January 20, 2025

Every freedom loving American should be thinking of this alliteration,, by Hal M. Brown

 

I was thinking of using "Democracy's Dark Dark Day" as the title for this but it seemed to be too obvious. 

Here's the quote from Mary Trump that prompted me to write this:

"Tomorrow (meaning today) will be a very dark day—there is no pretending otherwise. But I do take comfort in the knowledge that so much of what they intend is already out in the open. They no longer feel the need to hide their criminal intent. They plan to strip America for parts and they will do so in broad daylight. And we will be watching. We will counter corporate media’s grotesque assumption that all of it—the racism, the criminality, the greed, the breathtaking cruelty, the fascism—are already baked in and therefore of no consequence," she wrote. "We know this is not true. We will be the keepers of the flame and, as Emma Lazarus’ poem says of the Statue of Liberty, we we lift our lamps—as a beacon to those who feel lost, betrayed, and frightened, yes. But also to shine our light, continually, on what they try to get away with. We will keep the flame burning as long as it takes. I take comfort in that, too." (Reference)

She is holding onto her optimism. I  agree with what John Stoehr wrote in this RawStory column:

It's time for liberals to abandon MSNBC's 'sweet little lies'

While the title is about MSNBC, the network only represents the denial by many liberals of the dire situation that Stoehr writes about:

He begins:

At this point, I think it needs to be said that there’s a feeling among liberals and Democrats, and I would suggest especially affluent white liberals and Democrats, that liberal democracy isn’t really dead.

I would say there’s a deep sense of denial among these folks. They tell themselves that the dearly departed is much too dear to be truly departed. I would say there’s also a good deal of magical thinking in this denial, as if the criminals who shot their beloved will come to justice, and once they do, their beloved will rise again, good as new.

I think this needs to be said because liberals and Democrats keep telling themselves that democracy itself depends on the integrity of democratic institutions and democratic norms, and that without them, the country will manifest the founding fathers’ fear of despotism.

Trump hasn't been shy about telling the country what he intends to do. I listened to the 20 second clip of him speaking to his rally yesterday. It was a call to arms against everyone he's been demonizing. He was like Hitler, only with a more resonant voice, but he expressed the same malevolence and threat. 

There is psychology operating with all of the people who want to normalize Trump. Nobody want to feel helpless and terrifed. Denial in its many forms is a useful defense mechanism. Even those in the media who are terrified and who understand how close the country is to losing her democracy, many of them don't want to scare their audience. 

As an example, Joe and Mika went to see Trump at Mar-a-Lago and normalized him by essentially telling their audience that he wasn't as bad as he's been made out to be. They are performers. They should not have been taken in by another performer. They should have explained how he can come across as amiable and reasonable when he needs to do so, but that he is still intent on implementing Project 2025.

We shouldn't have to keep reminding people about the famous George Santayana quote "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Mary Trump who, with her education in clinical psychology, should know better. She reminds us of the aspirational Emma Lazarus poem about the Statue of Liberty.

As someone who was a practicing therapist for 40 years, and is also Jewish, I want to remind you of the poem "First They Came" by Martin Niemöller. The shorter version in on a tablet at the Boston Holocaust Memorial.


Here's the full version:

First they came for the Communists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Communist

 

Then they came for the Socialists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Socialist

 

Then they came for the trade unionists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a trade unionist

 

Then they came for the Jews

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Jew

 

Then they came for me

And there was no one left

To speak out for me

Here's the rub with Trump and his minions. 

While Trump is ignorant about history, many of those who plan to implement his policies are not. They know their history. They know about the ultimate failures of despots like Hitler. They know about the mistakes they made. Hitler, for example, thought Japan could take on the United States and thus Pearl Harbor brought us into the war. Later he decided to open the Russian front. I'm not a historian, but it makes sense that had the U.S. and Russia stayed out of the war the Nazi's would have prevailed.

The lesson for Trump and his enablers who want to succeed is not to bite off more than they can chew. We can only hope that in the long run their arrogance will be their undoing.

Addendum: Check out the Ann Telnais cartoon for today. She has a fat red-faced Trump in a rocking chair screaming “I am your retribution” but, alas while true in some ways since he is old, he is really on a throne.


I post my blogs (aka Substacks) on several platforms.  They are on Substack where, if you want to submit your email, you can be notified of all new blog posts. The are on HalBrown.org. They are also on Stressline.org  I also post them on Medium because this enables them to be easily found on internet searches.

January 19, 2025

Vomitaurguarion Day will challenge half the country to find something else to do, by Hal M. Brown

 


What is happening in Israel may bump some of the coverage of tomorrow's inauguration off non-stop TV coverage. Even if it does, somewhere around the half of the country who might be inclined to watch at least the high point of any inauguration would find watching Trump sworn in too upsetting. 

The actual hand on the Bible with Trump uttering a tissue of lies when he takes the oath is so historic that only a 9.6 Richtor Scale earthquake just off the California coast would force the networks to cut away. 


That is with the possible exception of Fox News. They probably don't think that the biggest natural disaster since the Chicxulub impactor, the plummeting asteroid or comet that is said to have killed all the dinosaurs and 75% of life on earth, destroying California is a tragedy. 

Trump's entertainment line-up certainly won't draw viewership in the evening the way the star-studded cast Kamala Harris would have had would. 

Our plan is to treat Monday as a mostly normal day. As far as TV watching goes we'll watch some of the comedy series Younger alternating with a crime series we've yet to decide on after just finishing watching Dalgliesh. I expect we'll check in periodically with the commentary being offered online by The Contratian. This is the new substack started by Jennifer Rubin and Norm Eisen which is off to an amazing start.

The inauguration, for so many of us, will be like what I depicted in the AI cartoon illustration of Trump surrounded by vomit. Watching it might lead us to our own medicine cabinet to find some Pepto Bismal.


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January 18, 2025

Hegseth is wrong, There is no thin line between legality and lethality. By Hal M. Brown



The titles of the same Sabrina Haake essay about Pete Hegseth have a different emphasis. RawStory's title emphasized his lack of qualifications. On her substack, The Haake Take, the author focuses on his view about when it is permissible to use lethal force even if it might not be legal.

Hegseth may not be the least qualified Trump nominee. I'd give that "honor" to the just defeated one term member of the House, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who has been nominated to be Sectretary of Labor. She was mayor of Happy Valley, a city in the Portland suburbs with a population of about 26,000. Critics said this was an example of someone falling upwards in their career.

Hegseth was a reserve Army major. Army majors usually serve as specalized executive or operations officers for battallion-sized units of 300 to 1,200 soldiers. His being promoted to someone with authority over generals is a  far bigger example of falling upwards than Chavez-  DeReemer.

I point this out because RawStory published this with the title "The least qualified Trump Cabinet pick ever." They should have used the HaakeTake title, "Hegseth's thin line between lethality and legality." Sabrina Haake's title in HaakeTake was "Hegseth's thin line between lethality and legality." Heseth is unqualified, but  what is important is that he is a danger to democracy. He wants to turn the miliary into a version of the SS.

Hegseth said he “thought very deeply about the balance between legality and lethality,” and that when it comes to “destroying the enemy,” i.e., killing people, the law “should not be getting in the way” should have led to Democrats and any Republicans with integrity on the committee saying "well, this hearing is over and walking out.

There is no thin line between legality and lethality in the military. Adding the word "line" to the two words make a nice alliteration. However, only with Hegseth and other itchy trigger fingered soldiers like him, some of whom have been convicted of war crimes, is that this line is thin to the point of being nonexistent. The military addressed the "line" in overseas combat when it comes to deliberately killing civilians. When it comes to targeting civilians when engaged in operations in the United States there are rules too. They are similar to the rules of police and other law enforcement.

It is both instructive and chilling to read  "The DoD quietly reissues Directive 5240.01 expanding the use of lethal force against U.S. citizens. "

Quick Summary

  • New provisions: The updated directive expands the circumstances under which the DoD can assist law enforcement, including the use of lethal force.
  • Assassination explicitly forbidden: While assassination is banned, the new language allows for lethal actions under “imminent threats.”
  • Concerns about civil liberties: The expanded definition of “national security threats” is raising alarms, particularly given DHS’s broader definition of domestic terrorism threats.
  • High-level approval required: Any intelligence-sharing that could lead to lethal force must be approved by the Secretary of Defense, but Component Heads can act immediately for up to 72 hours before obtaining approval.

Hegseth should have been asked about his familiarity with this directive and pressured to reveal what he thought about it. He should have been confronted with the possiblity of civilians being mowed down by machine guns only the military are able to use.



It should go without saying that the weapons that the U.S. military can deploy were never meant to be used against civilians whether foreign or domestic. In addition to this, as has been pointed out by others, the military has no training in domestic law enforcement.

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January 17, 2025

Make American Nasty and Mean, by Hal M. Brown


 



There was one line that struck me as particularly telling in The NY Times (subscription) article How Trump’s Border Czar Thomas Homan Found MAGA. It isn't about Homan. Is is about Trump.

The goes beyond Trump saying he admires someone who is tough on policy, which Homan is. Trump was saying he admires him because he sees him as nasty and mean.

Trump's reelection has unleashed the rapid junkyard dog in him. The official photo of Trump for 2025 is very different from the smiling photo if 2017. It has been compared to the mugshot photo that ended up on t-shirts. 

Trump is without a doubt a mean and nasty president. He may not be the meanest and nastiest in modern history. LBJ and Nixon are said to have been foul mouthed in private. Trump has  made a show of his nastiness. 

One core of his personality is malevolence. If he was a king in olden times if some0ne crossed him or merely annoyed his sensibilities they might not even make it to the quillotine. Their heads might role right there in the royal court.  "Clean-up on aisle three."

Trump enters his second term not only as a lame duck. While he may have a fantasy that he can remain in office after his term ends and that he will remain healthy well into his 80's, I think he has to have some desire to enjoy as much revenge as he possibly can while he still has the power to do this. 

There is nothing subtle about Trump wanting to exact revenge of his actual enemies. He doesn't want to make it impossible for them to get elected again. He wants to make them miserable by having them prosecuted and if not imprisoned at least bankrupted. As far as people he has pledged to deport, or to put it bluntly, to get rid of, he wants to rip families apart and destroy the lives of people who have been leading happy productive lives here for years.

We are about to have a souless president for whom the cruelty is the point.

You may have seen the AI image I made a few months ago and used in some blogs. I revised this to show an even darker Trump and some bloodly letters.


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January 16, 2025

You can take the bully out of the schoolyard, but you can't take the bully out of the boy, by Hal M. Brown

 

When Trump finally falls asleep at night he may dream of vanquishing a group of attacking thugs or being in a boxing ring intimidating his opponent with his snarling face and rippling muscles. He may also have dreams about leading a SWAT team raid against undocumented immigrants.


He didn't need to be dreaming when he pretended to beat up Vince McMahan and shave his heard.
You've probably seen the video of Trump knocking Vince McMahon down, sucker punching him, and then shaving his head. Click here to see it again. Here's an article about it.

Here are some screenshots: 

I knew two or three schoolyard bullies in grade school. They literally pushed kids around or even punched them so hard they fell down. This gained them their status as rulers of the playground with their own posse of bully wannabes. 

They were what you'd call tough kids. They weren't among the popular kids, some of whom were athletic and played sports and the bullies didn't mess with them. Others were outgoing and had a clever sense of humor. Some drew other kids to them because of their empathy.

Few of the victims of the bullies fought back because the bullies rarely attacked people they thought could to put up a credible fight.

I don't see the young Trump as having had the personality to be popular with other kids. He was probably egotistical and was driven to prove himself and stand out among his classmates. Not having the disposition or social skills to be popular be turned to bullying.

Accounts of Trump's childhood say he was a bully when he was growing up. 

Trump can't literally beat up or push people to the ground anymore. Still, he wants to do this in other ways. 

Of course he did engage in faking it when he body slammed and sucker punched Vince McMahon and pretended to humilate him by shaving his head. It is worth watching him do this to consider he's about to be president again. His fake fighting meets a deep need in him for being like Bruce Lee taking on and beating multiple opponents at once.


I won't bother posting a collection of his absurdly priced NFT images depicting him as a muscle bound superhero. With him it's been about image and posturing over the past four years using words and intimidation to bend people to his will. 

Trump has revealed his fantasies about how he sees himself. He's old. He's out of shape. He has a lot of unhealthy execss fat. All this is relevant because as president he has effective ways to be a bully without getting down and dirty in a schoolyard fight.

He only wishes he could look like Pete Hegseth. It takes work to have a muscle-bound body like his, or Marjorie Taylor Greene's for that matter. Maybe it's naive on my part to think he'd be less malevolently dangerous if he actually was still reasonably physically fit. To compensate for this he now will be able to take vicarious satisfaction in expressing his cruelty by the deceptively benign sounding term "executive orders."

You can bet that if Trump looked like Putin with his shirt off, you'd have seen photos of him like these of Putin's famous shirtless horseback riding photos.  Still, Putin's physical fitness along with his martial arts expertise (he may or may not have a black belt) has the ability to beat up rivals if he needed to. This hasn't made him less of a ruthless despot, so there's this to consider.

I view Trump as someone whose insecurity is deeply buried in his unconscious. This is what Mary Trump said about him:

The deeper cause is his insecurity. This is a man who knows on an unconscious level that he is absolutely nothing of what he claims to be.” (Reference)

According to reports, by the time Trump was in the military academy he maneged to pull off becoming a bully:

One popular narrative about Donald Trump's early years, though, is that his stern workaholic father essentially rejected him when he was a young boy. When he was just 12 years old, the behavior issues of the boy who would become president prompted his father to send him away to the New York Military Academy in Upstate New York. There, as Trump biographer Michael D'Antonio wrote for Politico last year, the boy would be confronted with "an aggressive and isolate subculture that prized physical toughness and defined manhood in the basest terms" until he graduated and went to college.

By all accounts, Trump excelled in this environment, taking on leadership roles and playing baseball and basketball. Still, the boy he was before he enrolled at the military academy — often described by people who knew him as a bully — closely resembles the man he is today. Except for the fact that, now, Donald Trump arguably wields more power and influence than anyone else in the world as the president of the United States. Reference

Trump became more of a bully when his wealth enabled him to do this. Before he entered politics he bullied his way to becoming a billionaire. "The Art of the Deal" shows some of this. In addition in recommending using hyperbole and deception he reveals how he liked to be aggressive.  Here are examples:

On fighting back: "[W]hen people treat me badly or unfairly or try to take advantage of me, my general attitude, all my life, has been to fight back very hard. The risk is you'll make a bad situation worse, and I certainly don't recommend this approach to everyone. But my experience is that if you're fighting for something you believe in — even if it means alienating some people along the way — things usually work out for the best in the end."

On competing: "I'm the first to admit that I am very competitive and that I'll do nearly anything within legal bounds to win. Sometimes, part of making a deal is denigrating your competition." Reference.

You can see some of this bullying in this collection of clips from The Apprentice.


Like everyone, Trump's personality was shaped by his childhood experiences. Today the country is paying a price for the man whose father never gave him the unconditional love any child needs. I see him as wanting to please his bullying father. What better way to do this than become a bully himself. This backfired as a young child since he was sent away to boarding school when he was 12. 

Here's what Trump biographer Michael D'Antonio wrote:

Fred Trump was a fiercely ambitious man who worked seven days a week and devoted few waking hours to his role as a parent. Although he pushed his son Donald to prevail in every arena—to be a "killer" and a "king"—Fred didn’t actually tell the young man how to achieve this destiny. His way of paying attention to his children was to let them watch him at work. Reference.

This is what he wrote about Trump's bullying:

While Fred Trump was busy scheming and manipulating, his son developed into a bullying and out-of-control little boy. As Donald recalled to me, he loved to fight—“all kinds of fights, even physical”—and the teachers and administrators at the private school he attended in Queens, New York, couldn’t manage him. The situation was quite embarrassing to Donald’s father, who was a major benefactor for the school. In exasperation, he abruptly removed his son from the family home, which was a mansion attended by servants, and handed him over to the New York Military Academy in Upstate New York. Upon arrival, twelve-year-old Donald was put into uniform and assigned a tiny cell-like room. In the days, weeks and years to come he would have to cope with an all-male culture of competition and hierarchy where physical abuse, carried out by the students and the adults who supervised them, was part of the routine.

This is the man who will soon be president. Instead of a schoolyard posse to stroke his ego if he gets his way with his nominations he will have people like Kash Patel, Thomas Homan, and Pete Hegseth there to assist him in his bullying. His has his Congressional sycophants and the oligarchs beholden to him. They will be partners in his bullying.

The Trump we see today is someone whose personality was shaped growing up in dysfunctional family. 

For more about this read "Making the man: to understand Trump, look at his relationship with his dad" from the Guardian.




Update: Compare the 2017 photo of the smiling Trump which was selcted for the official photo with the one selected for 2025. It is similar to the defiant glaring mugshot photo. He seems to be saying like a bully would "mess with me at your own peril."

My version:




Personal story: My own experience with a bully was in eight grade when one of them got me in a bear hug and was squeezing me so hard I could barely breathe. Out of a need to survive, without any forethought, I instinctively kneed him in the groin as hard as I could. He crumbled to the ground in pain curled in a fetal position. A group of the most popular girls saw all this. I discovered from one who was a good friend that they were really impressed. That is until I got so frightened he'd get up and beat the crap out of me and then I started to cry. That ruined my 
chance of being the underestimated Mighty Mouse of the school. Long story short - he never messed around with me again. I only wish I could have restrained my tears.

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Every freedom loving American should be thinking of this alliteration,, by Hal M. Brown

  I was thinking of using "Democracy's Dark Dark Day" as the title for this but it seemed to be too obvious.  Here's the q...