We the People...
- Feb 3
- 5 min read
When Pollyanna shows up at the dance wearing black, pay attention.
You all know me as THE eternal optimist. That’s probably one of the reasons you read this blog and along with me, “Ride to the Sunshine.”
So, when I am worried, I hope that you take notice.
This morning, all media outlets were running the same quote from Donald Trump who last night said to Dan Bongino, former law enforcement officer, recent Deputy Director of the FBI, and talk show host:
The Republicans should say, we want to take over, we should take over the voting ... in at least many, 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting. We have states that are so crooked, and they're counting votes.
If you will for a moment refrain from the urge to edit this quote into English, please concentrate on the content.
The President is urging his party to take over the upcoming midterm elections this Fall.
Those of you not hearing this fire bell in the night or maybe attribute it to “Trump just being Trump” are thinking about his first term in office, not this one.
An undeclared war in Venezuela, war crimes on the high seas, Greenland, mass deportation, destroying American foreign aid and alliances around the world, pardoning all the January 6th insurrectionists, using DOGE to destroy the infrastructure of the Executive Branch and firing countless dedicated public servants, unleashing a lethal paramilitary army of ICE agents and untrained Border Patrol rookies onto the streets of America to arrest our neighbors and terrorize our diverse communities, etc, etc.
Trump being Trump? I’ll say.
Hateful, racist, misogynist, felon, impeached President, wannabe King? That guy.
But what about last night’s quote is different? Why so mad, blogger guy?
Much of my 40-year career in Washington DC was taken up by a long daily commute. I was a Park-and-Ride guy. By bus or by train I spent many early mornings getting to the National Archives, and many late, exhausting evenings getting home.
My companion for all those years was the same rugged, Orvis bull-hide briefcase. In the front pocket of that old satchel was a little dogeared copy of the US Constitution (pictured as a feature photo). It was underlined, highlighted, folded, annotated, and very well read. I dare say that I have spent more hours reading it than James Madison spent writing it. I continue to be in awe of this masterpiece of foresight, coverage, and balance.
It was written to “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.” The checks and balances that we learned about in school are designed to ensure that no branch of our government can take tyrannical control over the others. And you will recall that the branch that worried the Founders the most was the Executive.
So, it was with that in mind that Article I of the document lays out the powers, structure, and prerogatives of the Congress. Ever sensitive to the lessons of the Articles of Confederation, Madison knew that power needed to be properly dispersed.
So, we read in Article I, Section 4:
The Times, Places, and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.
It is the States that conduct and administer elections, not the Federal government. To the extent they have any regulatory control, it is through the Congress, and not the Executive.
But Trump is “urging” the Congress to act, you say. With that level of naiveté, good luck making it all the way to school with your lunch money.
Mike Johnson is Trump’s little ventriloquist dummy, and we all know it. The Republican House caucus remind me of the faceless audience in Orwell’s 1984, and that is why I am extremely concerned about what Trump said last night.
It is now clear that this week's seizure of Georgia voting records (from an election already subjected to three recounts) by the FBI is all part of a plot to discredit the process in one state to gain support for a 15-state takeover of the elections process. All the court challenges to the 2020 election were unsuccessful and cost some high-profile attorneys their ability to continue in the practice of law. Unserious, unsupported charges with no credible evidence, an abuse of the judicial process...you remember.
But now the records have been moved from the chicken coup to the den of the fox. And not just copies, but originals. The only good news is that there is no better documented set of election records in history, and if new evidence is suddenly manufactured from these ballots, it will be hard to prove that it has not been corrupted.
And when did the President choose to throw this latest turd into the punchbowl?
Less than 24 hours after the latest release of heavily redacted Jeffrey Epstein files. In addition to the death of irony and satire, this Administration has driven a stake through the heart of coincidence.
Flood the zone. Launch more missiles than the press can track. Tell more lies than the fact checkers can refute. Hide the truth. Hide the detainees. Hide the process. Hide the money that you are making every day with the support of your ZOMBIE base of MAGA followers.
So, what to do?
Pray for the courts, pray for the US Senate filibuster, and pray for the whistle blowers who may report to the press from inside this conspiracy.
And keep the faith. Text, email, and call Congress. Keep eyes on your own State electoral process and anything that tracks with what Trump is advocating, text, email, and call your state representatives and senators.
When you have a chance to march, march. When you have a chance to donate, donate.
And remember that all of this is happening because Donald J. Trump is his own worst enemy. His polls show that he is waist deep in the big muddy and his instinct is to press on. I’m ready to fight till his hat is floating downstream, and I know that you are too.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Nicely stated. Thanks John. However, you forgot one extremely important action item: VOTE! and you can't vote if you aren't registered. 2/6/26 ( tomorrow) is the last day you can register to vote in the March 3 primary ( although you may be able to do same day registration later if you vote at a early voting site).
As if it weren't enough to experience what has been going on here ín Hungary ...and in too many other places on the planet....😡 Gosh. The existence of democracy in the States had always been a source of optimism for us before that monster became your president - no matter how far we are from your country geographically. And now we must pray for you. We are. And I did hope ín April we can send our monsters to hell and can send a strenghtening message - we are just a small country but sometimes small things can matter.
You nailed it, John. It’s hard to say this is a bridge too far for Trump, since EVERYTHING he’s doing (and not doing) can qualify. But if our dream of controlling him, or impeaching him, through a Democratically-controlled Congress has any chance of being reality, he has to keep his bruised, ugly hands off state elections. We’ll fight the good fight.
We need to fight back as you suggest.
We live in very scary times!!!