We Bury Them With Flags. We Honor Them With Backbone.

The fallen paid for this country in full. This Memorial Day, the bill comes to us.

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Memorial Day is Monday. Across this country families will stand at gravesides, place flags in the grass, and bow their heads for men and women who never came home. Those people died wearing the uniform of the United States. They died defending a country, a Constitution, and a set of promises about how a free people govern themselves. I want you to hold that thought through every word that follows, because everything I am about to tell you connects back to it.

Our democracy is in danger. I do not write that to scare you, and I do not write it for effect. I write it because it is true, and because after four decades inside the American legal system I have learned to tell the difference between noise and a genuine emergency. This is an emergency. The guardrails that have held this country together for two and a half centuries are bending, some of them are already breaking, and most Americans are being told to look away while it happens. The men and women we honor on Monday did not look away. They walked toward the danger. The least we owe them is that we refuse to look away from this one.

I am writing this because I am afraid for my kids, for your kids, and for the country all of us are about to hand them. The people buried under those flags handed us something. They handed us a republic. We can let their sacrifice be for nothing, or we can pick up what they carried and keep moving. There is no version of honoring them that involves standing still.

So you deserve to know why a lawyer is spending his nights and weekends writing about politics.

Here is the hard truth at the center of everything I am about to tell you. The country I have built a forty-year career inside, the country whose courts and rules and norms I have trusted with my clients’ lives and futures, is now run by a man I would never let anywhere near my office, home or family. Full stop.

At the same time, millions of good, decent, hardworking Americans look at the exact same facts I see every day and conclude that everything is fine. This article is my attempt to explain, in plain language, why it is not fine, why your vote in this year’s midterms may be the most consequential thing you do as a citizen in your lifetime, and why honoring the fallen this Memorial Day means acting like their sacrifice still demands something from you.

Who I Am And Why That Matters Here

Let me ground this in something real before I go further.

I have spent close to thirty years paying attention to how power works. I built an online presence early, back when a lawyer with a website was still unusual, and I used blogs, a podcast, and live video to help everyday people understand their rights. That work, together with being a lawyer, put me in rooms I would not have seen otherwise. I have spoken at conventions here and overseas, sat on panels, and spent years studying politics, business, and technology because those subjects pulled at me. Along the way I represented politicians and got to know quite a few of them. I sat across the table from powerful people and watched how they decide things when they believe no one is keeping score. That last part is what matters here.

I tell you this for one reason. When I say what I am about to say, I am not saying it as a partisan, and I am not parroting a cable news segment. I am saying it as someone who has spent his entire adult life inside the legal system, watching how power actually behaves. I know what a conflict of interest looks like. I know what self-dealing looks like. I know what it looks like when someone treats rules as suggestions and the people enforcing them as obstacles. I have built a career on recognizing those patterns. Right now I am recognizing them at the highest level of our government.

The soldiers we remember on Monday did not die so that power could behave this way. They died for the opposite. They died for a country where the rules apply to everyone, including the people at the top.

What Changed

Once Trump was elected back into office, everything changed.

I can actually understand how he won the first time. His first campaign ran on promotion and hype with very little substance behind it. A lot of Americans were frustrated, they wanted a new face to walk into Washington and shake things up, and they took a chance. I get the impulse. I do not share it. I never did. I understand it.

Now look at where we are. A second term. This is not good, folks.

You have a convicted felon and a man found liable for sexual assault sitting in the White House. A man who lies to the American people every day. A man who openly disrespects half the country he was elected to serve. A man who runs self-serving money-making schemes and grifts, including a personal cryptocurrency operation, that chip away at our stability legally, ethically, morally, financially, and reputationally on the world stage. The damage is not limited to dollars and headlines. He has rewritten what we expect from the people we elect. He has lowered the floor.

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Think about what General Milley said. Think about what that means against the backdrop of this weekend. Young Americans gave their lives so this country could stand for something. The conduct coming out of this White House drags that something into the mud. Every lie, every grift, every insult aimed at the people who serve this nation spends down an inheritance that was paid for in blood.

Hear this clearly. This is not the way things have always been. This is not a both-sides situation.

The real scandals of past presidents do not come close to what we watch every day. Trump has surrounded himself, at almost every level of government, with people whose entire job is to say yes. The separation of powers is collapsing in real time. The MAGA Republican majority in Congress is bending the knee, kissing the ring, going along with whatever he wants. The power of the purse, the constitutional control over how your tax dollars get spent, has no real check on it. The system the founders built so that no single person could dominate it is barely functioning. And it has been only sixteen months since this second term began.

The Conflicts Are Not Hidden. They Are The Whole Point.

His divisive daily commentary, his insults, his real estate developments, his business entanglements with foreign governments around the world, all of it makes it genuinely impossible to know whether any decision serves America or serves him. The same goes for his adult children and the businesses they run.

I am not here to walk you through every document and every transaction. I am sharing the perspective of someone who has spent a career in the legal profession, represented and known many politicians, and sat neck-deep in exactly these questions from a lawyer’s chair. This is not a gray area. This is black and white. It is clear to me, and it is clear to a great many other people who do this work.

The folks who do not see it have drunk the Kool-Aid. They have become victims of an algorithm engineered to keep them angry, certain, and uninformed. Whether it comes down to a breakdown in critical thinking or the other forces I have written about before, a portion of this country genuinely believes this man is something close to a savior. That is disconcerting. It is sad. It is dangerous.¹

Look at what this administration has done with ICE. The harm, the divisiveness, the cruelty, all of it is inexcusable. Look at the false stories the administration has invented about cities like Los Angeles, Portland, Chicago, and New York. The people who live in those cities know those stories are lies. The fabrications exist for one purpose, to manufacture a justification for sending in the National Guard, the military, and ICE. Inexcusable.

Look at the illegal tariffs. The actions against Venezuela. The threats against Greenland. The handling of Ukraine. The constant worship of dictators and authoritarians, paired with insults aimed at hardworking Americans dedicated to public service, including members of our military. A military this president never served in. He received five deferments. Anyone who has been around the block knows how that gets done. You find a doctor, you get a sign-off, and if you have the money, you make it happen. That is what a lot of privileged young men did during Vietnam, and that is exactly what this man did.

Sit with that this weekend. The men whose names are carved into the Vietnam wall did not get a doctor and a sign-off. They went. They served. Many of them died. The man now starting a new war against Iran, and a man insulting our soldiers and saluting dictators found a way out, and he has spent his life since acting as though the people who served are suckers. On Memorial Day that contempt is not an abstraction. It is an insult delivered straight to the headstones.

He has spent hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars golfing on roughly one of every four days of this term. He lies to and insults the free press as a matter of routine. From any objective standpoint you care to take, this man is dismantling the things we have come to know and love about our country.

It Was Not Always Like This

It was not like this four years ago when Biden took office in the middle of a pandemic.

It was not like this even during Trump’s first term, when adults in the room still steered him away from his worst instincts.

It was not like this under Obama, when the loudest scandal was a tan suit, or a sleeveless blouse worn by the First Lady. For the record, both of them looked terrific.

It was not like this under Bush, even through the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was not like this under Clinton, Reagan, Carter, Ford, or the presidents before them.

Think about John McCain. You could disagree with the man’s politics down to the bone and still recognize him as a person worthy of basic respect. McCain knew something about sacrifice. He spent five and a half years in a prison camp and refused early release so he would not be used as a propaganda prize. Politics in this country has always been a human-to-human contest. You brought your best arguments, you laid them on the table, and the way the cards fell decided which hand you played.

Were there bad actors before Trump? Of course. Politicians controlled by profit-driven corporate America has caused real damage, and the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United opened the floodgates to massive corporate financing of our elections. Set those serious problems aside for a moment. Underneath them, we still lived in a country where people who disagreed could agree to disagree, civilly, with respect for one another as human beings. But Trump changed all of this on the night of August 6, 2015, at the first Republican primary debate held in Cleveland, Ohio.²

Those days are gone. I am genuinely worried they are gone for good. I am worried for my kids, my neighbor’s kids, my family, my friends, and every generation that comes after us. The fallen did not give their lives so we could hand their grandchildren a broken country and a coarsened one.

Why My Focus Has Changed

Those of you who have followed my work have watched me change.

I used to write about marketing and branding, about artificial intelligence, about Web3, even about the metaverse. Now I spend most of my time sharing objective legal commentary on breaking political news. There is a reason for that shift.

The top far-right news outlets operate on a combined budget somewhere between ten and fifteen billion dollars a year. They are buying up networks. They are assembling enormous conglomerates to direct what news reaches you, what stories you see, what you hear and absorb every day. It reminds me of Russia. It reminds me of North Korea. It reminds me of China. Those are the regimes our soldiers fought and died to keep off our shores. This administration and its corporate supporters are now importing their playbook into our society. And it’s not OK. In fact, it’s dangerous.

This is the machine that helped get Trump elected both times. People started believing what scrolled past them on social media. The false ads. The misrepresentations. The out-of-context audio and video clips shared by the millions. It worked. It still works, and it works extremely well.

I understand social media. I used it for years to grow my practice from a local California firm into a global brand. I am not naive about its power. I have also watched, up close, the destruction that same power causes when it is pointed at the truth.

Why The Midterms Are Everything

Now you know why you see me doing what I do every day. Why I keep calling this president and this administration out for their lies, their misinformation campaigns, and their endless stream of distortions.

You see me doing it because I am worried. You see me doing it because I believe this year’s midterms may be one of the most important elections in American history.

This is where Memorial Day stops being a day of remembrance and becomes a call to action. The men and women we honor on Monday did their part. They gave everything. The question this weekend puts in front of you is simple. What will you give. Not your life. Nobody is asking for that. Your vote. Your registration. A few hours of your time making sure the people you love are registered too.

You must be registered to vote, and you must show up. The same goes for your family and your friends. Take the time to make sure the people you love have registered and will cast a ballot.

Let me take one fear off your plate right now. Do not waste a single ounce of energy worrying about whether the midterms will happen. They will. The president cannot cancel an election with an executive order, and Congress does not have the votes to stop one. This country held elections during the Civil War. We held them during World War One and World War Two. We held them during Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Soldiers fought and died in every one of those conflicts, and the ballot box stayed open the entire time. They protected your right to vote with their lives. Use it. If we are still entangled in a conflict with Iran when the time comes, we will hold the election then too. Spend your energy on what actually matters, which is educating the people in your life about the stakes.

This is why you see me writing. This is why I am litigating cases I would not have taken on one or two years ago. This is why you see me speaking and doing interviews. I know, deep in my gut, that this election is decisive for the future of our country, for our families, for my children and yours. We cannot look the other way. This is not business as usual. This is not just the way things are done. This is not normal.

A Personal Word Before I Let You Go

I know it can be a lot. I know I can be a lot. There is an enormous amount of noise out there, hundreds of new issues breaking every month, and it is genuinely hard to hold all of it in your head at once.

Here is what I can tell you plainly. What they are telling you is not good for you. It is leading this country down the wrong road. I hope we have not traveled too far down it already, because turning around gets harder every day. The damage is real. Damage to our economy. Damage to our social and cultural fabric. Damage to our environment. Damage to our commerce and our relationships around the world.

If you are tired of hearing from me, I understand, and I am sorry. But I am not letting my foot off the gas. If anything, I am pressing down harder. I plan to work harder between now and election day than I have worked at anything in my life. I hope you are with me.

This comes at a cost, and I am not pretending otherwise. I know I am alienating people. There are hardcore MAGA conservatives who will never be my clients, and honestly I would not want to represent them anyway. That is a whole other story. I understand the content I am putting out is divisive. And I’m OK with that. The fact is, millions of Americans have been misled and do not understand what is happening to them. They do not grasp the severity of this moment. That reason outweighs every bit of blowback I might take for speaking up. I am completely at peace with that trade.

Someday my grandkids will ask me what I did and what I said when all of this was happening. I am leaving a trail on purpose. I want them to see exactly what I did, what I said, who I talked to, and who I called out during these difficult years. That is the legacy I want. The men and women we bury with flags left a trail too. They left it in the freedoms we still have. The honest question is whether we hand those freedoms forward intact or let them slip away on our watch.

So I am not pulling any punches. Trump is a felon. You cannot trust him. You have watched the people around him look straight into a camera and lie to you, day after day. They are putting power and profit ahead of the best interests of the American people, and it has to stop.

When it does stop, you will see me writing far less and posting far more pictures of the running trails and paddle spots along the Southern California coast that I would honestly rather be showing you anyway.

Until then, this is our shot. The writing is on the wall. We have seen what this man can do, we are watching him do it, and it scares the hell out of me when I think about the future my family and friends will inherit.

This Memorial Day, do more than remember. Honor them with action. The people we mourn on Monday paid the ultimate price for this country and the democracy that holds it together. We cannot let that sacrifice be for nothing. We cannot afford to stand by and let what is happening happen. They did their part. Now we do ours.

If you have read this far, I want to hear from you. Tell me your thoughts. Tell me if you are with me. Tell me if you are ready to double down between now and November. Make sure you are registered. Make sure the people you love are registered. Then show up and vote like the country depends on it, because the men and women we honor this weekend already proved that it does.

Mitch Jackson, Esq.

1. Cognitive Dissonance in Red Hats: The Psychology of Unshakable Trump Support

Red Hat. Blue Heart. One House: A Story of Quiet Resistance

How Trump Hijacked the American Mind: The Dark Psychology Behind MAGA Loyalty

MAGA Is a Cult and Professor Robert Lifton Proved It 63 Years Ago

2. Donald Trump first became nationally known for openly calling opponents insulting names during a live presidential debate on August 6, 2015, at the first Republican primary debate held in Cleveland, Ohio and broadcast by Fox News (of course) before a nationwide audience. During that debate, moderator Megyn Kelly confronted Trump about past comments in which he had referred to women as “fat pigs,” “dogs,” “slobs,” and “disgusting animals.” Rather than back away from the controversy, Trump responded combatively and leaned into the confrontational style that would soon define his political brand. Over the following months, he repeatedly used memorable nicknames and personal insults against rivals on debate stages and at rallies, including “Low Energy Jeb” for Jeb Bush, “Little Marco” for Marco Rubio, “Lyin’ Ted” for Ted Cruz, “Crooked Hillary” for Hillary Clinton, and later “Sleepy Joe” for Joe Biden. Political analysts and media observers widely viewed the 2015 Republican debate season as the moment Trump normalized insult driven rhetoric and personal branding tactics on the modern presidential debate stage before live television audiences.