It could be, when all is said and done, that America's racist past and divisions, allowed the rise of autocracy and the ending of our democracy. People were encouraged to vote their fears and their hates, and the result...Russian style pretend democracy.

Old veteran here, single, worried about how aging is changing one's body, depending on VA care...another thing to worry about?
Life sure seems like, more and more, a Monty Python skit, but a deadly one.
Trump skated on serving when he had the chance, and now he is taking away some veterans rights?

Great article, full of well researched facts, things that are important to those of us who value a government that is not corrupted by grift.
When Putin came into power in Russia, one of the first things he did, was let the billionaire caste loot the treasury of the old Soviet Empire. They gave some to the people, but the rich were the only ones with the money to buy up all those "stocks", and so the people became, one again, the serfs to a dictator Czar.

Putin has his good buddy doing what he can to divide Americans one from another, and to divide us from our allies in Western Europe.
It is like when Farage used the same dark energy to get the UK out of the European Union, a move that weakened Putin's greatest enemy.

Ultimately, lies are the power of the current President...when he forces us to bend a knee to his or his minions lies, he owns us, it is "1984" with no hope of ever being able to speak our truth to power.

As I wake this morning, I am made more and more aware of how many fellow humans are living in our country right now, full of despair and fear.
And yes, we need strong borders.

More and more these times remind me of the late 60's and early 1970's when Nixon was gaining power, or was President, and he egged on the more violent amongst us...still, the people protested in more and more numbers, until both the war was stopped and Nixon left the White House.
I don't for a second thing Trump and his gang care about the intimidation factor hurting Americans who are in the opposition.

It is a struggle to name the most incompetent person Trump hired to screw up America, but Kennedy kind of wins I think.

Yeah, Musk was going to bring efficiency to the American government, something he knows nothing about? He tore into Twitter and fired people for no reason, so of course Trump let him in to screw with us.

It would be an illegal order to conduct a war of aggression against a friendly nation just to steal their land. It is so illegal, that even the enlisted ranks would be entitled to refuse to out that order to invade Greenland.
Fascism needs a constant focus of fear and aggression and hate...so sure, Greenland, though it would weaken America immensely, but hey, Putin would be overjoyed.
Has the Defense Department ever been led by more incompetent people, ever?
Hegseth is a little boy doing what his daddy wants done. He is no Jim Mattis.

Americans were taught that we have no king, and we don't force our military to bend a knee to their leader, they owe allegiance to our Constitution.

Saddest article I will read all day, and that probably includes the war Israel just started against Iran.

Kings and dictators like spectacle, think Saddam in Iraq...

Well, millions of us will be out on the 14th to assemble and petition our government for a redress of our grievances...but one does wonder if it will resemble what the Czar of Russia did...attack the people for protesting.

Both Jim Mattis and Trump's old Chief of Staff, John Kelly, said that Trump was a fascist to his core. Of course it will get worse.

And don't think it cannot get worse...there is something in the genes of a lot of men, they have to dominate, they have to hurt others, they have to have all the power flow from them. He cannot change.

Well sure, but I remember 1968-1975, we had a lot of crap going on, we students shut down a lot of college campuses, Nixon stood on a car's hood to try and antagonize crowds so he could over react.

Trump is the disease, and yes, he may sooner or later kill this nation, in that America is about the rule of law, about one person, one vote democracy. I suspect it will come down to next year's midterm elections. If the Dems don't retake the House, he will have enough power to subvert the election process itself, as he tried to do on that murderous day, Jan.6.

No matter where he goes, I wish I trusted my government a little more, and feared WWIII a little less, then there is human caused global warming. Trump laughs at the idea of the Earth warming to deadly levels.

He is good at hurting America and Americans, and of course, the grift thing, but where has he helped Americans, especially those at the bottom of the economic pyramid? So many voted for him, and are getting kicked in the teeth when they try to work out their Social Security or Medicare.

Ultimately, war is the enemy, not each other. If we had a rational world wide legal system, a war of aggression would result in the trials of those who pursued the war.
As it is, I am amazed the US in not in a full on shooting war, considering that would make Trump a war time President and set him up for the mid terms to keep having a suck up Congress.

But bankrupting the government is exactly what Citizens United was designed to do, put the employees of rich people into office, to take from the poor to give to the rich, and when finally the country is bankrupted, then the Republican Party can finally destroy what FDR left...a social safety net that saved the lives of millions.