#poorrichardjr

In 1977 the Republicans in Congress forced then president Jimmy Carter to sell his families peanut farm because they feared that some entity would use it to funnel money to the president. Well, not really, but it was a justifiable concern. Carter, did the right thing and sold it because he didn't want to give even the appearance of impropriety. The country had just come off of the Nixon scandals and Ford's unsolicited pardon to "heal" the country.

In 2016, a new president decided differently. Instead of divesting in his businesses or at least putting them in a blind trust where he wouldn't have undo influence on their profits, Trump decided to hand off his businesses to his sons, but did not take himself out of the loop. In fact, it is more than speculated that a few foreign nations and local oligarchs paid Trump, his businesses, or his hotels large amounts of money to "influence" him. There were halted investigations that proved that foreign nations paid Trump in various ways to get what they wanted.

This is the sort of thing that goes on in corrupt nations, and sadly, America is just as corrupt as any Eastern European nation during the reign of Communist Russia. Tomorrow, Trump is getting back into office, but this time he isn't just content to get millions of dollars from foreign nations through his hotels, or tax funded trips to Saudi Arabia or Davos. Nope, now he has a new con, and a much better way to hide the vast amounts of money nations like China or Russia will be willing to pay him just to get what they want.

Cryptocurrency is a godsend for someone like Trump. Anyone from anywhere can buy into it, but it doesn't really exist. It's like money for nothing. Except it isn't going to be nothing. We aren't going to be able to monitor who buys this illusionary currency put out by Donald Trump, and it is absolutely guaranteed that someone in Trump's orbit is going to suggest to all those entities who have business in America exactly what they have to do to get what they want. It's just modern day bribery in the Banana Republic of America.

Ok, being optimistic here. I'm hoping we haven't lost our democracy or that the current administration is so bad at authoritarianism everything they do collapses if they try to stay in power.

With that being said, I am not a Democrat (surprise to no one). I am not a conservative. I have always been an independent with an extreme mix of beliefs. I believe people should be paid what their worth, no matter what damn job they do. I believe the wealthiest in society should be taxed not only for their salaries but also for the wealth they generate by simply borrowing against what they are supposedly worth. I believe the government should work for the people who live here who need that assistance instead of the people who own most everything. I also worry about how strong the government is and what it might do against its own people if it ever chose to. Yeah, I know, weird confluence of ideas and thoughts.

Anyway, someone brought up the idea of who the next Democratic nominee for president will be. They asked my opinion on who I thought should run, and what I would do if my "guy" wasn't the one chosen. I broke down my thoughts to the barest truth for them.

I don't care who the Democrats put up. I have my preferences, but since January 6th, it doesn't matter to me at all. I will never ever vote for another Republican (and I have once or twice in the past), until their entire party is reformed or destroyed. I may absolutely hate the corporate Democrat that is likely to win the primaries, but I am going to vote for them anyway unless I believe they are going to try and take over the country as a dictator. No matter who the Democrats choose, they are going to be a million times better than the corrupt, ineffective, and cult of the Republicans.

The day Trump dies, and he will, Republicans around the country will try and deify him. They will try and make everyone believe he was the second coming. So long as he hasn't been completely exposed and discredited and republicans still control everything, this plan will likely work.

I dread this day, especially if it comes quickly. I have heard republicans praise Reagan my entire life, and I lived through that terrible reality. Where I lived saw no advantages. There was no great uptick in wealth. We were still poor miners and loggers who kept seeing their small town dying before their eyes.

So, we have reached the point where the Trump administration is ignoring Judges orders. Oh, they say they haven't, or that since the flight of Venezuelans was already over international water they couldn't call it back, despite reports that at least one of those three planes left well after the judge's order. They were also ordered not to deport a doctor from Lebanon, but they did anyway, saying she was a terrorist. They have also been ordered to rehire thousands of fired workers and pay some of the bills already acquired by government contracts they cancelled. None of that has happened yet, as far as I know.

To top all that off though, they have already decided that if they don't like where you are from or what you said in protest, you do not qualify for the protections of law. More than a few protestors of college campuses have had their student visas and green cards revoked, all because Israel and the government have said they were antisemitic. The government is also saying that pardons that were issued by the previous president are invalid because he didn't sign them personally or were done without his knowledge or approval.

If you don't understand where this is going, then you know nothing of history and haven't listened to a single thing that has echoed across the country for the last year. They are one short step from saying it openly. The rule of law is only what they say it is, and they can do whatever they wish without regard to judges, congresspeople, or the constitution.

So, for the last few days, all I have been hearing is how "awful" Platner is. I don't know all that much about him as I don't live in Maine. But there are a few things people need to start thinking about, whether they like it or not.

First, people are not paragons of virtue. No one is ever going to line up exactly with what you believe the right candidate should be. If you look critically, you are going to find "problems" with every candidate who runs for office.

With that being said there are few other important points. The accusations are important, and may or may not be true. After all, if they are true then they are a pretty good indicator of the man's character. However, I hate how people demand purity especially when anyone makes an accusation of something. No proof has yet been provided in many cases and yet some move to demand that someone in power resign for the greater good. This political purity could easily lead opposition to assume that if an accusation is bad enough then the accused may just step aside whether they did it or not simply because of the outcry.

I am not saying Platner is innocent, just that no one is perfect, even a candidate whose ideas you may have aligned with.

The thing is, the accusations have started, and they are likely to get worse. Who benefits from this? Collins surely, but also the republican party, and everyone wishing the destruction of America. Platner isn't likely to step aside at this point, but the constant accusations are going to depress excitement from democratic voters. Whether they are true or not, the purists aren't going to vote for Platner.

Here's the problem with that. Collins will win. Republicans will likely retain control of the Senate. Trump will continue to get away with everything he is doing now. Like him or hate him, it is time democrats and independents become pragmatic. Which of these two people are worse for the country?

I am not a Maine voter so my opinion doesn't matter all that much, but this is something those who have the ability to vote there must consider. Which of these two people and their parties will do the least amount of damage to the country until the next election? Collins is a known commodity. We know exactly what she is likely to do in any given situation. She will say something along the lines of how bad something is, but most of the time she will go right along with that evil thing because her party demands it. Platner has problems as well, but his party isn't trying to turn the country into a Christian nationalist fascism.

A dictator doesn't come to power on their own. There are always people and organizations that help them. These groups believe they will profit in the rise of the unquestioned leader, but in the end, they almost always pay a huge price for their betrayal.

Hitler didn't rise to power simply because of his charisma. His lies and constant diatribes against the people who weren't German enough wouldn't have gotten him to the post of Chancellor had not newspapers and people with influence and power within the German system agreed with him and done whatever they could to lift him up. The same can be said about every single dictator that has risen through democratic systems.

Trump had the entire right-wing echo chamber and elected republicans all across the country who were eager to use violence to get what they wanted. Hate manifested as it always does. The desire for control, for power, for influence overrides sense and morals. These groups abandon the guardrails and the morals they say they live by to gain the things they crave most.

For years people have been warning us about Trump, but most of those people ignored all the facilitators. Fox News. The Wall Street Journal. The Federalist Society. Newsmax. Fundamentalist Christians - especially the end of the world loving Evangelicals. The ultra wealthy who desired tax cuts at the expense of everyone else. And finally, elected Republicans who ostensibly were elected to follow and defend the constitution, but were the first to inspire an insurrection when they lost an election.

Right now the most dangerous of all of those groups is Fox News and all the other "news" agencies out there premised on making republicans feel angry about everyone else in their country. I say that because the dictator in the white house spends all day watching so called news stations and listening to advisors who have their own agenda. The protests in LA and those scheduled around the country this weekend are not being portrayed for what they are - constitutionally protected speech. Nope, all of these people are evil liberals intent on saving crooks and criminals so they can terrorize all these innocent rednecks in the middle of fucking nowhere.

The dictator is going to use every excuse made available to him to bring the hammer down on innocent people and help solidify his power. The constant stream of "anti-American sentiment" expressed by these protestors has to be stopped they are saying. They are telling right-wing Americans that they need to forgo their constitutional rights so Trump and the administration can punish people who are using theirs. After all, these people aren't "real" Americans.

We aren't sleepwalking into dictatorship. We are embracing it. We are eating up the propaganda and willingly saying to take away our rights so that the hateful leader can punish these disobedient children. The problem none of these people see or can seem to understand is that when you take the rights of any one group you are telling the government you are okay with them taking your rights too when you disagree with them.

A lot of people have been asking questions about the "attempted" assassinations of Trump. Honestly, some of that questioning and speculation has gone pretty far. Funny thing is, I have heard numerous people question whether any of them have ever been real almost from the moment they happened. The new attempt doesn't make that any better. So, I am going to go through a little bit about them.

First, do I think these things were staged? No, I don't think so. If any of them were, I'd be more than a little shocked.

Yeah, there are tons of problems involved with these, especially the first one, which in my mind is the only one that really counts as an attempted assassination. Why didn't Trump want to keep talking about it like he does every other event in his life? Anyway, let's answer a few of the queries people have with an attempt to get back to reality. I know we live in a society that is engrossed in conspiracy theories right now, but often the simplest answer is the correct one.

Was Butler real? Almost certainly, especially when you consider that someone did die. Why did it take the Secret Service so long to get Trump out of harm's way? According to recordings of the incident, Trump was worried about his shoes. Why would they let him pump his first and get back into the line of fire? He almost certainly overheard the radios from the Secret Service which stated that they had taken down the shooter, so Trump, the consummate conman saw the reporters and took the opportunity to get the perfect photo of a defiant leader. I am not going to mention the flag in the background as that was likely just a lucky shot? Oh, and the ear was not hit by a bullet. No one who has ever really used powerful firearms believed that, and if they did, they were already a big part of his cult. He was almost certainly hit by a bit of glass from the teleprompter.

The biggest problem for this moment is Trump's reluctance to talk about it. Why? I mean the man cannot shut up about anything. This is something that would at least garner him a little bit of sympathy, though most would likely understand he is disingenuous. Why did he cancel the investigation? I don't know. Maybe since the gunman was dead, and Trump didn't want further news about a young right-winger trying to kill him? Maybe he didn't want more info out about the fact that the man wasn't specifically targeting Trump? I am not saying I don't have questions, but that I don't believe this incident was staged.

The second attempt at his golf course doesn't really qualify as an attempt for me in the traditional sense. Yes, he was there with a weapon but the man didn't even try to get a shot off. If you are that close and really determined to shoot someone, take the shot. You don't have to be a great marksman to hit someone at 300 yards. I used to plink cans at a thousand feet with a 30-06, and Trump is a lot bigger than a tin can.

With that in mind, last night's "attempt doesn't really count either. The man didn't make it into the dinner, and didn't fire at Trump. As of now we only have the White House saying the man was there to shoot Trump. I'm sure since we will learn a lot more, and the White House will spin it as best they can to use that incident against their "enemies."

There is nothing more fundamental to making an informed decision than to know the truth.

That should be blatantly obvious, but our country doesn't really seem to care even a little bit about truth. We allow our media to lie to us daily. We have politicians who routinely lie about everything. There are hundreds of things people should be told about before they do something that will affect the rest of their life, but we are kept from the information needed to make a good choice. That is lying by omission.

It is because of this situation that we live in our current predicament. People are lied too so often that a large portion of our population lives in derangement land. They think democrats are forcing gayness, gender changes, and forced after birth abortions. These same people believe that immigrants are purposely coming here to have children, get government benefits, and vote against the people who are "real" Americans. I could go on and on for months trying to catalogue the sheer number of these nonsense beliefs.

This delusional belief in what is wrong in our country has led people to choose people to represent them that are not going to fix those things and ultimately make your lives significantly worse. It is because of this forced delusion that we have families and our society so severely divided. This is obvious. and yet we allow it to continue.

One of the first things we need to do to change our nation for the better is to make certain that if a publication promotes themselves as news, they must be telling the truth. I am not saying they can't try to spin it for political purposes, but what is said needs to be empirically true. If a politician is outright lying, if the organization claims to be a news source, and they cover it, they have to point out the lies. They can't just ignore it or back it up with more lies. I would think the vast majority of people would agree with this.

I only suggest this for "news" organizations simply because there is an implicit belief that the news is truth. If we keep allowing news organizations to lie to the people we will eventually end up with bloodshed. You cannot bring a nation together if the people cannot even agree upon what is actually happening around them. We could make our lives better if we fined these agencies for purposely lying to us. For instance, every right leaning media source has claimed that democrats want to cut social security, but not a single one of them in power currently has ever suggested that. However, there have been numerous republicans who have openly stated it. Mike Johnson has stated that it will be the first thing republicans take up after the election.