Posts published in “Jones”

Enough of Trump’s Ukraine insanity. Donald Trump’s recently-announced 28-point plan (the Plan) for Ukraine’s capitulation to Russia would result in a cessation of hostilities until such time as Vladimir Putin took it in his head to swallow the whole country. That would be a catastrophe for Ukraine and a mortal blow to America’s security, just as Senator Jim Risch has repeatedly argued in recent years. Although there are indications that Trump has begun having second thoughts about the Plan, just putting it out there in the first place was a major blunder.

Risch correctly stated the remarkably high stakes for the US in 2022: “This war is not just about Ukraine. The fight in Ukraine is a strategic challenge with long-term implications for the free world. Ukraine is the opening move in a game to tip the balance of power toward Russia and China to dominate the world for the next century or more. For the sake of our country and the sake of the free world, the Administration needs to get serious about supporting Ukraine with war-fighting materials so we can prevent a more sweeping conflict from coming to our shores.” That was a knowledgeable Senator, speaking truth to President Biden. Risch’s concerns were well-founded at that time and remain so today.

The Plan is essentially a Russian wish list dictated to a clueless New York real estate developer, Steve Witcoff, without input from Ukraine or our NATO allies. The Europeans were blind-sided and gobsmacked that the Plan would force Ukraine to give up strategic ground, reduce its army by more than half and give amnesty to Russia for its genocidal conduct. Many other provisions of the Plan would reward Putin for his aggression and leave the door open for further aggression against Ukraine, as well as our NATO allies.

Several GOP lawmakers dared to slam the Plan. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said: “Ukraine should not be forced to give up its lands to one of the world’s most flagrant war criminals in Vladimir Putin.” Former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said: “Rewarding Russian butchery would be disastrous to America’s interests.”

The Plan claims that Ukraine would receive “reliable security guarantees” but those appear to be Putin’s word that he would behave himself. Could we trust Putin to keep his word? Last December, Risch emphatically stated that the Russians “are cheaters, they're liars, they’re murderers. They’re the worst people on the planet, after what they did to Ukraine.” He was absolutely correct. Putin simply cannot be trusted.

The last time Trump made a complete settlement of a major conflict was the Doha Accord between the US and Taliban in February 2020 to end the war in Afghanistan. Our Afghan partners were excluded from the Doha negotiations, just like the Ukrainians were excluded from developing the Plan. Like the Plan, the Doha Accord contained no reliable security guarantees for the Afghan government. In fact, the Taliban began violating that deal before the ink had dried. Trump made no credible effort to call the Taliban to account for those violations. The ill-advised Doha Accord laid the groundwork for the collapse of Afghanistan’s military and the Taliban take-over in April 2021. The moral of the story is that excluding one of the main combatants from settlement negotiations is a high-handed invitation to failure.

Another indication of Putin’s ill intentions is the series of provocative actions taken by the Russians against our NATO allies. Incursions by Russian  aircraft, drones and agents into NATO territory signals that Putin has his eyes on other satellites of the defunct Soviet Union. Ukraine will just be the first domino to fall, if he has his way.

What, then, should the US do to protect our national security interests with respect to the war between Russia and Ukraine? Senator Risch put it this way: “The way we protect U.S. interests and stay out of this fight is by giving Ukrainians the tools to defend their sovereignty. Give Ukraine missiles. Give them airplanes. Give them humanitarian assistance.” Amen!!

The question now is whether the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will use his considerable influence to stand up for the national security interests of Ukraine, NATO and the United States, as he has so clearly stated them over the years? Will he put on his big boy pants and loudly speak out for Ukraine? Or will he give in to personal political considerations and sell them out, merely to win another term in office? Is Trump's re-election endorsement more valuable to Risch than his long-held convictions? We will soon see the true measure of this man.

After Donald Trump’s chaotic tariff policy began wreaking havoc upon financial markets during the first months of this year, clever financial analysts came to describe it as a TACO policy. When the markets reacted violently to his on-again, off-again tariff gyrations, he always made dramatic course corrections to calm market fears. They called it “Trump Always Chickens Out” (TACO). Many traders loved it because they could make lots of money by calculating that he would chicken out when things got scary.

There are interesting signs that the TACO policy is beginning to play a role in Trump’s dealings with the GOP majorities in Congress. Up until this time, the craven congressional cowards have willingly allowed him to usurp their constitutional powers–tariffs, taxes, war, spending, whatever–out of fear of incurring his wrath. Very few have dared to stand up to him even when they knew his actions were wrong.

Several recent examples indicate an awakening on the part of a few brave souls. The most recent is Trump’s remarkable about-face on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files. The issue has had an interesting journey. Trump pledged to release the Epstein files, if elected, during the 2024 presidential campaign. Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered a comprehensive search of the Epstein files earlier this year. The FBI reported in July 2025 that it had conducted a complete search of every conceivable Epstein-related file. Trump was told that his name appeared numerous times in the files. Ever since then, he has fought tooth and nail against releasing any further Epstein files, likely because they contained extremely damaging information about him.

A House vote was scheduled for November 25 and it was almost certain that a significant number of GOP members were going to support the release. Several far-right legislators, including Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, had made it known that they would support the release of the files to stand up for Epstein’s victims. They gathered enough GOP followers to force the release of the files. Not wanting to appear to be the loser, Trump performed his face saving about-face. Having  been in full control of the files ever since July, he’d had plenty of time to scrub the files of any incriminating information.

Moreover, the file release was not really a political question. It was a question of whether our political leaders would support a thorough examination of the crimes and connections of a pedophile or continue to hide them from the public. It was a contest between decency and corruption.  Those GOP House members who supported releasing the files must have concluded that voting for justice and against Trump was not a political death sentence. And, it was certainly the right thing to do.

During the 54-day government shutdown, a number of GOP legislators quietly expressed concern about their constituents facing massive increases in their Affordable Care Act (ACA) insurance premiums. Trump remained dead set against providing any relief. His congressional minions followed suit, at least until the Democrats swept the November elections. That seems to have given pause to both Trump and his congressional sycophants that they should actually try to address the premium concern, which primarily affects red states–76% of enrollees are in states won by Trump in 2024, including Idaho. Trump and his hardline congressional supporters must have concluded that the TACO policy was also appropriate on this issue. Dr. Mehmet Oz announced on November 16 that the Trump administration is holding “discussions” on extending the ACA subsidies.

Getting back to tariffs, Trump has steadfastly claimed that his tariffs are benefiting families and lowering the cost of living. Some of his congressional minions have quietly begged to differ, but have been unwilling to speak out publicly. After the recent elections, he changed his tune on the tariff issue, but without admitting error. On November 14 Trump lowered tariffs on more than 200 food products, including coffee, beef, bananas and orange juice. It was a rather stealthy application of his TACO policy.

These recent changes of tune may give more GOP members of Congress the courage, heretofore lacking, to vote the interests of their constituents on any number of issues, instead of just blindly following Trump’s orders. Wouldn’t it be great if Idaho’s congressional delegation started performing their constitutional duties instead of cowering at Trump’s commands? It might all be thanks to Trump's expansion of his TACO policy to congressional issues.

Donald Trump’s publicity-seeking immigration crackdown in Wilder has managed to tarnish legitimate law enforcement–the FBI, Idaho State Police and a number of Idaho’s local law enforcement agencies–as well as the legacy of a revered Idaho Governor.

Phil Batt, who served as Idaho’s Governor from 1995 to 1999, was a champion of civil rights. As a State Senator, he was largely responsible for the establishment of the Idaho Human Rights Commission. He stood up for immigrants who provide the backbone for Idaho agriculture–getting them workers’ compensation insurance coverage, as well as toilets in the field. He tirelessly advocated for immigrant labor families. The education building at the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights in Boise was named in his honor.

When about 200 federal, state and local agents descended on a racetrack in Batt’s hometown to frighten and intimidate a festive crowd, it smeared an ugly stain upon the legacy of our former Governor and his beloved city. According to veteran Idaho journalist Randy Stapilus, this was a gathering of an estimated 500-1000 people “peacefully socializing while horses ran.” None of them deserved to be terrorized by the abusive tactics of Trump’s chaos agents. It was a major embarrassment for legitimate law enforcement agencies that were snookered into joining the fiasco.

There has been debate as to whether the operation was the responsibility of the FBI or of Trump’s border agents. The FBI seems to have initiated the idea of targeting the 4-5 individuals charged with gambling, but that does not take 200 agents. Those suspects could have been quietly arrested before, during or after the gathering without causing the major disruption of the event that garnered publicity across the nation.

The FBI has long been America’s premier law enforcement agency. It has gained the respect of the nation over the years by targeting sophisticated criminals and high-level crimes–cybercrimes, drug trafficking, terrorism, espionage, violent crimes and counterintelligence. However, Trump has diverted a substantial part of the FBI workforce away from those serious crimes to focus on immigration. FBI data shows that “nearly half of the FBI agents working in the US’s major field offices have been reassigned to aid immigration enforcement.” That shift has demoralized many veteran FBI agents. It is easy to see that what may have started as an FBI operation inevitably turned into a major immigration embarrassment–a tail wagging dog fiasco.

The FBI designation likely attracted the state and local law enforcement attendance. I can imagine their surprise on learning that it was primarily an event to garner national headlines as a tough immigration roundup. Why else would they arrive in “full force, military-style, helicopters, drones” arresting and handcuffing everyone, as one person described it? A private security contractor, who was zip-tied until he lost feeling in his fingers, said that officers “were throwing flash bangs, guns were drawn and they were giving orders.” He and his five employees, all of whom are citizens, were detained at what he described as “a decent family event.” His property was damaged and “guns were pointed” at his 14-year-old daughter’s face. He said: “The spectacle is what was wanted, and the spectacle is what they got.”

The Idaho State Police and some local law enforcement agencies were roped into the roundup because of  ICE–”287(g) partnership agreements, which provide some funding to the agencies, but obligate their participation on this type of event. It is regrettable that Governor Little has required our dedicated and professional ISP officers to go along with this type of travesty. They deserve much better.

A press release issued by Little’s office claimed that there was illegal horse racing and animal fighting going on at the event and implied that illegal drug and weapons trafficking may also have occurred. The horse racing was not “illegal” but the gambling was apparently unlicensed. There has been no proof that animal fighting or trafficking of drugs and guns occurred. The Governor should choose his words more carefully.

It is not clear whether the FBI was pleased to have ICE and other federal agencies coopt their operation or whether it was known to the feds that the operation took place in the city that Idaho’s former champion of civil rights for immigrants proudly called his home. Governor Little certainly knew of Phil Batt’s connection to the City of Wilder and had a responsibility to call the feds out for their disrespect of that great Idaho voice for immigrant workers and their families.

Wars are costly in the extreme. The Vietnam war cost $168 billion, or $1 trillion in today’s dollars. Post-war benefits for veterans and their families have cost about $22 billion per year since 1970. The Iraq War will cost almost $3 trillion dollars–about $2 trillion in direct costs and another trillion for long-term care for veterans. The war in Afghanistan cost about $2 trillion, not counting care for its veterans.

Even more than the money, those wars caused the deaths of thousands of our finest men and women in arms. I grieve every time I think of the 58,220 Americans, including 251 Idahoans, who died in the Vietnam War. Many thousands more suffered serious injuries, while many are still dying from causes such as suicide, substance abuse and exposure to toxins. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan left 7,085 military fatalities and 53,533 wounded service members. Many live with war-related health issues.

It would be one thing if these tremendous costs of war were necessitated to advance important national interests. Sadly, that is not the case. Each of the three wars was the result of poor judgement, political calculation, or plain ignorance.

President Lyndon Johnson’s administration fabricated a North Vietnamese attack on two U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin as a pretext for a tremendous escalation of hostilities in South Vietnam. Only two Senators voted against a 1964 Congressional resolution laying the groundwork for that major commitment of American forces. The failure of Congress to seriously examine the grounds for such a massive use of America’s military was inexcusable.

I volunteered for service in Vietnam and was assigned to a heavy artillery battalion in Tay Ninh Province in July 1968. Like many U.S. troops, I cast my 1968 presidential ballot for Richard Nixon because he claimed to have a plan to end the war. We learned many years later that just before the election Nixon had secretly sabotaged peace negotiations that could have brought the war to a halt. As president, Nixon later forced South Vietnam to sign the Paris Peace Accords that stopped the fighting, promising substantial weaponry and air support in the event of a major North Vietnamese attack. Those promises were not honored, leading to South Vietnam’s defeat in 1975.

After the 9-11 attack, when the Bush-Cheney White House was beating the drums to go to war in Iraq, many of us Vietnam vets knew it would be a tremendous blunder. There was absolutely no evidence that Saddam Hussien had weapons of mass destruction or that he had any responsibility for the attack. He was a bloodthirsty tyrant, but there was no credible case for wasting such a massive amount of blood and treasure in Iraq. All but one member of Congress voted for the Global War on Terrorism Resolution that gave the president practically unfettered authority to attack anyone and everyone who was branded as a terrorist, including Saddam.

There was justification to send a small group of American forces to Afghanistan to punish Al-Qaeda for the 9-11 attack, but no justification for spending the next 20 years propping up a corrupt government, as well as regional warlords who victimized the population almost as badly as the Taliban. Our leaders failed to stop our participation.

Presidential impunity continues apace. Donald Trump launched an unprovoked attack on Iran that constituted an act of war. He has authorized and celebrated the killing of dozens of so-called narco-terrorists and seems poised to undertake hostilities against Venezuela, without compliance with the War Powers Resolution, which requires notification and approval by Congress. Most recently, on November 1, Trump threatened potential military action in Nigeria.

This parade of political manipulation and misuse of American military power has done tremendous harm to our country. It has been facilitated by the voting publics’ inattention and the abject failure of Congress to carry out its constitutional war power duties. Congress can and should stop unjustified wars before they are stoked up by posturing presidents. Voters need to hold their Senators’ and Representative’ feet to the fire, forcing them to do their jobs.

While every American should step forward on Veterans Day, November 11, and every other day of the year, to express appreciation for those who have fought, died and still carry the wounds of war, we all must do much more. By forcing our elected representatives to perform their constitutional obligation to keep the country out of unjustified hostilities, we can keep our young men and women in the military from being casualties. Had Congress carried out its duty to act as a check against presidential abuse of our military, the country could have avoided much of the blood and treasure wasted in the country’s unfounded wars since 1964.

There was a time in the distant past when Idaho elected officials had moral compasses and were dedicated to serving the interests of the Gem State. Since agriculture is so important to the Idaho economy, they were constantly on guard against federal plans and schemes that would harm that vital industry. As Legislative Assistant to former Senator Len Jordan in 1970-1972, I had a front row seat to the action.

Every time there was even a hint of Idaho water being poached by another state, the entire Congressional delegation–Senators Jordan and Frank Church and Reps. Orval Hansen and Jim McClure–spoke out loud and clear against it. When President Nixon ended beef import quotas in June of 1972 so as to bring in more beef and lower prices, the delegation collectively raised hell. Jordan always vigorously opposed actions that would harm farmers in other states, figuring there was strength in numbers.

Len Jordan was the epitome of courage, having stood up to a President of his own party numerous times. He spoke out and voted against Nixon’s two segregationist Supreme Court nominees–Haynsworth and Carswell. He led the Senate floor fight in 1972 to force Nixon to spend funds lawfully appropriated by Congress. He supported the President when he thought he was right and opposed him when he was wrong.

With Jordan’s example in mind, it is frightening to see the craven cowardice of Idaho’s top politicians–Senators Risch and Crapo, Representatives Simpson and Fulcher and Governor Little. When Donald Trump acts against the interests of farmers, we don’t hear a peep from these officials who are supposed to represent our interests.

When Trump announced to Californians a year ago that he wanted to send them Columbia River waters, our politicos remained silent. His January 24 executive order meddling with irrigation water in federal storage did not elicit a peep. We can only hope he doesn’t try that in Idaho, as it does not appear our elected heroes will push back.

Our Congressional delegation is afraid of telling Trump that the constitutional power to set tariffs is theirs, not his, and that his tariffs are raising farmers’ costs for fertilizer, machine parts, lumber, chemicals and practically everything they buy. Senator Crapo should take a particular interest in the tariff problem because he is Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which is responsible for setting tariffs. Somebody should probably wake him up and let him know that Trump tariffs are hurting folks on the farm.

Idaho is not big into soybeans but midwestern farmers are desperate for help on soybeans. China bought $12.6 billion in U.S. soybeans last year, but absolutely none this year, thanks to retaliation for Trump’s erratic tariffs. Trump admires Argentina's nutty President, Javier Milei, and spent 20 billion U.S. taxpayer dollars to keep him in office. Milei won at the expense of midwestern farmers. China bought more than one million tons of Argentinian soybeans to fill its need and will likely purchase Argentinian and Brazilian soybeans long into the future. Representative Majorie Taylor Greene said the Argentine bailout was “probably one of the grossest things” she’s ever seen. Idaho’s top elected officials could not crank up the courage to protest.

Closer to home, Trump is throwing a haymaker at Idaho’s beef producers. I grew up in the cattle business. For many years my father, Henry Jones, had the largest beef operation in southern Idaho. It is kind of a boom or bust business. It happens to be the one bright spot on the agricultural scene in Idaho and across the country, but there have been many bust years and producers finally have a chance to make up for them.

But destroying the market of U.S. soybean farmers was not enough to help President Milei, so Trump now wants to quadruple beef imports from Argentina to knock down beef prices in the U.S. Trump claimed he had to help because Argentina was “dying, alright? They are dying.” Cattlemen in Idaho and across the country are justifiably outraged. Rep. Greene said, “honestly it’s a punch in the gut to all of our American cattle ranchers.” Senators representing South Dakota, Utah, Montana and Utah have publicly objected to Trump’s plan, but our Congressional delegation and Governor have remained silent, apparently frightened to stand up for our farm community.

That’s not really surprising because none of them will say anything about the thuggish tactics employed by ICE against Idaho’s undocumented workers who harvest our crops, milk our cows and do the important work that keeps Idaho’s agricultural sector operating. If our officials can’t muster the courage to do their jobs, they should either undergo spinal transplants or check themselves into retirement homes.

Donald Trump has made a dramatic show of making America's military blow up purported drug boats off the coast of Venezuela, hundreds of miles from American soil. So far, Trump has amassed a body count of 32, who he claims, without evidence, are “narco-terrorists.” He has failed to reveal the identity of the boat crews, what their destination was or why the Coast Guard couldn’t simply have performed its regular task of interdicting and searching the boats to confirm they were carrying illicit drugs.

Trump has publicly claimed the boats were carrying fentanyl, when almost all of that drug is widely known to be transported across the U.S. border with Mexico. Over 90% of fentanyl seizures in the last 5 years have come from Mexico.

Obliterating the boats is a stupid tactic because it destroys the evidence and does not allow for interrogation of the suspects. Dead suspects cannot disclose valuable intelligence to use in going after the drug kingpins. The tactic violates U.S. law because Trump has not gotten Congressional approval to use lethal force against the suspects, having failed to show they pose an imminent threat to the U.S.

The boat attacks also violate rules of international law that top U.S. military lawyers have urged the services to observe. With its scofflaw attitude, the Trump regime has tarnished the reputation of the United States as a beacon for the rule of law. We became the most powerful nation on Earth because of our dedication to lawful conduct. When we repeatedly demonstrate that the U.S. will not follow U.S. and international law, our reputation, trading relations and economy will suffer.

Soon after taking office as Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth fired the top Judge Advocate Generals (JAGs) of the military services. He called them “roadblocks to orders that are given by a commander in chief.”  He likely understood that Trump had no intention of complying with established laws governing the use of the nation’s military.

He was obviously correct, but unaware of our first commander in chief’s view of the role of a JAG officer. George Washington appointed the first JAG shortly after taking command of the Continental Army. He wrote that “an Army without Order, Regularity & Discipline, is no better than a Commission’d Mob.”

Trump’s killing of purported drug traffickers would not pass muster with a reputable JAG officer. However, Trump has plenty of loyal sycophants who will risk their legal reputations to justify his unlawful actions. Our own Senator Jim Risch is just such a Trump puppet. Risch took to the Senate floor to prostrate himself at Trump’s feet, claiming that the boats were conducting “an actual attack” on the U.S., even though they were about 1,000 miles from Miami. Without offering a hint of proof, he branded them as “terrorists.”

Neither Trump nor Risch realizes that they are placing military officers charged with carrying out the killings in an untenable position. Strikes like these should be reviewed and approved by a competent and independent JAG officer. If these strikes are unlawful, as they certainly appear to be, service personnel pulling the trigger could later face court martial charges for obeying an unlawful order. Of great interest in this regard is the surprising and sudden decision of Admiral Alvin Holsey, the commander in charge of the boat destructions, to announce his retirement after less than a year as the commander of U.S. Southern Command. More retirements may be in the offing. Another top officer, Colonel Doug Krugman, resigned this month because of Trump’s obvious contempt for the Constitution.

Neither Risch nor Trump served in the military–Trump because of phantom bone spurs and Risch because of “an ulcer”--so they are likely unaware that soldiers are legally and honorably prohibited from giving or following an unlawful order. As an artillery spotter in Vietnam, I was fully aware of the real possibility of a court martial for killing non-threatening civilians, even in an actual wartime setting. Common human decency says you don’t gleefully announce the killing of suspects who could easily be arrested.

In the final analysis, Trump’s repeated killings in the Caribbean are more performance art than military necessity. If he was really interested in pursuing drug kingpins, he would not have diverted hundreds of prosecutors and drug enforcement agents from going after the drug networks. Trump has them wasting their talents on immigration cases. An exhaustive report from Reuters found that drug prosecutions have fallen to the “lowest level in decades” under Trump. Furthermore, Trump has been uncommonly generous in handing out pardons and clemency to drug kingpins. Perhaps it's time for him to stop breaking the law and start enforcing it.

America was born in protest. In fact, we might never have separated from Great Britain, were it not for a list of grievances written into our Declaration of Independence 249 years ago. The 13 British colonies had had enough of the arbitrary actions of King George III and peaceably advised him so in that treasured document.

Several years later, with those grievances in mind and in hopes of preventing a recurrence of lawless actions by America’s new government, our ancestors wrote up a Constitution and Bill of Rights. Our First Amendment, guaranteed “the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” The First Amendment stands out as a principal protection against arbitrary king-like rule.

Ever since he took office in January, we have witnessed a growing contempt for the constitutional order, including free-speech rights, by Donald Trump and his MAGA crowd. If wide swaths of Americans object to his arbitrary, unconstitutional orders and actions, he and his minions don’t write it off as Americans exercising their constitutional rights. He sees it as a threat to his royal eminence. Those who protest are labeled as “domestic terrorists, agitators, anarchists” and even worse.

Many who fear the path Trump is taking toward despotic rule have gathered in communities across the country to hold “No Kings” rallies. The purpose is to speak out against despotic words and unconstitutional action by the Trump regime. I spoke at a rally held on April 5 in Twin Falls by the local chapter of Indivisible. It was a well-attended patriotic rally of good, decent folks spanning the political spectrum.

The No Kings rallies across America on June 14 protested Trump’s lavish military parade in Washington that was timed to celebrate his kingly birth. The protest also called him out for his repeated and deliberate transgressions of the US Constitution. The Indivisible patriots had to step forward because the cowardly GOP members of Congress don’t have the courage to stand up for the Constitution. Idaho’s House and Senate members–Senators Risch and Crapo and Representatives Simpson and Fulcher–know Trump is trampling over the Constitution, but they don’t have the courage to protest, being much more interested in maintaining their political offices. Thank Heaven for the First Amendment.

Another Indivisible rally is scheduled for 2,200 communities throughout America on October 18, including Boise, Idaho Falls, Hailey, Moscow, Pocatello, and Twin Falls. I’ll be speaking at the one in Twin Falls.  Many concerned, civic-minded folks will attend.

Trump’s obedient sycophants, like House Speaker Mike Johnson, have condemned those who are concerned by Trump’s march to despotism. Johnson called the upcoming rally a “hate America rally” of the ”antifa, pro-Hamas crowd and the Marxists.”

That’s quite a mix and match of ideologies and dead wrong on all counts.

It is interesting how Antifa, an ideology that opposes fascism, always manages to get woven into the MAGA worldview as the root of all evil. It is not an organization and does not hold meetings or carry out sinister actions. Even if it were an actual group, the idea of opposing fascism is not really obnoxious, unless you happen to be a fascist. Mussolini would have tried to stamp them out.

Nevertheless, Donald Trump has had it in for Antifa for many years. During his first term, Trump said he would be “designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization" for allegedly inciting violence during Black Lives Matter protests. A June 2020 protest in Spokane sparked a panic in Coeur d’Alene when false rumors spread about an Antifa invasion of North Idaho. Armed citizens lined the streets to fight off the ideology. Not a single Antifan materialized.  As far as anyone knows, Trump has not yet been able to produce a picture of an Antifan or Antifa gathering, making them as elusive as the Northern Sasquatch.

But, even if Antifa were not more than just a way of thinking, why shouldn’t those who hate fascism have the right to think and speak their beliefs under the First Amendment? Trump seems to think they should be rounded up and punished. What could be a more clearcut violation of free speech rights?

The idea that America should not return to rule by a king, be it Trump or some other wannabe monarch, will be revisited on the 250th commemoration of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 2025. I pray that he will not have managed, with his 10,000 more ICE agents funded by the Big Beautiful Billionaires Bill, to impose his vision of a kingship on our beloved democratic republic. With the good work of Indivisible and other American patriotic organizations, we might well survive as a free nation.

When the history of Donald Trump’s second term is written, September 30, 2025, will be known as the time when America’s top military leaders became fully aware of the serious danger confronting their beloved nation. It is when the top brass personally observed the fragile mental condition of the Commander in Chief. Many had heard of his rambling and largely incoherent speeches, but here he was in full frontal view

They all knew the incomprehensible danger of calling in America’s top generals and admirals to meet with their top civilian commander at a known time and location. Our chief adversaries, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, must have given at least passing thought to sending in a drone to completely decapitate our entire military command structure. And to call the more than 800 top military leaders away from their critical work of defending the country, just to attend a meaningless harangue by Trump and his unqualified Secretary of Defense, was complete nonsense.

Pete Hegseth tried his best to put on a show like General George Patton when he was preparing the Third Army for its invasion of France during WWII. But he came off more like an angry Donald Duck. Each of those in attendance was much more qualified to be in charge of the Defense Department than Hegseth, and they all knew it. Hegseth griped about fat and unshaven soldiers. He railed against what he called the “stupid rules of engagement,” which largely track long-established national and international rules for conducting warfare. Those of us who served in one of the nation’s wars appreciated those rules, disregarding them at our peril and to our disgrace.

When it was Trump’s turn to address the big brass, he spent about 70 minutes with his eyes half closed, speaking as if he were just waking up from a deep sleep. He spoke of how he walked “very slowly” on stairs, while former President Obama “would bop down those stairs. I’ve never seen it. Da-da, da-da, da-da, bop, bop bop. He’d go down the stairs. Wouldn’t hold on.” He spoke of how he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize but would probably never get it. He mentioned the seven or eight wars he claimed to have ended, how he loved his signature, that he still wanted to make Canada the 51st state, how he disliked the shape of present-day Navy ships and a seemingly inexhaustible outpouring of other unrelated subjects. The full speech is readily available online.

One thing that likely struck fear into the assembled top commanders of the nation’s military was Trump’s repeated mention of nuclear weapons during his monologue. In light of his rambling and unhinged discourse, the military brass had to be deeply unsettled to think that Trump’s finger was on America’s nuclear trigger.

Trump also startled the crowd with his McCarthy-like claim that America is plagued with domestic enemies, “insurrectionists” who are “paid by the radical left.” He told the non-political military officers that “we’re going to straighten them out one by one. And this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room.That’s a war, too. It’s a war from within….we should use some of these dangerous cities as a training ground for our military.” Trump said, “our inner cities” are “a big part of war now.”

The assembled leaders are well aware of the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the US military from engaging in civilian law enforcement. They knew that a confrontation between British troops and Boston civilians in 1770 resulted in the Boston Massacre, which led to the signing of the Declaration of Independence 249 years ago. I’m sure the top brass was not very enthusiastic about doing a repeat of that war against civilians.

The leaders present could not speak on the record about Trump’s unhinged behavior, but several defense officials did so off the record. One said, “listening to Donald Trump was deeply troubling and it is clear he is unfit for the role of commander in chief.” Another said, “This is truly disturbing. He is clearly unwell even for Trump.” That individual referenced the 25th Amendment, which deals with presidential incapacity.

While the meeting was a fiasco, it will  play a tremendously helpful role in the protection of the United States from the despotic aims of Donald Trump. He is obviously intent on trying to force the nation’s military to assist in his efforts to capture full control of the country. By giving our patriotic military leadership an unfiltered view of his frightening persona, he has shown them the dire need for them to work behind the scenes, both together and separately, to frustrate his plans.