Excellent post, so well written, the NYT would be lucky to have you. I love this, it said exactly what I am feeling. Thank you.
I wonder all of the time, are other people feeling the same way and are too nervous to talk about it? I think that answer is yes. I think everyone is a little bit scared and protective of their own family at this moment. Fear is powerful, but we cannot be cowards at this time; our children's future depends on what we do right now.
I am in the reddest (also poorest) part of Florida and see little hope of a better outcome this November. Someone please tell me that beyond the poorly-educated-on-purpose folks here there is a thinking population in the USA?
Thanks for taking the time to put all this together. We are in dire need of hearing the truth and people need to wake up. The mid-terms are so important--we need to get out and vote and get our country back in order. It pains me to think that people still support the lunatic in office and all those kissing up to him. Don't they see how much he is stealing from us--our privacy, our tax dollars, our Constitutional rights?
Your work is so important, and thank you again for this summary!
Floridians do not hear any of this. Either they "don't do politics" or they listen to OAN, where facts are irrelevant. I hope the rest of the country is doing better. Democrats are not making the case for a D vote. Not sure what that's all about.
I won't communicate with people who claim not to "not talk about politics". Reason? Because I do not want to become friends with a racist or misogynist. I think that is my right to feel this way and to try and stop a friendship before it develops. I don't want to be friends with someone who is secretly hating on immigrants and people of color, gay, women, etc.
Example - My dad's girlfriend is 86 and when I met her, she told me that very line. She doesn't like to discuss politics. This is during the 2024 campaign. So, I asked her what news sources she watched and she told me she likes Newsmax. I pulled up Newsmax on my phone and showed her what google says about it. Far-right cable news channel. One of the biggest offenders of propaganda. That told me about all I needed to know. She, along with her whole family are racists, misogynists and the very kind people I do not want in my life. They should stick to their own kind. They can befriend and grift each other, leave the good people out of it. They are really grifters by the way, already have taken my father for thousands of dollars. I knew that, watched it happen, I told him and was dismissed, after all - what do I know? I am a woman.
From now on I only befriend real Democrats or real Independents. I am done with the absolute corruption that is now the republican party.
When I was a child, my parents told me it was rude to discuss politics in public. That is pure bullshit. What is rude is being passive aggressive and awful while pretending to be a good person! That is rude. Be who you really are, and act accordingly.
Mitch: would like to connect and describe Neuro-dystopian Conditioning. A form of self-administered belief control featured in The Medium is the Mirror. Recently named top 2026 book be International Book Awards for Business: Marketing&Advertising. Occurs when we write, type or text our decisions about truth versus having critical analysis synchronously face to face or in telephone. Leverages same method used by Chinese during Korean War to brainwash POW’s. I will be coming to Los Angeles in November on speaking tour. I spent 45+ years in the art and science of persuasion including how our sources of information (media) can influence our sense of reality.
Hi Tim, feel free to shoot me a DM, and subject to our calendars, we can connect. Based upon your expertise, what's your take on what's happening in today's world?
ThecRepublicans im Cingress could have stopped all this. So now they OWN all of it. Theyre absolutely cowards who did nothing to save this country when they could have. When the reckoning comes, that will be remembered.
There have been only two kinds of Republicans in Congress since the last half of Trump's first term: Those who are either fearful sycophants, or completely loyal lackeys (such as Speaker Mike Johnson). The fearful ones are afraid of obedient MAGA voters who will obey Trumps call to harass them or vote them out in a primary. The lackey expects loyalty to Trump will help them politically. Neither, in time, will prove to be of benefit.
I'm glad people are starting to appreciate the source of the problem. This year's midterms are so damn important to start the process of righting the wrongs and fixing things.
I am 73 years old and never, ever thought that I would see my country change so radically in such a short time. Only We the People can take it back. I am in the midst of the fight. My American flag, which I have always been very proud of, has been flying upside down on my front porch since November of 2024. I have attended protests here in Ohio, where I live, Reno, and Washington, DC and will continue to wave my protest signs. We must RESIST and VOTE! I started serving as a poll worker after FDT proclaimed that our elections were fraudulent to provide firsthand experience to those to believe the lie. I agree, it will take years, decades, and possibly another 250 years to undo the damage that has been done by this entire regime. I will not give up on who we are and have been for 250 years. I am not celebrating this 4th but look forward to the day that I will be able to celebrate our birthday again with integrity and justice for all.
I'm with you, David. It happens so fast. It's hard for most people to keep up and that's one reason I'm writing about breaking political news stories. My goal is to educate, inform, and empower people, especially right now, to vote in the November elections.
I'm glad it resonated with you, Robyn. I thought it was important this week to do the quick research and share this information. But there's so much more, right?
Mitch, this is a substantial piece of work. Whether readers agree with every conclusion or not, you've assembled a detailed, evidence-based narrative that challenges people to examine the record for themselves. I appreciate the time, research, and conviction behind it. Well done.
Much appreciated, Daniel. When all is said and done, I believe people who actually examine the record, as opposed to all of the different conflicting sound bites on social media and on the news, would be in a better place. Until that happens, I'm going to keep writing and sharing here on Substack. I'm going to keep litigating in the courts, and I'm going to keep informing and educating during interviews and from the stage.
Thank you, Jane. I wish none of this was happening, but from the looks of things, expect more posts, articles, and notes here on my Substack. Your support means the world to me.
Just celebrated my kid’s 18th birthday, she is thrilled to finally be able to vote. We will have personal moment of silence tomorrow for the Bicentennial of the deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, and for Jason Watson and for David Hearn.
What a travesty all the “resources” the completely corrupted and incompetent DOJ will bring against those two, only made more infuriating when weighed against the blind pardoning of every treasonous and violent Jan 6 insurrectionist.
Big congratulations to your child for celebrating her 18th birthday. How exciting! It's also good to hear that she's looking forward to voting this year in the midterm elections. Just a thought, but this is also a great age to start getting involved in local political organizations.
I'm so angry, depressed, and frustrated at how badly we've all been duped by not just Trump and his minions, but by the big money cabal that backs up the machines behind it all. Your perspective is a huge blessing for me, Counselor. Thank you!
It's refreshing to see so many people feel this way. His time is limited, and it will come. We'll get this fixed, and from a legal standpoint, that starts with the midterm elections. After that, the sky's the limit.
This is one of the best summaries I’ve seen of how the regime has corrupted the systems of government and benefited themselves. Well done, I can only imagine all the work that went in. As a Brit I have no way of influencing events but am heartened that you and others I read on Substack are spelling out the grave situation the US is in in such terms and highlighting the consequences of remaining with the status quo. Hopefully enough people will see through this corrupt regime and make the right choices at the ballot box. 🤞🏻
Thank you, Caroline. A majority of Americans truly understand the devastating circumstances that we are in, and are taking action to get things fixed. Each and every day, you're seeing more and more people in power in the United States speaking out and starting to demand he be held accountable. We're expecting a blue wave in the November midterms, and from there we'll be taking back majority control when it comes to the power of subpoena, oversight, power of the purse, and separation of powers.
I’m keeping everything crossed for that! More power to you and others getting the real news out there. I actually still find it hard to believe he was voted in again in 2024 but hopefully change is coming and an actual functioning Congress does the right things.
Mitch, once again great post!!! I intend to vote in the mid terms, but I'm still not optimistic, many people, registered voters did not vote in the 2024 election and as Dan Rather said, the world has never seen or can remember a time when the United States was as unsteady, adrift, corrupt and incompetent.
We are trapped in a time where millions of magats desire to destroy the Constitution and the long revered institutions of justice and democracy to promote this criminal fascist hegemony
A lot has changed since 90 million eligible voters sat on the sidelines in 2024. And remember, Trump only got 49.8%. Harris got 48.3% in a very close race. Third parties pulled 1.9%. When you do the math, 50.2% of voters said no thanks to Trump. He may have won the White House, but he didn’t win the majority. We're in control and taking back a majority in Congress in the midterms, and it's going to be a landslide, historical election. Don't let the MAGA right-wing talking points in any way affect registration or showing up to vote. They're counting on their threats and policies to diminish the turnout. A historical big blue wave in coming in November and they know it.
The portion of your report about the J6 “insurrectionists” is especially troubling, but not necessarily for the reason you state. It is patently absurd that it took four years for the gov’t to try / convict those people. The government should’ve come at them hard and fast, but instead it dilly-dallied and delayed, and to an insult to injury, the government charged many of them with minor barroom-brawl-type charges. Plus: they really couldn’t figure out how to make RICO apply to this gang of criminals?
When roughly the same thing happened in Brazil almost exactly two years later, the Brazilian government had many of the perpetrators in jail that same day, and the government and the Press in Brazil and other parts of Latin America called the perpetrators what they were, terrorists. In contrast , the media in the United States as well as the politicians were loathe to use that truthful description. Moreover, the former Brazilian president who perpetrated that self-coup attempt was tried and now sits in a jail cell the size of a parking space, where he was sentenced to remain for another quarter century. (For further info, see https://cfordlaw.substack.com/p/trump-of-the-tropics-ordered-to-prison). They only saving grace related to the release of the J6 domestic terrorists is (1) they have a penchant for committing crimes and being sent back to jail, often under state law, so no presidential pardon will save them, and (2) they are largely inept so whatever “army“ they comprise likely will succeed mostly at shooting itself in the foot.
For the most part, the American criminal justice system is the best in the world. Especially when you consider the constitutional rights that both prosecutors, defense counsel and judges are bound to uphold and follow. Each J6 prosecution was unique in and of itself, and they do take time. The problem wasn't how the investigations and prosecutions developed with the J6 defendants. The problem is that J6 happened in the first place, and that the person in the Oval Office was the catalyst for everything we watched on television. The problem is the actual J6 pardons themselves by Trump. We need to stay focused.
This idea that the US criminal justice system is "the best in the world," where does that come from? Is this the same system that railroads Black people into prison in disproportionate numbers? That considers an inattentive or even sleeping lawyer (see TX) not to be ineffective assistance of counsel? In which 4th Amendment rights have been systematically shredded by an increasingly right wing-extreme Supreme Court for about half a century? That criminal justice system? Have you gone around the world to study criminal justice systems in the approximately 192 other countries to reach this conclusion? I would agree that the U.S. Constitution, especially with the Bill of Rights, is an amazing document that was ahead of its time, but it obviously has been manipulated and trampled upon by political hacks on the federal Supreme Court to the point that it is barely recognizable.
In terms of your seeming attempt to excuse the indefensibly slow prosecutions of J6 terrorists, Google says the federal gov't prosecutes between 60,000-75,000 defendants a year, and there were about 1,580 J6 defendants. So obviously the foot-dragging was a policy choice - one that contrasts dramatically with that made by the federal government of Brazil in 2023. There, prosecutors were brought in from all over Brazil to prosecute the January 8, 2023 "golpistas" (roughly translated, coup-abettors) and in less than 2 weeks they had a suspect who allegedly financed the attack in Brasilia. (see https://cfordlaw.substack.com/p/trump-of-the-tropics-formally-charged). Simply put, Brazil's government got on the job and did not waste time by engaging in the navel-gazing that Merrick Garland's DOJ did for months if not years.
Yes, the pardons are a problem, but they were 100% predictable. The U.S. Constitution should be amended to get rid of the presidential pardon ASAP. It's a blatant invitation to corruption. We now see that a significant portion of the U.S. electorate supports or at least does not oppose such corruption, as long as they can be made to feel superior to other people with different skin color, nationality of birth, or first language (i.e. where the corruption salves the fragile needs of racists and bigots).
Thank you. Saw this coming. Hopefully the assault on 401(k) accounts will wake the public up to bring out the pitchforks
Excellent post, so well written, the NYT would be lucky to have you. I love this, it said exactly what I am feeling. Thank you.
I wonder all of the time, are other people feeling the same way and are too nervous to talk about it? I think that answer is yes. I think everyone is a little bit scared and protective of their own family at this moment. Fear is powerful, but we cannot be cowards at this time; our children's future depends on what we do right now.
I am in the reddest (also poorest) part of Florida and see little hope of a better outcome this November. Someone please tell me that beyond the poorly-educated-on-purpose folks here there is a thinking population in the USA?
Thanks for taking the time to put all this together. We are in dire need of hearing the truth and people need to wake up. The mid-terms are so important--we need to get out and vote and get our country back in order. It pains me to think that people still support the lunatic in office and all those kissing up to him. Don't they see how much he is stealing from us--our privacy, our tax dollars, our Constitutional rights?
Your work is so important, and thank you again for this summary!
Floridians do not hear any of this. Either they "don't do politics" or they listen to OAN, where facts are irrelevant. I hope the rest of the country is doing better. Democrats are not making the case for a D vote. Not sure what that's all about.
I won't communicate with people who claim not to "not talk about politics". Reason? Because I do not want to become friends with a racist or misogynist. I think that is my right to feel this way and to try and stop a friendship before it develops. I don't want to be friends with someone who is secretly hating on immigrants and people of color, gay, women, etc.
Example - My dad's girlfriend is 86 and when I met her, she told me that very line. She doesn't like to discuss politics. This is during the 2024 campaign. So, I asked her what news sources she watched and she told me she likes Newsmax. I pulled up Newsmax on my phone and showed her what google says about it. Far-right cable news channel. One of the biggest offenders of propaganda. That told me about all I needed to know. She, along with her whole family are racists, misogynists and the very kind people I do not want in my life. They should stick to their own kind. They can befriend and grift each other, leave the good people out of it. They are really grifters by the way, already have taken my father for thousands of dollars. I knew that, watched it happen, I told him and was dismissed, after all - what do I know? I am a woman.
From now on I only befriend real Democrats or real Independents. I am done with the absolute corruption that is now the republican party.
When I was a child, my parents told me it was rude to discuss politics in public. That is pure bullshit. What is rude is being passive aggressive and awful while pretending to be a good person! That is rude. Be who you really are, and act accordingly.
Mitch: would like to connect and describe Neuro-dystopian Conditioning. A form of self-administered belief control featured in The Medium is the Mirror. Recently named top 2026 book be International Book Awards for Business: Marketing&Advertising. Occurs when we write, type or text our decisions about truth versus having critical analysis synchronously face to face or in telephone. Leverages same method used by Chinese during Korean War to brainwash POW’s. I will be coming to Los Angeles in November on speaking tour. I spent 45+ years in the art and science of persuasion including how our sources of information (media) can influence our sense of reality.
Hi Tim, feel free to shoot me a DM, and subject to our calendars, we can connect. Based upon your expertise, what's your take on what's happening in today's world?
ONE NATION UNDER DURESS!
Every single day, right?
Sadly, yes!
ThecRepublicans im Cingress could have stopped all this. So now they OWN all of it. Theyre absolutely cowards who did nothing to save this country when they could have. When the reckoning comes, that will be remembered.
Absolutely, without their cooperation, none of this would be happening right now.
There have been only two kinds of Republicans in Congress since the last half of Trump's first term: Those who are either fearful sycophants, or completely loyal lackeys (such as Speaker Mike Johnson). The fearful ones are afraid of obedient MAGA voters who will obey Trumps call to harass them or vote them out in a primary. The lackey expects loyalty to Trump will help them politically. Neither, in time, will prove to be of benefit.
I'm glad people are starting to appreciate the source of the problem. This year's midterms are so damn important to start the process of righting the wrongs and fixing things.
I am 73 years old and never, ever thought that I would see my country change so radically in such a short time. Only We the People can take it back. I am in the midst of the fight. My American flag, which I have always been very proud of, has been flying upside down on my front porch since November of 2024. I have attended protests here in Ohio, where I live, Reno, and Washington, DC and will continue to wave my protest signs. We must RESIST and VOTE! I started serving as a poll worker after FDT proclaimed that our elections were fraudulent to provide firsthand experience to those to believe the lie. I agree, it will take years, decades, and possibly another 250 years to undo the damage that has been done by this entire regime. I will not give up on who we are and have been for 250 years. I am not celebrating this 4th but look forward to the day that I will be able to celebrate our birthday again with integrity and justice for all.
I'm with you, David. It happens so fast. It's hard for most people to keep up and that's one reason I'm writing about breaking political news stories. My goal is to educate, inform, and empower people, especially right now, to vote in the November elections.
Well worth the read. Thank you for spelling it out. Vote wisely America. Our entire world needs your common sense.
I'm glad it resonated with you, Robyn. I thought it was important this week to do the quick research and share this information. But there's so much more, right?
Mitch, this is a substantial piece of work. Whether readers agree with every conclusion or not, you've assembled a detailed, evidence-based narrative that challenges people to examine the record for themselves. I appreciate the time, research, and conviction behind it. Well done.
Much appreciated, Daniel. When all is said and done, I believe people who actually examine the record, as opposed to all of the different conflicting sound bites on social media and on the news, would be in a better place. Until that happens, I'm going to keep writing and sharing here on Substack. I'm going to keep litigating in the courts, and I'm going to keep informing and educating during interviews and from the stage.
Brilliant. Thank you for the passion you have for basic human rights.
Thank you, Jane. I wish none of this was happening, but from the looks of things, expect more posts, articles, and notes here on my Substack. Your support means the world to me.
Truly magnificent and brilliant writing.
Just celebrated my kid’s 18th birthday, she is thrilled to finally be able to vote. We will have personal moment of silence tomorrow for the Bicentennial of the deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, and for Jason Watson and for David Hearn.
What a travesty all the “resources” the completely corrupted and incompetent DOJ will bring against those two, only made more infuriating when weighed against the blind pardoning of every treasonous and violent Jan 6 insurrectionist.
Big congratulations to your child for celebrating her 18th birthday. How exciting! It's also good to hear that she's looking forward to voting this year in the midterm elections. Just a thought, but this is also a great age to start getting involved in local political organizations.
I'm so angry, depressed, and frustrated at how badly we've all been duped by not just Trump and his minions, but by the big money cabal that backs up the machines behind it all. Your perspective is a huge blessing for me, Counselor. Thank you!
It's refreshing to see so many people feel this way. His time is limited, and it will come. We'll get this fixed, and from a legal standpoint, that starts with the midterm elections. After that, the sky's the limit.
The midterms never seemed so important as they are now. Thanks again!
This is one of the best summaries I’ve seen of how the regime has corrupted the systems of government and benefited themselves. Well done, I can only imagine all the work that went in. As a Brit I have no way of influencing events but am heartened that you and others I read on Substack are spelling out the grave situation the US is in in such terms and highlighting the consequences of remaining with the status quo. Hopefully enough people will see through this corrupt regime and make the right choices at the ballot box. 🤞🏻
Thank you, Caroline. A majority of Americans truly understand the devastating circumstances that we are in, and are taking action to get things fixed. Each and every day, you're seeing more and more people in power in the United States speaking out and starting to demand he be held accountable. We're expecting a blue wave in the November midterms, and from there we'll be taking back majority control when it comes to the power of subpoena, oversight, power of the purse, and separation of powers.
I’m keeping everything crossed for that! More power to you and others getting the real news out there. I actually still find it hard to believe he was voted in again in 2024 but hopefully change is coming and an actual functioning Congress does the right things.
Mitch, once again great post!!! I intend to vote in the mid terms, but I'm still not optimistic, many people, registered voters did not vote in the 2024 election and as Dan Rather said, the world has never seen or can remember a time when the United States was as unsteady, adrift, corrupt and incompetent.
We are trapped in a time where millions of magats desire to destroy the Constitution and the long revered institutions of justice and democracy to promote this criminal fascist hegemony
A lot has changed since 90 million eligible voters sat on the sidelines in 2024. And remember, Trump only got 49.8%. Harris got 48.3% in a very close race. Third parties pulled 1.9%. When you do the math, 50.2% of voters said no thanks to Trump. He may have won the White House, but he didn’t win the majority. We're in control and taking back a majority in Congress in the midterms, and it's going to be a landslide, historical election. Don't let the MAGA right-wing talking points in any way affect registration or showing up to vote. They're counting on their threats and policies to diminish the turnout. A historical big blue wave in coming in November and they know it.
The portion of your report about the J6 “insurrectionists” is especially troubling, but not necessarily for the reason you state. It is patently absurd that it took four years for the gov’t to try / convict those people. The government should’ve come at them hard and fast, but instead it dilly-dallied and delayed, and to an insult to injury, the government charged many of them with minor barroom-brawl-type charges. Plus: they really couldn’t figure out how to make RICO apply to this gang of criminals?
When roughly the same thing happened in Brazil almost exactly two years later, the Brazilian government had many of the perpetrators in jail that same day, and the government and the Press in Brazil and other parts of Latin America called the perpetrators what they were, terrorists. In contrast , the media in the United States as well as the politicians were loathe to use that truthful description. Moreover, the former Brazilian president who perpetrated that self-coup attempt was tried and now sits in a jail cell the size of a parking space, where he was sentenced to remain for another quarter century. (For further info, see https://cfordlaw.substack.com/p/trump-of-the-tropics-ordered-to-prison). They only saving grace related to the release of the J6 domestic terrorists is (1) they have a penchant for committing crimes and being sent back to jail, often under state law, so no presidential pardon will save them, and (2) they are largely inept so whatever “army“ they comprise likely will succeed mostly at shooting itself in the foot.
For the most part, the American criminal justice system is the best in the world. Especially when you consider the constitutional rights that both prosecutors, defense counsel and judges are bound to uphold and follow. Each J6 prosecution was unique in and of itself, and they do take time. The problem wasn't how the investigations and prosecutions developed with the J6 defendants. The problem is that J6 happened in the first place, and that the person in the Oval Office was the catalyst for everything we watched on television. The problem is the actual J6 pardons themselves by Trump. We need to stay focused.
This idea that the US criminal justice system is "the best in the world," where does that come from? Is this the same system that railroads Black people into prison in disproportionate numbers? That considers an inattentive or even sleeping lawyer (see TX) not to be ineffective assistance of counsel? In which 4th Amendment rights have been systematically shredded by an increasingly right wing-extreme Supreme Court for about half a century? That criminal justice system? Have you gone around the world to study criminal justice systems in the approximately 192 other countries to reach this conclusion? I would agree that the U.S. Constitution, especially with the Bill of Rights, is an amazing document that was ahead of its time, but it obviously has been manipulated and trampled upon by political hacks on the federal Supreme Court to the point that it is barely recognizable.
In terms of your seeming attempt to excuse the indefensibly slow prosecutions of J6 terrorists, Google says the federal gov't prosecutes between 60,000-75,000 defendants a year, and there were about 1,580 J6 defendants. So obviously the foot-dragging was a policy choice - one that contrasts dramatically with that made by the federal government of Brazil in 2023. There, prosecutors were brought in from all over Brazil to prosecute the January 8, 2023 "golpistas" (roughly translated, coup-abettors) and in less than 2 weeks they had a suspect who allegedly financed the attack in Brasilia. (see https://cfordlaw.substack.com/p/trump-of-the-tropics-formally-charged). Simply put, Brazil's government got on the job and did not waste time by engaging in the navel-gazing that Merrick Garland's DOJ did for months if not years.
Yes, the pardons are a problem, but they were 100% predictable. The U.S. Constitution should be amended to get rid of the presidential pardon ASAP. It's a blatant invitation to corruption. We now see that a significant portion of the U.S. electorate supports or at least does not oppose such corruption, as long as they can be made to feel superior to other people with different skin color, nationality of birth, or first language (i.e. where the corruption salves the fragile needs of racists and bigots).