In Plain Sight

 Usually, political corruption and white-collar crime is done in the shadows. Bigotry and racism were once covert and masked in systems and policies, along with outright denials. However, right now in America I am watching all these things happening publicly and in plain sight by none other than our President. Over the past decade I have watched this conman take control of our nation and bullied his way, using the courts and his money, to the most powerful position in the world. Roy Cohn would be proud. 

Trump has used the office of President to enrich himself and his family in ways that no one would have imagined. How is it that he can justify receiving a $400 million dollar tricked out airplane from the Qatar government as a gift while in office. In his first middle eastern trip he didn't do anything to help American interest, but did make deals for his company worth billions of dollars. Investments into his crypto currency business, licensing deals for hotels, and investments in the Trump organization projects run by his sons. This is clearly him profiting from his position with foreign governments. He has even suggested that Isreal take The Gaza strip, killing thousands of Palestinas, and turn it into a joint Riveria with the US, with Trump hotels no less.

His war against immigration has been hyped to use an old white supremacy tactic of fear mongering. The American public has bought into it, but it is only a visible display of his disdain for people of color and anyone who is not white in America. He has used the power of the Presidency to develop what will soon become a Desopo state, with masked ICE agents arresting immigrants, even those here legally or seeking asylum, and placing them in detention center, or worst. I believe in cracking down of immigrant criminal gangs, but his operations are far from just that. 

Every American citizen should be concerned by the power to arrest without due process or recourse. They will come for those who disagree with their agenda next. The ability to protest will be lost. In plain sight Trump welcomed white South Afrikaan immigrants suggesting that they are being persecuted by the majority black South African government. It is no coincidence that three of the wealthiest men in the world are from South Africa and funded his rise to power.

His tariffs are a disaster for the economy and will cause hardship for years to both the poor and the middle class. His allies say he is using them as a negotiation tool, but it appears he is just using them as a means to fund his tax breaks for the wealthy, including himself, and his white supremacy agenda at the end of the day. 

I have watched other countries democracies fall, but usually through a coup or an uprising from protesters. But also, through the promise of making things great by autocratic figures. First by taking party control of the government, then the judges, while making it hard for others to vote or hold free elections. Then the media is silenced to presenting opposition points of view. Those who voice counter points of view are labeled traitors and/or prosecuted. The Supreme court which was stacked by Trump provided him with the power of not being faced with any criminal penalties and he has taken full advantage of it, using executive orders to get his agenda accomplished, whether they are constitutional or not.

WE are currently looking at the dismantling of our Constitution in plain sight, with no one having the power or internal fortitude to stem the tide. They have made it illegal to teach or promote diversity, inclusion, and equality in our current world. We have four years of a man who would be king leading us to who know what. Make America Great again only means take us back to the patriarchy society where white rich men ruled over the people of color and poor people. I'm a baby boomer, so I have seen post war growth, Vietnam war, assignations, the civil rights era, the technological revolution, 911 terrorist attack, decades of foreign wars, the first black President, the Covid pandemic, and now the rise of an autocrat in the "White" House.