We all know by now that the current Trump Organization is essentially a crime syndicate. Trump sought a second term and promised his supporters three main reasons:
To keep himself out of jail.
To exact “retribution” against his perceived political enemies.
To enrich himself and his family members as much as possible.
Gaslighting
For decades, Trump has used “gaslighting” to talk his way out of his failings and put the blame on anyone else.
Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation in which a person or group causes someone to doubt their own perceptions, memories, or understanding of reality. The term originated from the 1938 play "Gas Light" by Patrick Hamilton, which was later adapted into films in the 1940s. In the story, a husband attempts to convince his wife that she is going insane by subtly manipulating small elements of their environment and insisting that she is mistaken or remembering things incorrectly.
Trump and members of his administration continuously employ these gaslighting tactics that leave people questioning the truth or reality of their actions or intentions.
Trump seems to think that calling people ridiculous and childish nicknames or falsely accusing them of doing things that he himself is doing or has done in the future will change other people’s perceptions of those people.
Cruelty
As we continue to see on an almost daily basis, for Trump and his administration, the cruelty is the point. They do not care who they hurt or the pain they cause others, especially those they feel “don't matter." Over the weekend, about thirty people lost their lives because of tornadoes, but Trump went golfing and never mentioned the loss of life.
Trump is trying to eliminate FEMA, no matter how the absence of that help hurts the people who need it most, including the people who voted for him in 2024.
Although he gladly fast-tracked the immigration of apartheid-loving, racist, anti-semitic, and Islamophobic white South Africans on the false premise that they are “suffering” at the hands of the Black majority, Trump is simultaneously deporting as many non-white immigrants who truly escaped the actual horrors of their home countries.
Trump is also cancelling the “Temporary Protected Status” (TPS) of hundreds of thousands of legal immigrants from Venezuela and Haiti, giving those people thirty days to “self-deport.”
Trump is also cancelling the legal immigration status of the Afghans and Iraqis who helped Americans during the wars there, putting their lives in immediate danger. He canceled their trips to the U.S. as they were literally getting on the plane.
"Outlawing”
Although some of the Federal judges and SCOTUS justices, even those nominated by Trump, are ruling against some of Trump’s illegal and unconstitutional initiatives, the administration is still deliberately breaking the law and going against the Constitution at such a fast pace that it is hard to keep up. That’s exactly what they want.
Additionally, notwithstanding that Trump and every member of his Cabinet swore to uphold and defend the Constitution, they are proposing steps that expressly contradict it. The Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security express their belief that habeas corpus and due process, both guaranteed by the Constitution, are “optional.”
They are also trying to extract the “birthright citizenship” portion out of the 14th Amendment, only because at this time, most children born under that right are the children of brown immigrants, documented or not. It’s all a part of their deranged “Great Replacement Theory.” They are very afraid of becoming the minority in this country, which is estimated to happen anyway by about 2030.
What we must do...
Keep up the pressure by protesting, either in person or by calling/writing our Congressional representatives. It’s working.
Keep supporting the organizations and firms that are bringing cases to court. It’s working.
Keep checking the voter registrations for yourself and everyone you know, even in Blue states. Trump and the MAGAs know that if they lose control of the House and Senate in 2026, they are toast, so they are doing everything possible now to subvert that election.
Please let us know if you have any additional ideas to continue the fight against authoritarianism and fascism, and for our democracy and our country.
All “We Are Speaking” posts are now free for everyone to read, and commenting on our posts is now open to everyone!
