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05 Thursday Mar 2026

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THE YEAR FROM HELL…
Over the past many months, I have not written much on these posts. I have to admit that, like many, I have been overwhelmed by the cavalcade of devastation from what masquerades as an American presidential administration. Our news cycles, in-boxes and social media have been flooded daily, even hourly, with too much content by Trump/MAGA as well as commentary, pro and con. It makes your head spin. I also have to confess that I’ve dealt with various health issues which required attention. Fortunately, I feel stronger than ever.
So, why do I describe this past year as the one from Hell? It started with the usual Stephen Miller-induced speech at the inauguration, even worse, more outrageous and historically out-of-place than the “American Carnage” one in 2017. Not to put too fine a point on it, but if the first inaugural address was “some weird shit” as former President Bush described it, this one was a true hot poker in the eye of American democracy. Trump proclaimed it “Liberation Day” and said in true dictatorial fashion, “Our sovereignty will be reclaimed. Our safety will be restored. The scales of justice will be rebalanced” and called his election “a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal.” He expressed his belief that “our recent presidential election will be remembered as the greatest and most consequential election in the history of our country.” That is not just hyperbole but Hitlerian.
As we know, it only went downhill from there. It was a wrecking ball from day one as Trump proceeded to issue executive orders and pardons at lightning speed. On Inauguration Day, he pardoned all the nearly 1,600 January 6th rioters who were investigated and prosecuted for their crimes at the Capitol, 170 of whom had used deadly weapons. Yes, he pardoned all of them, despite the fact he knew many were guilty of violent attacks against law enforcement.
On his first day, Trump issued 26 executive orders: withdrawing from the World Health Organization, ending DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion), gutting environmental rules, opening up drilling, creating the infamous DOGE (Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency), and taking aim at LGBT rights.
I focus on that first day for a reason. For those who thought that his second term was going to be similar to his first, they had another think coming. For those who thought he was telling the truth when he said he had nothing to do with the draconian Project 2025, as they say in his native New York, fuhgeddaboudit!
Here is what he told a Heritage event in Amelia Island, FL on April 21, 2022, praising Project 2025:
“They’re going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do and what your movement will do when the American people give us a colossal mandate to save America and that’s coming. That’s coming. Because nobody can stand what’s happening right now. Only a fool, only a fool or somebody that hates our country can like what’s happening right now. Never been in this position before and already we know a very big part of our agenda.”
Donald Trump put the architects of Project 2025 into high government positions, and they began to execute the plan on January 20th. Prime among them was Russell Vought, who heads up the Office of Management and Budget, which he has run with an iron fist. Trump tapped a whole host of cabinet heads right after the election who were not only inexperienced and incompetent but also extreme. If you were on FOX News, you had a job.
Now, one year later, we have seen Trump issue 243 executive orders, an unprecedented number. Joe Biden issued 162 in all of his four years, and Trump is outpacing all previous presidents, Republican and Democrat. This is government by fiat. This is raw power. Or as Stephen Miller said on CNN: “We live in a world, in the real world that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power.”
Many people a lot smarter than I have chronicled the impact of the year since that first day of the Trump Presidency. If anything, the pace of devastation has accelerated over the past twelve months – deploying ICE across America, a wholesale takeover of the Justice Department, elimination of jobs of those deemed “disloyal” to Trump, unleashing pay-to- play schemes for his friendly billionaires and enriching his own family, the list goes on and on.
But there are many with the courage to take Trump on – the judges who believe in the rule of law and the principles of our constitution, among them. The courts have taken on over 600 lawsuits against Trump. In the district courts, those who sued the Trump administration won 48 times and lost five. The decisions are more mixed in appellate courts, especially with judges appointed by Trump, who voted in his favor 92 percent of the time. Yet the Supreme Court has pushed back on occasion, most notably on the tariff case.
Many across our country are exhibiting real courage, whether on the streets of Minneapolis or at the nation’s colleges, boardrooms and law firms. The second year of Trump will hopefully be the year of the increased resistance and the rejection of an authoritarian, dictatorial government. We can restore and revitalize our democracy but only if we persist in year two and year three and year four of this administration.

https://www.federalregister.gov/presidential-documents/executive-orders
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pardon_of_January_6_United_States_Capitol_attack_defendants
https://ballotpedia.org/Donald_Trump%27s_executive_orders_issued_on_the_first_day_of_his_second_term,_2025
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_contributors_to_Project_2025

Source: FennDaily | All Things Topical and Political.

From an Existential Threat to an Existential Disaster

27 Thursday Mar 2025

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From an Existential Threat to an Existential Disaster

Just a few short months ago, many were pointing to Donald Trump and his MAGA band as an existential threat to our democracy.  It was a common theme echoed by President Biden and Presidential candidate Kamala Harris, along with editorial boards and pundits, and millions of citizens.  A Trump presidency would perpetuate the lies that the 2000 election was stolen, that the January 6th attack on the Capitol and attempted coup was a peaceful demonstration, that the Justice Department’s prosecution of those that broke the law was, itself, unlawful.

Some commentators were convinced that was all hyperbole.  “The country will be fine;” “what damage could Trump really do;” “could it really be long lasting;” “of course he disparaged Project 2025 as too extreme.”  The old phrase “it can’t happen here” has disappeared as fast as sky writing over a spring-training ball stadium.    

The existential threat, in just a couple of months, is now a reality.

The Democrats don’t know what to do. In fact, they are in circular firing squad mode, especially after Chuck Schumer announced he would support the horrendous continuing resolution, knowing what a shutdown would mean.  The knives are out with screaming matches behind Senate closed doors and anger coming from House Democrats aimed at the Senators.   

Despite the excellent response by Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) to the Trump political harangue at the joint session, most Democrats sat on their hands with their little paddle signs, looking more like they were at a Sotheby’s auction house. Trump has continuously upended and insulted regular order, common decency, and the fundamentals of American democracy.  The only effective and reasonable response from Democrats at the joint session would have been a wholesale walkout ten minutes into his diatribe. 

Here’s where we are:  the political leadership in Washington is paralyzed.  Democrats have no power, Republicans won’t stand up for a single principle or even cast any votes that take on Trump.  Too many are being intimidated by the bully-in-chief and fear his retribution.

Much of the press is cowering, the major law firms are caving, the money managers are frantically counting their money and urging the public to buy Tesla stock and cars. The sell-out culture is replacing the stand-up culture. 

The overriding impact of the Trump/MAGA world can be summed up by two words:  cruel and incompetent.  Whether gutting education, destroying our environment, removing health and food aid around the world, eliminating help for our veterans and seniors, and cozying up to dictators and despots, Trump has made clear he is out to destroy our government.  His main legislative achievement will be big tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans at the expense of everyone else. But time after time, this is the crew that has shown devastating incompetence.  Trump and Musk and his minions have absolutely no clue what they are doing and no understanding of government. They don’t care about the fallout or the people they hurt.  But now, as they say, the whole world is watching and Americans everywhere are noticing and fired up.

The latest national security nightmare of using the commercial Signal app to lay bare the attack plans on Houthi rebels in Yemen, while inadvertently  including the Editor in Chief of the Atlantic magazine, was possibly the most serious self-imposed security breach in U.S. history. And now they are all lying about it. The National Security Agency (NSA) specifically cautioned not to use the app in February. This all is blatant incompetence.

So, why am I optimistic, or at least hopeful, that we can turn the country around?

Here is how I believe this is going to play out.  While Congress and the Washington elite are initially unable to navigate the ongoing damage, the grassroots are rising up. Sure, the courts are going to push back and determine that much of what Trump is doing is illegal and unconstitutional.  There will be some victories for democracy, but not nearly enough. Those court decisions and the continuation of Trump as an out-of-control dictatorial  executive, wreaking havoc on the country, is pushing citizens to the breaking point.

As Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security are cut people will get angry, very angry.  As food aid and school lunches disappear, people will rebel?  As the tax breaks for billionaires are passed, people will think “I still can’t afford groceries or a new car!” As health care becomes more costly and more difficult to get, people will wonder “who would do this”?  As the chaos grows and the effects multiply, the people will become increasingly fed up.  They will pressure their elected representatives and demand action.

Just as people rose up on the issues of civil rights and the war in Vietnam in the 1960s, so too they will take on Trump and the policies that are devastating entire communities, policies that are contrary to what we believe as Americans.  This is what we are seeing in town after town, town meeting after town meeting.  People are finding their voice and it won’t be silenced. This will not stand.  And, yes, it will grow and, yes, elections are just around the corner.

A Confession

05 Wednesday Mar 2025

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A Confession

During these times since the November election, I confess I have been turning first to the Metro Section of my Washington Post.  I check out the local news; I look at the weather; at my age, I look at the obituaries.  The front page is so painful for a political junkie like me to start my day, I can’t bear it. A cup of high-test coffee is tough enough.

So, this Saturday I dived right into my Metro Section. Here are the headlines of the articles:

Order requires Va. to aid ICE, Officers told to help with immigration enforcement

VMI’s top leader won’t return, Decision to not bring back first Black superintendent comes amid DEI backlash

Purge hits attorney’s office for District, Seven top prosecutors have been demoted to low-level positions

FBI begins probe of grant program, Agency takes up inquiry into EPA amid pushback from judge, prosecutors

U.S. attorney seeks to dismiss state police civil rights case, DOJ would scuttle suit alleging discrimination of Black, female applicants

Judge allows CIA to fire DEI officers

There was no escape.  And I was only three pages into my chosen Metro Section.

The basic point is that the wholesale assault on our democracy, our values, our decency, is everywhere.  You can’t escape the attacks on people of color, on immigrants, on environmental protection, on LGBTQ, on aid to the most vulnerable, and on those who work for real justice, fairness and the rule of law.  The complete unraveling of 250 years of America’s great experiment is on the way, at lightning speed.

The Trump/MAGA/Musk movement brings back the famous phrase to justify the Vietnam War:  “We had to destroy the village in order to save it.”

Many are hiding from the details behind the headlines to preserve their sanity.  Many hold the view that it is just too painful to invest too much time with these stories.  I get it.  But it is true that when we learn the specifics we are more likely to rise up, to say enough, to engage, volunteer, give money, support those who are speaking out and taking on the inhumane, incoherent and incompetent policies of the Trump Administration.

So, to dig a bit deeper with the details of these stories here you go (Post, 3/1/2025)—

ICE

Gov. Youngkin of Va. “signed an executive order instructing state police and prison officials to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that allow the state officers to be deputized as federal immigration agents…”

VMI

“The Virginia Military Institute board voted Friday not to renew the contract of its first Black superintendent… Retired Army Maj. General Cedric T. Wins was hired as superintendent four years ago amid allegations of wide-spread racism at the nation’s oldest state supported military college.  Wins (is) a VMI graduate who served 34 years in the Army… The members who voted against the extension were all appointees of Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), including two members named to the body this week.  Former Gov. Ralph Northam said        ‘ “Our country has purged too many patriotic military leaders this week and now Virginia has done it too, these are dark times.” ‘

7 Top Prosecutors Demoted

“The prosecutors are among a larger group targeted for “retribution” by President Donald Trump and loyalists, including interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin because of their roles in Jan 6 Capitol seditious conspiracy and riot cases and others including Stephen K.  Bannon and Peter Navarro, according to eight people speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals…Their jobs included overseeing or leading public corruption, fraud, major violent crimes and complex conspiracy cases.”

FBI

“FBI agents this week questioned Environmental Protection Agency employees regarding a Biden administration grant program for climate and clean-energy projects, escalating a criminal probe that already caused one veteran prosecutor to resign….and it was rejected by a U.S. magistrate judge in D. C.”

U.S. Attorney

“A civil rights inquiry alleging that Maryland State Police discriminated against Black and female applicants was resolved last year.  U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Wednesday that the Maryland case was one of several dismissals initiated by her office this week in an attempt to end Biden civil rights lawsuits meant to “advance a DEI agenda.”

CIA

“A federal judge on Thursday refused to stop the CIA and director of national intelligence from firing 51 officers who had been assigned to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility roles that were scrapped last month by President Donald Trump. (The judge) questioned why the Trump administration decided to fire all of the officials instead of reassigning them, as had been recommended by career-services officials at the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.”

There is obviously more in these articles and the avalanche of coverage about how Trump is exceeding his authority, ignoring congress and the courts, and how he has embedded people from Project 2025 into the government to tear it down. 

The key question is:  what is the impact of all these actions ON PEOPLE?  We need to focus on the specific harms that are being done, the upheaval that is being created and the devastating impact on everyday people’s lives.  This is also about incompetence masquerading as action, common sense and consequences be damned and, basically, ignorance is bliss.

Our free press guards against government overreach, investigates wrongdoing by corporate and special interests, and keeps the public informed of malfeasance.  If we were to lose that, as so many dictatorships have, we would be over the abyss to tyranny.

Our “hometown paper”, the Post, has a tradition of communicating truth to power.  Let us hope that Mr. Bezos does not destroy that or censure articles or editorials that the current administration finds objectionable.  Already he has selectively crossed the line, leading to many canceling their subscriptions.

To quote the Washington Post’s current motto: “Democracy Dies in Darkness” – let’s hope that still stands on the front page and in the Metro Section for years to come.

Americans, Focus on the Three C’s: Courts, Congress, Communities

23 Sunday Feb 2025

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Americans, Focus on the Three C’s:  Courts, Congress, Communities

Latest polls show that the worm may be turning – Trump’s negatives are on the rise, Musk is deeply unpopular, voters are increasingly concerned about the trash and burn approach to the first 30 days of the Trump administration.

More and more, these executive orders and Musk raids come across as both cruel and incompetent.  They are not well thought out, they are arbitrary, they are clearly legally questionable and, maybe most important, they hurt everyday people. The actions are “trickling down” and will undermine American’s’ health care, Medicare, Medicaid, education, jobs, incomes, inflation, you name it. 

What Trump and Musk and the MAGA crowd don’t seem to grasp is that wholesale firings and abolishing agencies have real-world implications; they are not just thirty-thousand-foot rhetorical flourishes.  Whether it is fighting bird flu, opening the door for pandemic diseases, taking away people’s health care or nutrition needs or Head Start or housing, whether it is closing National Parks or stopping spending for roads, bridges, water projects, emergency aid, or passing legislation to give huge tax breaks for the uber-wealthy  that the middle class will pay dearly for, this plethora of policies are screwing hard working Americans.  There I said it —  this is the napalming of America, unless you are one of the Trump/Musk oligarchs.

So, how do we fight back and harness the growing rejection of these actions and turn our country around?

The decision to adopt Steve Bannon’s strategy “to flood the zone,” prepared and planned by Project 2025, has meant going everywhere, all at once, right away.  The assumption is that the opposition will be unprepared, stunned, paralyzed by the rapid and ubiquitous collection of executive orders.

The problem with this strategy is two-fold:  first, Trump is not just going after the low hanging fruit, he is chopping down the trees; the second is that the opposition is growing fast, better organized than they thought and the public is responding.  Many voters wanted not normal.  What they fear they are getting is not normal bad, instead of not normal good.

Make no mistake, real damage is being done, at home and abroad.  As Washington Post columnist David Ignatius points out USAID may never be the same again. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/02/21/usaid-trump-freeze-marocco-foreign-aid/ ) Already the international damage has been catastrophic, according to Ignatius and the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition:

“At least 11,500 Americans and 54,575 foreigners have lost their jobs. Nearly $1 billion in payments for work already done has been frozen. Nearly $500 million in food is sitting in ports, ships and warehouses. In Syria, a country struggling to recover from chaos, food and other support for nearly 900,000 people has been suspended. In West Africa, 3.4 million people in 11 countries have lost drug treatment for deadly tropical diseases. At least 328,000 HIV-positive people in 25 countries aren’t getting lifesaving drugs.”

The decision to take a chain saw to USAID and most aspects of government is generating a “flood the zone” response. 

The three key areas for an equal and opposite reaction are: the courts, the congress and our communities.  Democratic Attorneys General in eighteen states were organized and ready to file law suits on many of the executive orders and actions by Trump. Other groups like environmentalists, civil rights organizations, unions and human rights groups also had prepared for the legal battles. More law suits are coming every day and many Americans are donating to groups like the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) and volunteering.  Republican and Democratic lawyers are making their voices heard, some even resigning when told to undermine the rule of law and the constitution.  The more the Trump administration attempts to rule by executive fiat the more lawsuits will be filed and the more the courts will be the bulwark for justice.

Congress will play an increasing role as budget decisions will determine the scope and size of the tax cuts for the rich and the cuts to programs like Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, education, food stamps, children’s health, etc.  Many Republicans are seriously uncomfortable with the spending plans of this administration and aren’t buying the projections.  The numbers just don’t add up.  How do you reconcile $4 trillion in tax cuts over ten years, $150 billion more a year for defense, $175 billion more for customs and immigration enforcement, and then balance the budget without gutting health care and food programs?  That wouldn’t take an act of Congress, it would take an act of magic.   Democrats will hold firm and voters will rise up is my guess as Trump policies squeeze most Americans.  https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/19/us/politics/congress-republican-budget-plans.html

All this leads to greater activism in our communities.  Confronting Members of Congress at town meetings, calling and writing their offices, and making constituents’ views known, will only increase.  There is a lot of local politics out there —  when people are fired for no reason or programs eliminated that impact people’s lives, the ripple effects will be substantial.  (About 80% of federal workers live outside the Washington area, less than 20% are in the DC area)

Poll numbers for Trump will continue to decline; Elon Musk and his 20-something DOGE band will be in the doghouse; the newly confirmed cabinet will become increasingly unpopular feeding bad polls and making Trump furious; efforts to undermine the free press will also be unpopular and create a backlash; anger in the heartland will grow.

The problem we have is Republican office holders are being governed and controlled by fear – fear of Trump’s wrath, fear of MAGA beating them in primaries and, to be honest, actual physical fear if they speak out and buck the trend.  This is true of some press outlets, corporate chieftains and ordinary people afraid for their jobs.  There aren’t enough Profiles in Courage out there — look what happened as the JFK Library was forced to shut down when Trump fired employees critical to keeping it open.  Retribution and recrimination is Donald Trump’s MO, always has been, always will be. That playbook will get old — all the more reason to take him on in the courts, stand up to him in Congress, and organize the grass roots in our communities. 

From Democracy to Dictatorship–Is America Going the Way of Hungary

13 Thursday Feb 2025

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From Democracy to Dictatorship—Is America Going the Way of Hungary?

The calamitous first weeks of the second Trump Presidency look very little like his first term.  Aside from the similar rantings and harsh rhetoric of both inaugural addresses this administration is making no effort to adhere to established norms of a modern-day democracy.   Trump and MAGA have rejected reasonable appointments and pragmatic policy prescriptions and, instead, set in motion retribution, revenge and a wholesale executive takeover – blowing up the government – intent on ignoring the law and the constitution and 250 years of democratic tradition.

They are deliberately testing America’s patience, and the world’s.

It is at first hard to believe.  But not if you look at the many signals that have been hiding in plain sight.  His staff and appointees have been clear about their agenda to dismantle government from the get-go.  The blueprint of Project 2025 has been their playbook, with two-thirds of his initial executive orders taken right from it according to CNN, and the focus on demonizing immigrants and government have been front and center since Trump came down that escalator in 2015.  Trump’s coy pre-election denials about Project 2025 last year were always laughable.

If you look at one tell-tale sign of where this is headed look straight to Viktor Orban and what has transpired in Hungary.  Many like to point to past dictatorships such as Hitler and Mussolini but we need to look no further than recent Hungarian history. 

Let me get personal.  In the spring and summer of 1990 I spent quite a bit of time in Hungary after the fall of the Soviet Union, the advent of elections and the growth of Hungary’s political parties.  My colleagues and I were part of a group from the National Endowment for Democracy and the National Democratic Institute to assist in encouraging and helping parties with the elections to establish their fledgling democracy.  We were given barbed wire pieces of the Iron Curtain by the American Ambassador when we met with him as symbols of a hopeful future for Hungary.

We were young; we were energetic; we felt we were doing important work.  We were helping a number of political parties but one that caught our eye was Fidesz, a group of

30-somethings who had formed the Alliance of Young Democrats in 1988, were center left and committed to a civil society.  They were smart, understood politics, and were well educated on policy – and they were fun to drink beer with after the meetings!

There were a number of key leaders of Fidesz — at the top, Viktor Orban, and close behind Gabor Fodor, Peter Molnar and Klara Ingar. They were committed in the early 1990s to civil rights, joined the Liberal International and were considered an example of an open, progressive, pro-democracy youth movement. In the late 1980s they were an underground collection of anti-communists who rejected authoritarianism.

That changed quickly as Viktor Orban moved the party to the right, and leaders like Fodor, Molnar and Ingar left the party in the late ‘90s.  Orban increasingly became a strongman but not quite strong enough as he lost power in 2002 due to scandals and splits within his coalition.  Not a good first term (1998-2002), sound familiar?

By 2010, Viktor Orban was back in power – no longer the young Oxford-educated disciple of the George Soros Foundation where he worked, but very much a changed man.  For the last 15 years Orban has put in place a plan of “Christian illiberal democracy” that has become the MAGA example for Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson and the members of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) which will be part of Hungary CPAC for the fourth consecutive year at the end of May.  They are joined at the hip.

Orban and Hungary are also the model for the Heritage Society’s Project 2025.  The President of the Heritage Foundation, Kevin Roberts, said in December of 2022:

“Modern Hungary is not just a model for conservative statecraft but the model for Americans, Brits, Spaniards, Australians—everyone should learn from it.”

Learn from it they have.  What we are seeing at the beginning of Trump’s second term is just what we have seen from Orban’s lengthy second term:

*A PARTY BUILT ON ANGER TOWARD GOVERNMENT AND SUPPORT FOR RIGHT WING POPULISM

*A PARTY BUILT ON ANTI-IMMIGRANT FERVOR

*A PARTY COMMITTED TO UNDERMINING THE JUDICIARY AND THE RULE OF LAW

*A PARTY THAT REJECTS CHECKS AND BALANCES AND USES “EMERGENCY MEASURES” TO EXERT EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY

*A PARTY THAT CONDEMNS THE MEDIA AND TAKES OVER THE TRADITIONAL FACT BASED, FREE PRESS

*A PARTY THAT UNDERMINES FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS

*A PARTY THAT FANS THE FLAMES OF VIOLENCE AND GOVERNS BY FEAR

What is the result? An electoral autocracy that uses the unitary executive power theory to control a nation. 

What Orban did in Hungary to fire up his base with right wing populism and demonizing immigrants and focusing on so-called government “corruption”, Trump is doing in the United States. What Orban did to the judiciary with appointments and upending the entire judicial system, Trump is attempting by co-opting the Justice Department  and appointing and electing loyalists.  What Orban did in Hungary by creating a Media Authority and taking over independent media, Trump is intent on doing by embracing  favored outlets and undermining and intimidating media that isn’t favorable to him. What Orban did by condemning elections that did not go his way and then changing the rules, Trump is fast becoming a master of manipulation.  And, finally, what Orban has done to exert ultimate executive authority, Trump and Musk and their MAGA minions believe is coming quicker than you could ever imagine.

“There is a great leader in Europe—Viktor Orban…he is the prime minister of Hungary.  He is a very great leader, a very strong man.”  Donald Trump, January 2024.

“I think Orban made smart decisions that we could learn from in the U.S.”  J.D. Vance, June 2024

“We have entered the programme-writing system of President Donald Trump’s team, and we have deep involvement there.”  Viktor Orban, July 2024

As each day passes, Trump joins the “Dictator’s Club.”  He snubs our democratic allies and embraces Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orban and turns over the people’s house to the richest man in the world and lead oligarch, Elon Musk. Trump and Musk attack the courts where over 50 lawsuits are pending against their illegal and unconstitutional actions to gut the safety net, fire federal workers and shut down agencies and programs that help Americans every day. 

The writing is on the wall. It is up to us to see it and understand it and do something about it. Now, it is up to us to flood the zone.  All hands on deck – fund and support the legal challenges, elect leaders who will battle the march toward authoritarianism at the local level and in Congress, protest the actions and stand up for health care, education, the environment, and lobby our elected officials to stay strong.  Flood the zone with phone calls and visits and attendance at town meetings. Rise up and don’t give up.

It is time to save our courts, save our free press, save our government that has saved us and the world for over two centuries.  We are not a dictatorship. We are not Hungary or 1930s Germany.  We are a beacon for democracy and freedom.  Let’s keep it that way.

For a thorough and enlightening history of Orban’s takeover of Hungary and the Trump link see:

https://ecfr.eu/publication/the-orbanisation-of-america-hungarys-lessons-for-donald-trump/

Also:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67832416

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidesz

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Orb%C3%A1n

Where Do Democrats Go From Here?

15 Wednesday Jan 2025

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Where Do Democrats Go From Here?

Inauguration day, January 20th, or as we are wont to say, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday, is almost here.

Most of my political colleagues and friends are struggling with what strategies and approaches to take as we begin a second Trump term.

First, let’s stipulate a few things.  This is going to be bad. Bad if you are Black, Hispanic, poor, or even just struggling to make ends meet, let alone LGBTQ, an immigrant, a Democrat or anyone who questions the MAGA paradigm. It is going to be hard on the press who don’t tow the line, government workers who try and serve the public interest, fair minded election officials who believe in our election system and try to run it with integrity. And, basically, it is going to be very bad for those who believe in the truth, adhere to the facts and reject the MAGA modus operandi of lying to the American people.  Buckle your seat belts, if you thought you faced a barrage of Trump lies the last ten years, you ain’t seen nothing yet. (Over 30,000 lies/untruths in his first term alone. See –https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_or_misleading_statements_by_Donald_Trump)

If you aren’t a Trump supporter, this incoming administration is intent on wearing you down, depressing you, causing angst at every turn.  They want steam coming out your ears, more lines in your forehead, more muscle pain, so that you give up and give in.  This is about overwhelming the population so that they will decide to go along to get along. Whether they are Silicon Valley or tech giants, corporate heads, media honchos, Republican office holders, or just plain ol’ folks.  The goal is capitulation and submission or, at the very least, drifting into the woodwork.

There is a clear and present danger that many, even those who have been politically active, will throw up their hands, eschew the news on current events, and focus on anything but politics. The authors of the seminal 2018 work, How Democracies Die, Stephen Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt point out in the recent issue of the New Republic that MAGA investigations “may send a message to people to keep their heads down (Ziblatt).”  They suggest that there could be a cultural shift in terms of the political opposition.  “Young lawyers will not jump into politics, but rather stay in the law firm.  Young journalists will decide to stick to the sports beat rather than cover politics.  Young CEOs will decide that it’s better just not to donate to the Democratic Party (Levitsky).”

Or maybe we will see a complete about-face when it comes to attitudes toward MAGA and Donald Trump.  As the Washington Post reported on January 12, 2025 in an article headlined “Big Tech now giving millions to Trump”:

“On January 7, 2021, when Meta suspended Donald Trump’s Facebook account after the U.S. Capitol riot, company chief Mark Zuckerberg said the risks of allowing the then-president to keep using the service after inciting a “violent insurrection” were “simply too great.” Trump would go on to blame Zuckerberg for his 2020 election loss, threatening him with life in prison.

“On Tuesday, exactly four years later, Zuckerberg sang a different tune. As part of an announcement shared first with Fox News, Zuckerberg said that Trump’s win in the November election marked “a cultural tipping point” on speech and that he was terminating Facebook’s “politically biased” fact-checkers, who he said had destroyed public trust.”

Zuckerberg also gave a million dollars to the Trump Inaugural fund and appointed a Trump acolyte, Ultimate Fighting Championship chief Dana White to its board, and Republican lobbyist Joel Kaplan as head of Meta global affairs. It wasn’t just Zuckerberg, as the Washington Post points out, million-dollar donations also came from Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and Tim Cook of Apple.

I know, I know, shocking…in Washington people sucking up to those in political power!  But the question now is more basic than political influence peddling.  As we rapidly drift away from a working democracy and find the elites capitulating to a demagogue, what should Democrats and concerned citizens do.

Fundamentally,  three things  —  1.  Don’t be afraid to take Trump and this administration on at every turn;  2. Win back the House of Representatives in 2026;  3.  Organize, organize, organize, locally and nationally.

Here are a number of specific ideas:

  1. Ignore the latest shiny object. Don’t obsess on the small stuff or the latest lie or slur or bombastic statement.  Keep your focus on Trump’s policies and plans and legislative proposals.
  2. Democrats are in the minority.  You are not in charge. Act like it. How can you stop what is bad and propose an alternative that is good. 
  3. Stay focused on what matters to people – to their daily lives, to their economic well-being, to helping them with the problems of health care, housing, day care, their kids’ education and future, and keeping them safe.
  4. Keep the message simple:  If you are in the top 1% you’re a winner under Trump, everyone else, grab your wallet.  …. Under Trump, hardworking families lose….
  5. Elections do matter, especially at the local level.  Democrats must shift their focus to working in the states and providing some of the billions they give to federal races on state legislatures, mayors, city councils, school boards, judges. Still, concentrate on getting the House back in 2026 and gaining Senate seats.
  6. These are year around campaigns, they need fully organized, staffed, professional, party operations. Build them in red, blue and mixed states. We have a 50 state problem not a seven state problem.
  7. Organize volunteer legal experts to take on Trump and his executive orders and legislative proposals:  on education, on immigration, on the environment, on labor, on justice, LGBTQ, civil rights, etc.  These need to be well funded and organized similar to many of our current legal advocacy groups. (ACLU, Lawyers Committee for Justice, Southern Poverty Law Center)  Recruit people who are committed and want desperately to be engaged.
  8. Pull together progressive groups in regular meetings to share strategy and information and plans for upcoming elections. Coordinate the opposition to Trump.
  9. Ramp up non-traditional methods of communication with voters and prospective voters.   It isn’t your grandparents’ news anymore.  Do the research.  Target. Know your audience. It isn’t always about politics, either, understand the culture.
  10. Have a longer-term plan.  What are the trends? What is happening in the states and localities? How are the demographics changing and where? What kinds of organizations are needed to adapt?
  11. Conduct thorough polling and focus groups at the DNC to examine the key messages that will bring working class Americans back to the Democratic fold, solidify support from young people and women, and understand the slippage with men and people of color. What are the best ways to communicate using the current technology and the new ways people get and digest information.

If Democrats are going to come back, as they did after the Reagan bloodbath of 1980, they will need to come out from under the covers, leave the fetal position and engage.  With Trump, they can’t be afraid or reluctant to take on the school yard bully, fighting back is the only answer.

IS THE BIG LIE WORKING? WHAT DOES IT SAY ABOUT THE FUTURE?

18 Friday Oct 2024

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I am of two minds when it comes to Donald Trump’s constant reliance on the Big Lie and his derogatory language of hate.

Part of me believes that after nearly a decade of this constant barrage the American people will say enough, too much, we are done with Donald Trump.  It will be similar to the rejection of Joe McCarthy and McCarthyism in the 1950s.  For a while he was riding high with his anti-communist crusade and his accusations and attacks, then people caught on, and he was exposed for what he was: a demagogue and purveyor of the Big Lie.

Sadly, part of me is afraid that Trump’s tactic of lying and engaging in deliberate disinformation may be working in America with enough voters to allow him to emerge victorious on November 5th.  As we approach the end of this campaign, in all his rallies and interviews, he has ratcheted up the lies—insisting ad nauseum that he won in 2020, demonizing our democracy, accusing immigrants of eating cats and dogs, using language that is right out of the Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin playbook as Anne Applebaum so correctly chronicles. (https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/10/trump-authoritarian-rhetoric-hitler-mussolini/680296/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-atlantic-am&utm_term=The%20Atlantic%20AM)

At some level, nearly a majority of Americans seem immune or at least numbed to the lies and the language.  They were in pre-war Germany and Italy, they were under Stalin too.  But the key may be to confront what Donald Trump and his cohorts plan to do if elected. It is the actions that will ensue that we must clearly understand.

Here is a partial, but terrifying, list. Admittedly, this is draconian but sadly, pretty close to the mark.

1 Trump will pardon those convicted of breaking the law on January 6, 2021 in the attack on the U.S. Capitol. An attack he now calls “a day of love.”

2 Trump will end all legal proceedings against him for violating the law.

3 Trump will take full control of the Justice Department, and it will be his personal and political arm. He will likely seek to prosecute those he disagrees with, possibly including the Biden family.

4 Trump will attempt to implement nearly all of the recommendations in the Project 2025 plan.

5 Trump will arrest and deport as many Hispanics, Haitians, and those he considers “undesirable” as he possibly can, no matter what the cost. He says 10 million people. CBS estimates the cost of deporting one million would be $20 billion, let alone the effect on the economy. Each person deported costs $19,599.  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-plan-deport-immigrants-cost/

6 Trump will completely upend the tariffs on goods throwing our relations around the world and our economy into chaos. His projections—10%, 20%, 100% etc.—are staggering and absurd.

7 Trump will attempt to abolish agencies like EPA, Education, even the Fed, if he can’t find a way to control them by upending the civil service and installing idealogues who pledge their loyalty to him.

8 Trump will abandon the Ukraine and President Zelensky, allowing Russia and Putin to take over, threatening all of Europe.

9 Trump will abandon NATO and other international security agreements.

10 Trump will go all in for Netanyahu and support his aggressive policies in the middle east, rejecting a two-state solution.

11 Trump will continue his tax policies extending big breaks for the wealthy and basically nothing for the middle class or the poor, exploding the deficits by $7.5 trillion.

12 Trump will continue to describe climate change as a “hoax” and halt nearly all efforts to seek alternative sources of energy, increasing the policy of drilling and extracting fossil fuels.

13 Trump will appoint more extremist judges to the courts who will further erode a woman’s right to an abortion, increase criminal penalties and harm our basic freedoms. LGBTQ rights will also be under attack under a Trump administration.

14 Trump will turn the clock back on voting rights, civil rights and do his best to undermine the traditions of representative democracy by contesting elections that he and his allies do not win.

15 Trump will demonize and attack the free press and shut down those who question his authority. In contrast, he will embrace those like Elon Musk who support him and seek to control what people see, hear and read.

16 Trump will continue his personal grifting schemes to enrich himself and his family by creating companies like Trump Media and Truth Social, a cryptocurrency firm World Liberty Financial, selling gold sneakers, $100,000 watches, autographed bibles, renting out whole floors of his hotels to foreign governments, and on and on.  With Donald Trump the famous sign on Harry Truman’s desk, “The Buck Stops Here”, has a whole new meaning.

The words of Donald Trump are abhorrent and demeaning; his promised actions would serve to destroy our country and all it has stood for, for over 250 years. I would hope this is hyperbole and pray that it is, but those really are the stakes on November 5th.

BACK AT IT….

03 Tuesday Sep 2024

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Back At It…

For some months, I have not been writing that much about politics and especially the campaign of 2024.  Like many, I have found myself down and depressed with the prospects for Democrats and democracy. I have had trouble reconciling the many uplifting years –working in the Senate, heading up the Pamela Harriman PAC Democrats for the 80s, starting the Center for Responsive Politics/Open Secrets and many years as a Democratic media consultant — with the current state of our politics.

Surely, times change, issues change, public opinion changes but it isn’t easy to accept the defeats and the demagogues and the growing debasement of our political discourse. That is especially true when you have the honor, as I have, of working for respected and responsible Democratic candidates and groups during periods when our government was actually solving problems for people.   It is especially true when your opponents across the aisle were worthy adversaries with whom you disagreed and fought tough battles on issues but respected them for their views and their character.  One minute you were securing votes to advance or defeat a proposal, the next you were forging a coalition to move the policy ball down the field.

There is no question that this takeover of the Republican Party by MAGA extremism and hard right ideology has been a long time coming.  The early days of Barry Goldwater in 1964 and the rise of Ronald Reagan in the 70s and 80s led to Newt Gingrich in the 90s and then the Tea Party in 2010 followed, of course, by Donald Trump in 2016.  In a very real sense, this was an escalation over decades from traditional conservate to hard right.  The pro-business, free trade, strong on defense, individual liberty, limited government Republicans became anti-trade, anti-immigrant, anti-NATO, anti-government, anti-deep state and pro-Christian white nationalist, authoritarian, populists.  Now, I know that is a mouthful but as we’ve said many times, this isn’t your grandmother’s Republican party anymore!

Once you engage on the culture war issues—book/curriculum censorship, the anti-public school movement that shifts funding to vouchers, denys climate change, DEI and exhibits prejudice toward LGBTQ people and minorities and immigrants, you have a different America.

The election of Joe Biden did not totally end the Trump era but it did accomplish incredibly important things with an evenly divided congress.  Biden and his team of amazingly capable and competent people navigated the country through COVID, saved the economy, created record jobs, put in place an infrastructure program that will be felt for decades, and put us on the road to saving our planet.  Plus, Biden reengaged America with other nations, bringing us back from isolation and regaining the respect of world leaders.  Even the concerns about inflation are abating and we are nowhere near under the economic and inflationary pressures our counterparts are experiencing. America is strong and our citizens are faring so much better than those in other developed countries.

If there is an overriding issue that plagues us it is the growing divergence between those at the top getting richer and those in the middle and lower end of the economic ladder unable to advance.  The tax system is geared to the wealthy, the education system is geared to the wealthy, the opportunities for housing are geared to the wealthy, the chance to save and build for retirement are geared to the wealthy, everyday expenses and credit and emergency costs hit those who are struggling.

It is up to the Democrats to take that decades-old trend and turn it on its head.  Biden had a good start:  if you make under $400,000 we aren’t going to raise your taxes but if you are in the millionaire and billionaire class your taxes will go up.  We will not extend the Trump tax breaks set to expire next year that’s for damn sure.  In fact, the tax breaks for the average family will be expanded and we will use the money by making sure that the wealthy pay their fair share. The plan Harris has been touting to expand the child tax credit will be put in place; the chance to go to community colleges will be expanded and more Pell grants will help students get the education they need; and by the way we will strengthen Head Start, not cut it; we will also expand help for those who want to start and expand small businesses and we will use the funds that come from closing fancy loopholes that now help people on Wall Street and hurt people on Main Street.  We will expand family and childcare so Americans can afford to work and we will ensure that home health care is available and affordable to seniors who need it.

The Democrats bottom line:  we will turn around the Trump policies that have stuck it to the middle class and hurt working families by giving away even more tax breaks to the super wealthy. We will continue to contrast our support for programs and policies that benefit working people while Trump MAGA efforts cut those programs and squeeze the middle class.

If we make these arguments in the coming two months, we win. Yes, when we fight we win!

How to Save Democracy and Stop the Chaos

16 Saturday Mar 2024

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More and more, the existential threat of another Trump presidency is becoming clear.

Former Vice President Mike Pence just announced he would not support him.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/15/pence-trump-no-endorsement-2024/

Former Vice President Dick Cheney called Trump “a coward “ and  denounced him in the harshest terms.  https://twitter.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/1768742883006308689

Those who know Trump best won’t support him:

Nikki Haley

Former Chief of Staff, Gen. John Kelly

Two of his Secretaries of Defense, Mark Esper and Gen James Mattis

Two of his National Security Advisors, H.R. McMaster and John Bolton

Former Attorney General Bill Barr

Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson

And there are so many more—Sen. Mitt Romney, former Gov. Chris Christie, Liz Cheney, a host of former Republican Governors, Senators and Members of Congress. People who have served with him and who are loyal to the Republican Party, many of whom are strong conservatives and lifelong Republicans, have simply said enough.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Republicans_who_oppose_the_Donald_Trump_2024_presidential_campaign

The reasons are obvious.

Donald Trump is going increasingly off the rails with his words and his actions.  He is claiming dictatorial powers, arguing that he is above the law and embracing bizarre conspiracy theories about the 2020 elections that have been proven over and over to be lies. 

He is telegraphing a possible second term by supporting the extreme and authoritarian  policies of Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orban; he is snubbing his nose at NATO and rejecting Ukraine’s fight for independence.  He brags about his plans to destroy the 50,000 member civil service and put in place only people loyal to him; he denies climate change and favors abolishing the Environmental Protection Agency and pulling out of international climate agreements;  he supports a national ban on abortion; he will deport or intern millions of migrants who are in the U.S.; he will politicize and weaponize the Justice Department to go after his enemies, including President Biden and his family; he will pardon the January 6th rioters and continue to encourage violence by his supporters. He is promising all this blatantly and with retribution and recrimination.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trumps-second-term-agenda.html

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-second-term-plans-wildest-proposals-1234947327

We have seven months to ensure that Donald Trump and his MAGA followers don’t undermine democracy and destroy what America has built in the past 250 years.

How important is it to uphold the rule of law, adhere to the constitution, respect the independence of the three branches of government and ensure the freedoms of our people?

I would bet that many former office holders all across our country, Republicans and Democrats, who are experienced in governing and finding common ground and making our great experiment work, aren’t buying what Trump is selling.  

Here is why preserving and protecting democracy may undercut Trump’s message of division and fear. In the summer and fall of 2023 a poll was conducted of nearly 300 former Members of Congress (nearly equally divided between Democrats and Republicans) on issues related to the 2020 Presidential election, the January 6th attack on the Capitol and political violence. The poll was sponsored by the Association of Former Members of Congress (FMC) and done by the University of Massachusetts.  Similar questions were asked of a national sample of the American public.

What stood out in the polling of ex-members was how similar the views were of Democrats and Republicans and how former Republican members differed from current MAGA members and committed Republicans in the general public.

Democratic former members were nearly unanimous in their view that Joe Biden’s victory was legitimate but over 80 percent of Republican former members also held that view.  Only one quarter of voting age Republicans agreed that Biden legitimately won in 2020.

In addition, about two-thirds of Republican former members believe Trump’s efforts to claim he won the 2020 elections threaten democracy. Yet, around 20% or fewer of voting-age Republicans generally said the same. Few current Republican members are willing to call out Trump, but the same may not be true for former members.

The question this survey raises is whether former office holders across the country,

Republican or Democrat, are concerned enough to confront Trump in 2024. A strong argument could be made that former local officials who are still active but have no political ambitions ahead of them would participate in an organized effort to influence the 2024 presidential election and deny Trump four more years. 

In an unprecedented action last fall, 13 Republican and Democratic presidential libraries from Hoover to Bush and FDR to Obama signed a strong statement to warn of the fragile state of American democracy and to recognize the importance of dealing with widespread rejection of our election results, attacks on our judicial system, and propensity for increased violence. This bipartisan effort, of nearly a century of American presidents, sent a clear message outlining the threat we face.

What would be the impact of a 50-state project to bring together ex-elected officials who are free to speak their minds, regardless of party?

In addition to former members of Congress this could include state legislators, former statewide office holders (governors, attorneys general, secretaries of state, etc.), former mayors, city council members, school board members, and other local officials. These would be women and men who care deeply about their country, who are respected in their communities, and who will take a stand as we approach November of 2024. In short, these would be people who are willing to reject the politics and persona of Donald Trump in order to preserve democracy.

Yes, it would take courage for many, but it is a cause worthy of the calling. As we are seeing more and more, leaders of the Republican Party and former aides and confidants of Donald Trump are willing to go public and speak out. In order to prevent a second Trump administration and all the consequences that would result, local former office holders should join those national figures who are making their voices heard.

The key would be to build up this opposition, involve them in grassroots activity, get large amounts of press attention, use their networks, and form a bipartisan coalition to influence soft Republicans and independents. Ads, literature drops, rallies, blitzing news outlets, get-out-the-vote activity — now to November is plenty of time to get it done.

After all, our nation’s future is at stake. The stakes are too high to turn over the presidency and our democracy to Donald Trump.

Israel’s West Bank Settlements–An Obstacle to Peace

12 Tuesday Mar 2024

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Israel’s West Bank Settlements—An Obstacle to Peace

First, the story:   In 1978, a group of young aides on Capitol Hill were invited to Israel on a two week visit to meet with top academic and political figures and tour the country.  We represented our members – Senators Kennedy, Cranston, Church, Danforth, Heinz, Baucus, DeConcini and Congressman Ben Rosenthal of New York. We met with, and were briefed by, Prime Minister Menachem Begin, future Prime Minister Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan, and Defense Minister and future president Ezer Weizman, among others.  It was a heady trip for a group of 30-somethings!

By the time we got to our last meeting with Prime Minister Begin, we were escorted into the cabinet room and upon entering each had his photo taken with the Prime Minister.  One of the topics we spent a bit of time asking about was the Israeli settlements being built, primarily in the West Bank. How many were there going to be, where were they, how many people, what was the plan for the future, what would be the relationship with the Palestinians, etc.?  The Prime Minister began to get irritated by these young Americans and we saw his staff beginning to shift nervously in their seats.

The next morning at breakfast one of Begin’s aides showed up to join us and remarked that “they had trouble in the darkroom and none of our photos had turned out.”  That prompted one of our group who represented the member of Congress from New York City, to snap his fingers and joke “Damn, there goes my race for Mayor of New York!” 

What led to that we will never know, but a group of staff aides to pro-Israel members of  Congress asking about Israeli settlements clearly did not go down well.

Since that period decades ago, the continuing buildup of these settlements in the West Bank has seriously increased the difficulty of creating a peaceful resolution in the Middle East.  Settlements have also been declared illegal or contrary to international law by every nation except Israel.  The only time the U.S. has changed that position was a few years under Donald Trump. President Biden has reiterated that the settlements are “inconsistent with international law.”

The West Bank right now, with the crisis in Gaza, has certainly taken a back seat.  The horrendous and brutal terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7th shocked the world, and Israel’s continued military response has created a humanitarian crisis and led to the deaths of over 30,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.  The carnage and the world’s reaction to the daily bombardments has resulted in Israel going from victim to aggressor. There are no winners here.

Nevertheless, the West Bank has not escaped the conflict or the confrontation.  The reports of violence, discrimination and recriminations, and the rising threat levels are making headlines too.  If there is ever going to be a two-state solution in the Middle East there is no doubt that it will involve the land and people of the West Bank.

There are currently about 144 Israeli established settlements, and twelve in East Jerusalem, plus about another 100 not officially sanctioned.   These include about 450,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank and 220,000 in East Jerusalem. Just this month after a violent confrontation at one of the settlements Israel has announced that they will build 3,300 new homes for Israeli settlers.

The growth has been astounding.  Consider this:

Soon after our trip in 1978, there were about 17,400 Israeli settlers.

By 1983, there were 99,765 settlers.

A decade later, 1993, that figure climbed to 264,400 Israeli settlers.

By 2010, there were 512,769 and the total figure now is about 750,000. (Lately, East Jerusalem has accounted for about 200,000+ of the total)

All this to say, it is time for the international community to focus more closely on the situation and the demographics in the West Bank.  The State Department estimates that the population of Palestinians in the West Bank is just over 3 million, many of them poor and unemployed or under employed. They deserve citizenship and jobs and self-determination.

I am sure that none of us on that trip in 1978 who traveled throughout the West Bank to Bethlehem, or Hebron, or Nablus, or the Dead Sea, would come close to recognizing it today.  Everything has changed but, when it comes to a lasting peace, everything has stayed the same, or deteriorated.  And, sadly, the events of the past five months will harden the attitudes and stoke more violence.  The only hope is that new leaders will emerge on both sides to say “enough”; it is time for peace negotiations again, involving all parties, getting beyond the history of the hatred and it is time to create a democratic and demilitarized Palestinian state that can live side by side with Israel.  People want to live their lives, raise their children, pursue normalcy in their communities and build on a peace agreement with lasting power.  That doesn’t seem too much for anyone to ask.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_settlement

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_law_and_Israeli_settlements

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-hamas-gaza-war-death-toll-reaches-30000-palestinians-rcna140843