Donald Trump – Susan Feathers

The Aberration of Pete Hegseth

Here is a man whose whole reason is funneled into killing people and blowing things up. His poses as a warrior, but a true warrior is constrained by ethics and a moral code.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense is constrained under U.S. law and military codes of conduct. These state to whom the power to enter a war resides, how wars are funded and who decides and how long that funding shall be provided. These are all vested in the Legislature (Congress) and are detailed in Article I Section 8 of the Constitution.

Every citizen should have a pocket Constitution to refer to for the proper functioning of our Republic. You can obtain free copies at libraries and voting centers and through nonprofits and U.S. agencies. We should all send a copy to Pete with the section highlighted.

But this is not what makes Pete immoral. He answers only to the President, not to the Constitution, i.e., congressional powers and oversight. Why these laws are in place is no more obvious than when the Executive (the President and his appointed Cabinet and staff) is unhinged. Donald Trump is also ignorant of Constitutional laws and regularly ignores them. He has been aided by a Supreme Court bent toward a powerful Executive Branch in a conspiracy of powers to override Congress.

Pete is one among many in the present fascist cabal that has taken over the American government and holds law abiding members and citizens hostage through sheer audacity and subterfuge. As a whole, this cabal is ignorant of our governance and history, and they operate with delusions of grandeur such as Pete’s posturing as a vicious, all-powerful warrior. His only guidelines are killing and blowing things up. He reminds me of little boys playing war on their bedrooms rugs, gunning down soldiers and throwing bombs to destroy combatants, vehicles and infrastructure. It is madness but it is happening at the highest levels of government in America!

The consequences have spread all over the world, destabilizing countries, fraying or breaking long-standing relationships among democracies. We are now risking the development of a third world war. The deadheads in the White House and the Pentagon envision a “golden age.” Their actions and illusions will create havoc, death, hatred, and loss of civilized order that so many have given their lives to protect over the ages.

Pete is a verified case. Donald Trump is an unhinged man. The Cabal is enabled by Republicans like Lindsey Graham who speaks out of both sides of his mouth as the wind blows. He is a traitor to the United States along with all who aide and abet these aberrant imposters who now control our government and unless we act decisively, our lives.

And have we now forgotten the Epstein files, the Ukrainian war to preserve a nation’s democracy? Lest we do, I am sharing a poem from Ukrainian Victor Kravchuk from his Substack.

https://substack.com/profile/130906845-viktor-kravchuk/note/c-222123213

Freedom, Nation’s Capitol. Photo by Susan L Feathers, 2013

This is the image of a true warrior for Freedom, Liberty, and decency.

Any Grown-ups in the Room?

The hourly dismantling of the American Republic demands that grown-ups stand and exert their authority as citizens. Afterall, this is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Since 2015, Donald J. Trump has intended to rid us of the rule of law. His principal tool has been obfuscation of fact, otherwise known as lies. The Heritage Foundation, which brought billions of dollars to elect Trump and crafted Project 2025, engaged Russell Vought as its principal writer. Later installed by Trump as director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Vought is orchestrating the takeover and destruction of democracy at an unrelenting pace.

Because Trump doesn’t read or investigate, he is a stooge for powerful ideologues. A barrage of Executive Orders signed in the first quarter of his term were lifted directly from Project 2025. This plan cloaks itself in the language of patriotism and democratic values, while the intent is its opposite: the wholesale destruction of the guardrails in the Constitution to check executive power. Now that Trump et al have functionally dismantled or made ineffective federal agencies and branches of government, the intent is clear: empower the Executive to Install a new form of governance: authoritarian. All of it is unconstitutional. A raft of lawsuits in pursuit of these thieves has made some progress in holding back full scale implementation. However, a Supreme Court dominated by Trump nominees, is preventing just outcomes that are within the scope of a true Republic as shown in our history.

Onerous still is the outright rewriting of our history. This is accomplished on a large scale while the American public watches in shock. So preposterous in scope, the dismantling of historic buildings, art and information in our museums, National Archives, federal buildings, and even the architecture of the White House, has temporarily stunned Americans. Some make jokes about it, but Trump is dead serious. I imagine closets filled with cans of white paint and gold leaf off the Oval Office and a meandering president doing touch ups late at night. Its about image with Trump. But the people who made him president intend to take what is ours.

The most recent outrage is the announcement that there will be no national holiday commemorating the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr. who advanced civil rights through faith and leadership, and built a powerful nonviolent movement that resulted in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Instead, we will celebrate the birthday of Donald the Trump.

One of the most tragic periods in recollection, history will not forget the mean intent and childish actions of a mentally dysfunctional leader installed by a party and minority electorate intent on imposing their warped, racist ideology on all the rest of us. We must resist! Citizens and courts are the last bastions of the Republic. Recall the warning of John Adams when asked the outcome of the Constitutional Congress. “You have a Republic, if you can keep it.”

To me this is the strongest statement of our shared responsibility to be ever vigilant and willing to defend the government that emerged from our founders best ideas. Now, as the jaws of injustice aim to rip asunder both the physical and ideological bulwarks of Freedom and Justice, we must stand up as adults and resist these forces that fool an unwary citizenry through lies and the theft of democratic language to mean its opposite.

Wherever each of us resides, we must be willing to speak truth to power, to correct lies and misleading language. Pick your battles, friends, for such is the multi-pronged attack on American laws, customs and values that there is plenty of room for everyone to choose their cause.

Make no mistake. These are dangerous people running our Republic. Free and fair elections are their next target. If we lose that battle, I fear it will harken the end of our democratic society.

Tolerate no fools. We must be the adults in the room. We must restore our liberties and place our trust in each other to do so justly.

https://open.substack.com/pub/anntelnaes/p/trump-dusting-off-the-old-playbook?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

Update: Today’s Substack post from Heather Cox Richardson pay tribute to Rob Reiner and his wife by quoting from the film by Reiner, The American President.

In this clip, the American President speaks to an opponent about character and the requirement of the Office of President which depends of good character. In our current situation, this should be said to the current occupant of the White House Office of the President whose name I shall not utter for he has violated every aspect of character Americans have come to value in their President.

Militarization Against Freedom Loving Americans

The Constitution of the United States of America was written and approved by a body of men representing people whose life experience had been lived in the shadow of monarchies and despots of Europe who had ruled for millennia.

These men created a form of government, a republic, that is democratic and representational. It’s organizing principle is the “separation of powers.”

The separation of powers distributes legal authority among three core function of governance: 1) legislative; 3) executive; 4) judicial. This is the backbone of our form of democracy that specifically addresses the experience and fear of our Founders that the executive could become vested with too much power.

In June of 2025 the American government has rested power from the legislature and challenges the Supreme Court for ever greater executive power under Donald J. Trump. He openly defies the laws set forth in the Constitution.

The MAGA movement, MAGA Republicans (a right-wing Christian Nationalism movement) masquerading as the Grand Old Republican Party, bows to Trump and follows his every wish. These then are enemies of democracy in power in Washington and across Republican states.

Since taking office in January of 2025, and through hundreds of Executive Orders, Trump and his administration are openly defying the Constitution. The American public, including many people who voted for this president, are waking up to the daily assaults on our freedoms and exercise of justice under the law. Our rights as citizens are being eroded by this steady chipping away at the principles of justice and fairness that have been the bulwark of our constitutional form of governance.

On top of this is a president who does not know history, law, or the long held democratic norms of behavior established through 250 years of democratic governance and public life. Democratic values are under assault under his autocratic behavior and intent.

So tomorrow on Flag Day, a celebration of the establishment of the U.S. Army and the hallowed flag of America, a massive military parade with tanks and guns will fill the streets of our capitol with the self- appointed king in tow.

Join millions of freedom loving Americans turning out across our nation to celebrate No Kings Day – a peaceful demonstration by Americans who love democracy and will stand strong to prevent its demise at the hands of a would-be emperor. Maybe then you’ll notice, his intent is naked before us.