The Trumpists’ Dangerous "Peace" Plan for Ukraine

 

    

NO ONE IN THE UNITED STATES OR UKRAINE imagines that a re-elected President Donald Trump would be much of a friend to Kyiv. But the so-called “peace” proposal leaked last week by two former national security staffers from the Trump administration, now at the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute, is even more toxic than many expected.

Predictably enough, the plan stipulates an immediate ceasefire, obligatory negotiations with Russia and a temporary—in truth, likely to be permanent—abandonment of Ukrainian claims to the 20 percent of Ukrainian territory currently occupied by Moscow. The poison pill was less predictable: Under the plan, the United States would strong-arm Kyiv to defer membership in NATO “for an extended period”—again, in the real world, most likely forever.

Trump hasn’t yet endorsed the plan, but his comments on a podcast last month suggest he is open to a NATO ban. “If Ukraine goes into NATO, it’s a real problem for Russia,” the former president told a trio of sympathetic Silicon Valley investors. Echoing a claim that Moscow and its proxies have been peddling for years, Trump argued that it was President Joe Biden’s support for Ukrainian membership in the alliance that provoked Vladimir Putin to invade in February 2022.

Trump’s interpretation of Russia’s aims isn’t wrong. Putin’s principal goal for the war is a neutral, nonaligned Ukraine. He signaled this first in the brief peace talks held in Istanbul in March 2022, where his paramount demand was a Ukrainian renunciation of any desire for NATO membership. He gave up long ago—if he ever cared—on winning Ukrainian love or loyalty for the Russian Federation.

Nor, apparently, is Putin interested in harnessing Ukraine’s considerable economic potential. If he were, why would he wage the war as he has waged it, destroying factories, mining farmland, obliterating infrastructure and terrorizing civilians? What he wants is a gray zone—a neutral buffer between Russia and Europe.

Trump doesn’t care what Ukrainians want, and the proposed peace plan openly dismisses their deep-seated unwillingness to trade land for peace. But neither the candidate nor his minions seem to recognize just how important NATO has become for Ukrainians or how unlikely it is that a neutral state would last very long between Russia and the West.

Joining Europe is at the heart of Ukraine’s national aspirations. For more than a decade after independence in 1991, Kyiv remained closely tied to Moscow, dependent economically and loyally subservient. Politically and culturally, Ukrainian habits and attitudes still mirrored Russia’s, and as late as 2012, only 17 percent of the population was in favor of joining NATO, with a plurality convinced that nonaligned status was the best way to guarantee their security.

The 2014 Maidan Revolution changed everything. A million Ukrainians took to the streets to protest pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych’s decision to back away from an agreement that would have put Ukraine on a path to joining the European Union. “Ukraine is Europe,” the huge crowds chanted, and after Yanukovych fled to Russia, the new government began working in earnest to build an independent, democratic nation modeled on its neighbors in the West.

In 2014, support for joining NATO still lagged well behind support for joining the EU. But then Moscow annexed Crimea and launched a proxy war in eastern Ukraine, spurring sharply increased interest in NATO membership. Support climbed steadily over the years that followed as the conflict with Russia intensified. By April 2022, in the wake of the latest invasion, 59 percent of Ukrainians told pollsters they wanted to join the alliance.

Today, a survey by the same organization finds that support has risen to 77 percent—on par with support for EU accession. Another recent sounding found that 86 percent of Ukrainians want to join NATO and 80 percent expect to join by 2030.

History has a way of trampling on the wishes of ordinary people, and a Trump administration would no doubt argue that American interests far outweigh the preferences of Ukrainian voters. But colluding with Russia to create a gray zone in Ukraine is all but sure to backfire in a way deeply inimical to U.S. interests.

Who would invest in a neutral state unable to defend itself against a rapacious and expansionist Russian neighbor? How many of the 6 million Ukrainians who fled their country since 2022 would be likely to return? (In fact, polls show that NATO membership is one of the conditions that matter most when Ukrainian refugees consider going home.)

Ukrainian voters will feel that they have been abandoned by the West, betrayed again as they were betrayed in 1994 when they agreed to give up their nuclear weapons and in 2014 after the Minsk Accords that purported to end the fighting in eastern Ukraine. The backlash this time would likely be even fiercer, perhaps irreparable.

But even if Ukraine didn’t drift voluntarily back into the Russian orbit, almost no one but Trump takes Putin at his word that he will be satisfied with just one-fifth of Ukrainian territory. Moscow’s avowed goal when it invaded in 2022 wasn’t just absorbing the eastern part of Ukraine it has now claimed as its own, but decapitating the central government in Kyiv.

Anyone who believes that Ukrainian territorial concessions to Putin will lead to lasting peace in Europe “watches a lot of [the propaganda TV channel] Russia Today,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said wryly last week in a speech to the Bundestag. The Trump team’s proposal is “a joke, not a plan,” one user wrote on the Telegram channel Trukha Ukrayina. “An ideal plan for Russia,” another echoed. “With the sanctions lifted, she quickly assembles a new army and recovers financially and takes over the rest of Ukraine, which does not have any guarantees.”

Finland, Sweden, Austria, and Switzerland survived the Cold War as neutral states. But that’s unlikely to be an option for Ukrainians. They and most European leaders understand that as long as Putin remains president, there can be no gray zone on the border between Russia and Europe. Of course, Trump probably knows that too—that’s what makes the proposed peace plan so sinister. 

-Tamar Jacoby, The Bulwark

 

Project 2025

 

The blueprint, called Project 2025 and produced by the conservative Heritage Foundation, is one of several think-tank proposals for Trump’s platform. Over more than 900 pages, it calls for sacking thousands of civil servants, expanding the power of the president, dismantling the Department of Education and other federal agencies, and sweeping tax cuts.
 
The Heritage Foundation unveiled its agenda in April last year, and liberal opposition ramped up as former President Trump has taken a lead in polls after President Biden's poor debate performance.

On Wednesday, Heritage president Kevin Roberts raised the prospect of political violence during a podcast interview.
 
“We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be,” Mr. Roberts told the War Room podcast, founded by Trump advisor Steve Bannon.

The remarks prompted pushback from the Biden campaign, which accused Trump and his allies of "dreaming of a violent revolution to destroy the very idea of America".
 
The comments have renewed attention on the Project 2025 document.
 
It is common for Washington DC think tanks to propose policy wish lists for potential governments-in-waiting. The liberal Center for American Progress, for example, was dubbed Barack Obama’s “ideas factory” during his presidency. But Democrats have taken aim at the Heritage paper, seeking to get campaign value out of some of its more drastic measures.
 
Last month, Congressman Jared Huffman of California announced a Stop Project 2025 Task Force.

Mr. Huffman said: “Project 2025 is more than an idea, it's a dystopian plot that’s already in motion to dismantle our democratic institutions, abolish checks and balances, chip away at church-state separation, and impose a far-right agenda that infringes on basic liberties and violates public will.

“We need a coordinated strategy to save America and stop this coup before it’s too late.”

Heritage has previously said Mr. Biden’s party was scaremongering with “an unserious, mistake-riddled press release.”
 
“House Democrats are dedicating taxpayer dollars to launch a smear campaign against the united effort to restore self-governance to everyday Americans,” said Mr. Roberts in an early June statement.
 
“Under the Biden administration, the federal government has been weaponized against American citizens, our border invaded, and our institutions captured by woke ideology.”
 
The Project 2025 document outlines four main aims: restore the family as the center piece of American life; dismantle the administrative state; defend the nation’s sovereignty and borders; and secure God-given individual rights to live freely.
 
It is one of several policy papers for a platform broadly known as Agenda 47 - so-called because Trump would be America's 47th president if he won. Heritage says Project 2025 was written by several former Trump appointees and reflects input from more than 100 conservative organizations.
 
Here’s an outline of several key proposals:

Government

Project 2025 proposes that the entire federal bureaucracy, including independent agencies such as the Department of Justice, be placed under direct presidential control – a controversial idea known as “unitary executive theory.” In practice, that would streamline decision-making, allowing the president to directly implement policies in several areas. The proposals also call for eliminating job protections for thousands of government-employees, who could then be replaced by political appointees. The document labels the FBI a “bloated, arrogant, increasingly lawless organization” and calls for drastic overhauls of this and other federal agencies, including eliminating the Department of Education.
 
Immigration

Increased funding for a wall on the US-Mexico border – one of Trump’s signature proposals in 2016 - is proposed in the document. However, more prominent are the consolidation of various US immigration agencies and a large expansion in their powers. Other proposals include increasing fees on immigrants and allowing fast-tracked applications for migrants who pay a premium.
 
Climate and Economy
 
The document proposes slashing federal money for research and investment in renewable energy and calls for the next president to "stop the war on oil and natural gas.” Carbon-reduction goals would be replaced by efforts to increase energy production and security.
 
The paper sets out two competing visions on tariffs and is divided on whether the next president should try to boost free trade or raise barriers to exports. But the economic advisers suggest that a second Trump administration should slash corporate and income taxes, abolish the Federal Reserve and even consider a return to gold-backed currency.
 
Abortion
 
Project 2025 does not call for a nationwide abortion ban. However, it proposes withdrawing the abortion pill mifepristone from the market.
 
Tech and Education
 
Under the proposals, pornography would be banned, and tech and telecoms companies that facilitate access to such content would be shut down. The document calls for school choice and parental control over schools, and takes aim at what it calls “woke propaganda.” It proposes to eliminate a long list of terms from all laws and federal regulations, including “sexual orientation", “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” “gender equality,” "abortion" and “reproductive rights.”
 
 
The Heritage Foundation is one of the most influential of several think tanks that has produced policy papers designed to guide a possible second Trump presidency. Since the 1980s, Heritage has produced similar policy documents as part of its Mandate for Leadership series.
 
Project 2025, backed by a $22m (£17m) budget, also sets out strategies for implementing policies beginning immediately after the presidential inauguration in January 2025. Trump has endorsed several of the Project 2025 ideas in his speeches and on his website, although his campaign has said the candidate has the final say on policy. Many of the proposals would face immediate legal challenges if implemented.   

-BBC
 

A New Nominee to Protect Democracy?

Wednesday, July 3, 2024 – Leadership Now Project issued the following statement in response to the June 27th presidential debate:

Leadership Now believes that a strong democracy is a crucial underpinning for a healthy economy and society.

The reelection of Donald Trump poses an existential threat to American democracy. His efforts to subvert the 2020 election, his unwillingness to accept the verdict of a jury trial, his plan to weaponize federal agencies to exact political retribution, his willingness to flout the rule of law, his undermining of America’s global alliances – each of these is disqualifying and, together, they pose an unprecedented threat. And with recent decisions of the Supreme Court, the checks on his power are considerably diminished.

As a result, Leadership Now has long made the case that Donald Trump must not return to the office of President. Since he has not been held to account by his Party or his allies, he must be defeated in the upcoming election.

President Biden and his administration have had considerable accomplishments over the past four years. They have passed multiple pieces of bipartisan legislation, including on climate and infrastructure, and strengthened relationships with our key international partners, helping to unwind some of the damage done to US democracy and international credibility during the first Trump administration.

What we witnessed Thursday night in the presidential debate was deeply concerning. Donald Trump repeatedly lied, preyed on our worst fears and grievances, and refused to commit to accepting the 2024 election results. Unfortunately, President Biden failed to effectively make the case against Trump, and we now fear the risk of a devastating loss in November. 

The threat of a second Trump term is such that we must ask President Biden and the Democratic Party to pass the torch of this year's presidential nomination to the next generation of highly capable Democrats. This process will undoubtedly be messy and is not without risk. However, the stakes are too high not to act.

The world is watching. As we anxiously observe elections in multiple other democracies, our allies and other democracies hope to see us at our best and are deeply concerned when we fail to live up to these high expectations.

We have heard from many individuals who share our deep concerns about the present course but fear speaking out. But speaking out is our duty in a democracy and the time to do it is now. 

We call on others to join us in making this urgent call.

Leadership Now Calls for 
New Presidential Nominee to Protect Democracy

Business leaders urge President Biden to pass the torch of this year's presidential nomination to the next generation of highly capable Democrats.

Among the signatories is Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Lessig; Christy Walton, the billionaire daughter-in-law of Walmart’s founder; retired NFL commissioner Paul J. Tagliabue; billionaire investor Mike Novogratz; former Google executive Ning Mosberger-Tang; Warburg Pincus Managing Director Harsha Marti; New York University professor and podcaster Scott Galloway; Weyco Group CEO Tom Florsheim; former Army secretary Louis Caldera and hedge fund investor Kevin Brennan of Bridgewater Associates. Vicky Hausman, the CEO of Forward Majority; a group that supports Democrats in state legislative elections, also signed.

Statement: A New Nominee to Protect Democracy — Leadership Now Project

We Are Asking the Wrong Question About Joe Biden

 

To paraphrase an old Richard Pryor joke, “Who are you going to believe? Me, or your own lying eyes?” Since the presidential debate last week, the leaders of the Democratic Party, in full 5-alarm fire mode, want us to believe we didn’t see what we saw.

“It was just a cold.” “Everybody has an off night.” “Ok, so it wasn’t his best performance.” “All presidents have one bad debate.” “You’re not going to judge 52 years of public service by 90 minutes of a lousy debate, are you?” “He’s 81! What do you expect? You’ll be 81 someday!” “He’s not a quitter. He’s all in. This is Scranton Joe we’re talkin’ about!” “Yeah. Sure. The debate was a disaster. So what?”

These answers are all malarkeys. That’s probably because we are asking the wrong question when we ask, “What are we going to do about Joe?” Maybe we should be asking what are we going to do about ourselves — and what can we do to get him some help?

Perhaps we should start with a definition of terms. Why do people keep calling it a “debate?” Isn’t that kind of like saying Israel is at “war” with Hamas? After all, if it’s a “war,” don’t there have to be things like armies, tanks, fighter jets, aircraft carriers, and the threat of nuclear annihilation on both sides? If only one side has these things, and the other side has none of them, is it really a war? 

Was it really a debate if one of the debaters is so mentally and physically incapacitated that he cannot complete a sentence, randomly flips between discussing abortion, the three trimesters of a pregnancy and how great his golf game is, then looking around, unable to find one of the four cameras pointing at him, he suddenly turns his head all the way to the left as if he were looking for Rhode Island, and then out of nowhere raises his voice and shouts, “WE FINALLY BEAT MEDICARE!” Not Ohio State, but Medicare. 

We saw and we heard all of that, no matter what the Party hacks keep telling us. It was heartbreaking. It was truly, without equivocation, unlike anything any of us had ever seen. No matter where you stood on the Joe Biden scale, from Joe the Working Class Hero to Joe the Banker of Palestinian Ethnic Cleansing, one thing was certain:

This was not a cold. This was a human being in utter collapse. Not just political collapse, or performance collapse, but rather a full-frontal lobe meltdown where at any moment you had to wonder… was it possible that the sweet and fragile existence we call “life” was about to short-circuit, or worse, lose power (to Trump)? And that no amount of shouting “STAT!” or cutting quickly to a commercial break was going to restore the President-cum-Patient to full capacity in order to save this even more fragile Democracy.

Do not mistake my criticisms of Biden spending 9 months in the loving embrace of Bibi Netanyahu as meaning that I do not deeply appreciate his 3 years of being the most progressive President of my lifetime.

That’s right, my friends, there has been more action taken, through executive orders and legislation, to protect the environment, more government officials appointed who are, in their heart of hearts, Democratic Socialists, more serious funding to lift millions out of poverty, more support for labor unions, libraries, single mothers and college students deep in debt.

And he has had this fervent, almost religious zeal to fight greed and obscene profits due to a true compassion he has for those dealt a bad hand in life — and he has had more of all of that than all the good presidents like Kennedy, Obama, and Carter were able to muster.

He will have another mini stroke in the next few months (he’s probably had one or two already) and then, sadly, the decline will not be reversed. Best to make a plan now and not wait until October. 

This is not about whether he’s fit to serve another four years — this is about whether he should serve another four days in the toughest job in the world. That’s the question we should be asking. If he offered to drive you from Flint to Detroit tonight, would you get in the car? 

I’m not a doctor. I could be (and hopefully am) wrong about all this. But I do have eyes. They don’t lie. I, like nearly every one of you, had (or currently have) four grandparents and two parents (some of you have even more, with wonderful step-parents and step-grandparents).

And if you yourself are over the age of 40, your eyes have seen it, too. The slow decline of your elders, followed by a sudden incident or event and then, without warning, your loved one is confused, not sure where he or she is at, can’t find the keys, can’t find the rest of the thought she just had, or the ability to even end the sentence he was in the middle of. It’s all quite normal and to be expected — and it will visit all of us one day. It won’t feel good. It won’t look pretty.

But more than likely, that feeble, humbling moment will not be televised LIVE to an audience of 2 billion people around the world, with Jake Tapper’s hot breath breathing down your neck and telling you, ironically, that your time is up. Who exactly is Jake Tapper, you might ask yourself at 81. It won’t matter.

Because at that point, when you suddenly blurt out that there are “1,000 trillionaires in America!” and you’ve spent your presidency trying to make them just pay their friggin’ taxes but now you realize these rich-ass barbarians are at your gate — well, then, nothing will really matter. 

I’m sorry, my friends, but if I have to be the only one to stand for Joe Biden, to protect him from the cruelest form of elder abuse I’ve ever been forced to watch, well then that’s what I’ll do. He was in epic distress that Thursday night.

Every cognitive default in his mind was shutting down. If this had been someone you truly cared about, loved, embraced — what would you have done? Would you have seriously even let him go out on that stage? Who would send an 81-year-old out onto any stage to debate a living monster at 9 o’clock at night for a brawl that would not end until 10:42 PM?

Honestly, have any one of you ever looked at the clock, saw that it was getting near 11 PM, and said to yourself, “I think I’m going to give Grams and Gramps a call!” You never did that because it would be cruel. The only people who would think of forcing an elder to perform at that hour of the night would be the same people who would insist on 6 straight days of non-stop “debate prep” — hours and hours each day of standing and talking until you were hoarse and exhausted.

Trump was right when he turned to Biden to ask him what his problem was as to why he never fires anybody. It’s amazing to me that how, a week later, anyone on this campaign staff still has a job after running this tired and grieving father into the ground. A man who had just watched his only remaining son convicted as a felon for the outrageous crime of needing help, for being an addict. 

Who would put this old man through a brutal boot camp, make him memorize 200 facts and stats and then pick the wrong podium without once going on the stage the day before to check the lighting, the sight lines, and where the bully would be standing, lying, a smug TV star who knew what the red light on the camera meant, who knew timing and how to wait and when to pounce and devour his prey — all while speaking in his softest, most fake-empathic voice, his most honest statement of the night: “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence — and I don’t think he knows what he said either.”

Biden was not well. Biden did not possess the faculties he needed. Something was wrong. Did nobody see this in the days leading up to the collapse? Did not a single person raise their voice to ask, “Maybe we shouldn’t do this to him?” 

But they did do it to him. And the repercussions that we, the world, and the generations after us will have to suffer through are not even part of the discussion this week. It’s all about making sure he stays in the race — and nothing about the risk to his life he is facing as they push him to soldier onward.

So, I will say this to protect him from an out-of-control Party machine that is in a panic over what to do. For any of us to be silent now is exactly what the term “elder abuse” is meant to describe. Leave Mr. Biden alone. Let him rest. Let him go home. He has done his job. Let him have his dignity. Do him this favor.

Tell the press that President Biden has asked to have an independent team of doctors do a full medical evaluation of his mental and physical health. When they are through, they, along with the President, will then announce the full results to the public and give their honest assessment: “For the good of his well-being, he must stop work, he must step down.” 

The next day, President Biden will give his final remarks in a short and beautiful statement on the South Lawn of the White House. The place will be packed with thousands of grateful, everyday Americans — fry cooks and teachers, bricklayers and nurses, gay teens and vets, the homeless, the union members and the elder-care workers — all of whom know what he is doing is for the good of the country he loves so dearly.

He once saved the world from a man named Trump, and now, in one last selfless act, he is stepping aside to ensure this Trump will be banished for good. Millions, upon hearing him speak while he wipes the tears from his eyes, will weep, too. Biden will never be forgotten. A profile in courage.

The Founders of this country were smart in many ways. They knew there would be presidents who would not make it through even a four-year term. So, they set up a position called “Vice President” just for that reason. It’s amazing to think that we’ve had only 46 presidents and that 9 of them (20%) never made it to the end of their term. Four were assassinated. One resigned. Four more died of various illnesses. Each time there was a smooth and peaceful transition with the Vice President being sworn in as the new President. 

This is not an unusual moment we are in this week. It happens. There’s precedent. And if President Biden is unable to perform his duties, there is a tried-and-true solution. He resigns due to the obvious medical issues that were on full display the night of June 27th. His vice president, Kamala Harris, is sworn in as President.

By federal campaign rules, she, and only she, inherits all the campaign funds in the Biden-Harris war chest. Biden will urge all his Biden-Harris convention delegates to support her. She will now be the Incumbent President who will run on the incredible accomplishments of the Biden-Harris administration. There will be no real convention fight, and nearly every American who had planned to vote for Biden will vote for Harris (as recent polling has revealed).

Many have already stated that they’d vote for a dead cat or a fichus plant instead of Trump. Some have even said that they would go all-out-Weekend-at-Bernie’s and vote for a “dead” Biden if that meant keeping Trump out of the White House. 

One possible bonus in all of this will be that a record number of votes from women for Harris will make up for some of Biden’s loss of the youth and Arab vote. And there’s this: For over 8 months, it has been reported that Kamala Harris has pushed for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. One thing seems possible from this mess we’re in — less Palestinians will die with her in the Oval Office.

And this: Some day we will look back and see that we grew and got better as a country and finally finished the job of having a full, equal and complete Democracy. Our first female President, it turns out, ended up playing a big role in making that happen.

Another gift from Joe Biden, picking her, knowing she was the right one when, during their own debate on a stage in 2020, she gently but caustically reminded him that as a Senator in D.C., he once stood in the way of her going to an integrated school in Berkeley, CA.

You could see, in that moment, the sadness and shame on his face. He knew right from wrong. And in 2020, he knew, even if most of his supporters weren’t sure about her as his VP, and even if her platform was essentially Bernie’s, that she was the one — and the first of many women and people of color who would lead us to our better selves.

I’m ok with that, aren’t you? Let’s find the courage to fix this. On our 248th birthday. Now that’s old.  

-Michael Moore

 

"Mass resistance can persist even in the face of unimaginable odds" -Henry Giroux

 

The guardrails of democracy have been blasted into dust. The Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity gives presidents free rein to commit crimes as long as they act within their 'constitutional authority'.” Welcome to gangster capitalism. Trump, the convicted felon, white nationalist, white supremacist, and aspiring dictator can rest assured that his dream of unaccountable power will be in place if he is elected in November.

If and when he takes office, all the public services that operate, or are supposed to operate, in the name of truth, justice, and freedom will be largely disabled, just as the most crucial democratic rights will continue to be undermined. Young people will be written out of the script of democracy, staggering levels of inequality will increase mass immiseration, the economy will tumble into a massive recession, and blood will flow in the streets and abroad.

Critical ideas and thinking itself will be under siege as well as any institution capable of producing them. Under Trump and his fascist sycophants, critical thought will disappear from public and higher education, social problems will be criminalized, the oppositional press will be shut down, women will lose control over their reproductive rights, the social state will morph into the punishing state, and the dark cloud of fascism will extinguish the dimming lights of democracy.

Even more tragically for democracy, Trump, if elected, will be able to institute a criminogenic system of law that can be used to assassinate his opponents, kill immigrants, imprison critics, and enact an American version of the Nazi Enabling Act, which allowed Hitler "to issue laws that laid the foundation for the complete Nazification of German society."

This corrupt Supreme Court, filled with bribe-takers, misogynists, and white supremacists, has just put democracy in a coffin. With the collapse of checks and balances that should provide a balance of power in the U.S., we will see a tsunami of barbarism and state violence in America, reminiscent of Fascist Italy, Chile under the ruthless Pinochet, and Nazi Germany. None of these predictions, given the rhetoric of revenge and violence Trump promises to enforce, should appear hypothetical. Fascist politics, which is the endpoint of capitalism and a failed democracy, will no longer be a matter of historical analysis. 

First, it will emerge through a series of statutes outlined in Project 2025. As this project takes place, thousands of immigrants will be detained and put in prisons, dissidents will be rounded up and thrown in jail, and show trials will begin for Trump's most hated enemies, including a range of judges, politicians, and outspoken critics.

Second, every aspect of social life will be militarized. Standing behind this will be the legitimating force of an utterly corrupt Supreme Court majority and a repressive state apparatus composed of the police and various elements of the armed forces. The lights are about to go out in America unless there is a mass uprising of concerned citizens to stop Trump in November.

This is not the country I grew up in because I no longer recognize it. I am not optimistic, but at the same time while hope is diminished, it is not lost.  I will repeat what I said in an earlier post. Mass resistance can persist even in the face of unimaginable odds. To quote James Baldwin "Even the emptiness of America can be overcome." 

-Henry Giroux

Next Election