And, here is one on increasing inflation, also from CNBC: “Wholesale prices rose 0.9% in July, much more than expected.” On an annual basis, that would be about 10% per year. This recent Axios article says: “Veggie-flation strikes, with a warning for grocery prices.”
This Associated Press article says: “European postal services suspend shipment of packages to US over import tariffs.” And this Fortune story says: “More than half of industries are already shedding workers, a ‘telling’ sign that’s accompanied past recessions, top economist says.” Another Axios article reads that there has been a widespread and large drop in hiring: “With labor market weak, employees are ‘job hugging.’”
This MarketWatch piece says: “Americans more worried about inflation and unemployment after new trade deals leave tariffs at highest level in decades.”
In this Federal News Network article, Trump insists that federal contracts be scanned for whatever he doesn’t like before they get funding: “DHS contract reviews creating uncertainty, causing layoffs.”
This CNBC article, dated Aug. 19, was from a business website: “Japan’s July exports clock steepest plunge in over four years, dropping by a more than expected 2.6%.” Other numbers and trends discussed in the article were stunning. The worldwide Trump recession has started.
Trump is now moving free-market capitalism out and rolling fascism in. Trump will now be keeping a business “loyalty report card.” It is described in the Axios article, “Scoop: White House loyalty rating for companies.” A complete summary of Trump’s “deep fascist state” is in the Axios article, “Trump’s pay-me capitalism puts the squeeze on corporate America.”
Will our democracy hold up? Trump is going to rig voting rights to tilt the vote count in favor of Republicans, says People’s World: “Trump plan to end free elections in 2026 and 2028 revealed.”
Finally, articles came out July 1 about fact-checking Trump. From the Yale School of Management: “THE WASHINGTON POST: Do the facts support Trump’s claims? We asked AI.”
Five different artificial intelligences were used, and they all flunked Trump. I did my own AI-assisted study of Trump’s “stable genius.” Three different AIs said Barack Obama, Abe Lincoln and Dwight Eisenhower were better than Donald Trump, who was close to the bottom, near Adolf Hitler. I have saved those texts.
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
