Where We Are (part 1)

1. The Big Picture

More and more basic destruction to American democracy and America's place in the political and economic fabric of the world continues at head-spinning speed.  The American people--perhaps surprisingly--seem to largely be aware of the fruits of Chaos already, and largely disapprove.

But as fast and unrelenting as the destruction is, we may look back at this period as one of relative calm, before the consequences of all this destruction dominate even daily life for most of us.

For many of us, that will probably begin happening in a matter of weeks.  The complete destruction of the Social Security system is underway, and already for the first time in its 90 year history--through World War II, the tumultuous 1960s, every recession, the stagflation of the 70s etc.-- some Social Security recipients are not getting their checks on time, or not at all.  Only a trickle has been reported so far, but an increase is all but inevitable this month or next.

Because of the tariffs that are still in place, businesses that depend on imported products and parts will be stressed and even destroyed within weeks. Even a relatively quick end to these tariffs may not be soon enough to keep some businesses (manufacturers, farmers, retail and services) from going under.  Everyone will feel higher prices.  Consumer confidence is tanking, almost everyone is expecting a recession, fueled in part by inflation-- together what in the 70s we learned to call stagflation.

Spring brings storms and flooding to many parts of the country, summer brings heatwaves to many more and fires, while the federal infrastructure for dealing with all of this is being systematically destroyed.  Medicare and Medicaid cuts will have immediate consequences on people unlucky enough to get sick, while the chronically ill are most threatened.  Large-scale health threats like epidemics, outbreaks caused by various kinds of pollution and poisoning, etc. will find no expertise or resources to control them or to help either victims or those who could become victims.  

In the rest of the world America has quickly become a pariah state.  We have no friends to come to our aid, because Chaos has pushed them away with gleeful contempt.  

In America, Chaos is asserting the right to disappear anyone at all without warning or anything more than the usual generalized rhetorical charges that all dictatorships have used.  The federal government is very quickly becoming a collection of living Orwellian Newspeak institutions--a department of Health that works against health, a Justice department that institutionalizes and weaponizes injustice.  The President is openly using investigative and law enforcement agencies against individuals he targets.  Racism and cruelty constitute the Chaos morality, which the federal government zealously enforces, with self-righteousness where there should be shame.

And already, the underbelly of dictatorship is showing: greed and corruption. 

All of this--and more--has happened in less than three months.  This is not the same country it was and has been since its founding before noon EST on January 20.  

2.  The Zeitgeist

Demonstrations against Chaos policies and actions have been large and relentless.  Polls show majority disapproval for almost everything Chaos has done or advocates, with fully three-quarters of polled Americans who believe tariffs will wreck the economy.  

So far those demonstrations have been remarkable not only for their size and frequency but for their wit, for their basic good-naturedness underlying the anger and distress, and for their peacefulness.  It's now pretty certain that several million Americans participated in demonstrations on April 5, with unusually large crowds everywhere, exceeding 100,000 in several cities.  But on that day there was not one reported act of vandalism, and not one arrest.  There also were few reports of counter-demonstrations or harassment by law enforcement or unofficial thugs. But as consequences begin and outrages continue, much of this could change.

The opposition is notable, but so is the rampant cowardice and attempts at appeasement.  Major and very wealthy law firms are leading the way in attempted appeasement and so-called deals, which are little more than giving into the extortion demands of a mob boss. As disappointing as this may be, these kind of firms don't have much of a reputation to lose.  Much more disillusioning are the universities, making their naive deals that they seem to believe will sate the appetite for Chaos control.  I used to admire Columbia University--I would have liked to gone there if I could have afforded it, and I retained my boyhood respect for the Naval Academy, now engaged in a purge of anything not white enough in its library.  No longer.

And for what?  The tech billionaires who engaged in their premature groveling are getting nothing for it, at least until they go groveling again for individual deals sparing them from tariff pain.  And they and all the other wealthy look like they will get their tax cuts, paid for by the suffering and deaths of lesser Americans, including those who helped make them rich.

Dealing with shock and anxiety and the feeling of helplessness now underlies daily life and manifestations of the Zeitgeist. King Chaos is destroying the federal government and taking an axe to the world economy.  The time may not be far off that chaos is injected into American society as a whole.

Then we will see if we can summon some poise, and value where stability lives.

 3.  The Other Two Branches

Electing King Chaos was not enough. The Chaos administration could only be doing what it is doing because Republicans won just enough seats to form majorities in the House and Senate.  And they are not the Republicans of 1974 whose withdrawal of support caused the Republican president to resign because of high crimes and misdemeanors; not the Republicans of even 20 years ago.  They are the terminally irresponsible children of Mitch McConnell and especially the frightened and greedy incompetents owned and operated by Chaos himself.  

Among the sources of shock that Americans feel are the many acts of the Chaos administration--from policies and pronouncements to serious breaches of national security--any one of which would have promptly brought down any prior administration, resulting in at minimum lots of resignations of top officials, with some leading directly to impeachment, have come and gone with no consequences.  That's happened in large part because of the catatonic Congress and its dissembling leadership.

If the Democrats held just one of the houses, there would be a dozen ongoing investigations with public hearings and proposed legislation.  Given the public mood, these would be hard for the media to ignore--even those eager to please der Fuhrer.  Things would be quite different.  

As it is, Republicans (especially in the House, where they perpetually run for reelection) must weigh their prevailing mortal fear of King Chaos and his past ability to conjure up primary opponents that defeat them even in heavily R districts, against the likelihood of public sentiment turning so strongly against them that their Democratic opponent will defeat them.  Or that their donors will turn against them, with the same result.

Congress is itself a kind of autocracy, run by the Speaker of the House and the Senate Majority Leader respectively.  Very little gets considered that they don't decide will get considered.  Mike Johnson in the House is going to extraordinary lengths to prevent the House from reasserting congressional power over tariffs with a dubious technical maneuver, weighing the power of King Chaos' support against open rebellion of a few R Members, either of which could easily cost him his job.  On such considerations does every basic principle of American government and equal justice under law as well as the world economy depend, with this crew of TV-ready automatons with less intelligence that the artificial kind.

The only clear constitutional remedies for a lawless executive are action by Congress (reclaiming its rights over legislation it passed, and the ultimate power to remove the president from office) and the federal courts, ending with the Supreme Court's power to interpret law and the Constitution. With the R Congress abdicating its responsibilities, the federal judiciary has been at the center of the action. 

 Many lower court judges have at least slowed some of the illegal and immoral acts of the Chaos administration.  The Supreme Court finally appeared this past week with two unanimous decisions that went against Chaos but only barely, and were ambiguous enough in part to create unjudicial confusion. This seems to be the price of unanimity, and a likely characteristic of this court--not given to strong opinions in opposition to Chaos.  Chaos is acting defiantly while promising to respect court decisions, apparently trusting that media covers the pious words and not the inaction.  

Meanwhile, Congress is trying to limit the purview of federal district court judges, and may succeed.  The Supreme Court is at least jealous enough of judicial powers to rule against it, maybe, someday.  But more damage will be done, just as more damage has been and is being done as cases make their way slowly to various courts.

4. Democrats

A number of prominent Democrats--including CA Gov. Newsom, Colorado Senator Bennet--have parroted the line: "The Democratic brand is toxic."  So much so that it's already a meaningless cliche.  But it reflects the post-election polling showing the Democratic Party with its lowest approval rating since the Big Bang.

But along came Chaos, and one thing that Chaos is doing assiduously is electing Democrats. All the Democratic "brand" has to be is: we're against what he's doing.  And it's about time Democrats realize this.

Democrats don't need a new identity.  They forged a new identity at their last convention and during the Harris campaign, when they brought in significant support from former Republicans who couldn't stomach Chaos.  Those elements of the supposed "woke" Democratic brand were imposed by the forces of Chaos, which include their Russian tech friends.  With just enough success, apparently.  I don't remember anyone running on pronouns.  

That the Democrats couldn't break through to the media is partly their fault and partly the media's, and the Chaos strategy of relentlessly keeping the attention on him, even if it is propelled by outrage.  The news media apparently just can't help itself.  Social media is maybe something else, which I'm not qualified to analyze, though I recognize the insidious power of algorithms.

But notice that the anti-Chaos demonstrations are happening all over the country.  That people in R districts are showing up en masse for their own town meetings where their R representative won't show up, and it may be run by Democrats.  On the ground, the power now is and will be in articulating opposition.  And it will start locally, in congressional districts, where news media has been covering protests.

And proposing vague changes and complex programs for improvement won't be necessary.  Americans are learning the hard way all the good things the federal government does, as they are disappeared.  Restoration is becoming a winning theme.  An electoral key however will be new candidates, younger candidates, more articulate candidates.  If the Hitlerization of America hasn't been totally accomplished by November 2026.  

Here's a recent national poll result to ponder: when asked if they considered themselves a MAGA member, all of 11% said they did.

Meanwhile, there is a lot that Democrats in office at the state and local levels can do and should do right now.  An intriguing San Francisco Chronicle piece  suggests that Gov. Newsom is running the Republic of California like a country, and with some success.  (Living here I don't really see it, but it's interesting if true. As a predicted resistance leader he's been a bust.)

But a more practical example of the kind of thing that must be done as fast as possible is this: Rachel has highlighted two states (Arizona and Michigan) where the Attorney-General is posting a simple online form for Social Security recipients to report their problems that the agency is too depleted and chaotic to address--in particular, those checks that don't arrive. More states must do this, and they must do more than this. They must protect and advocate for their people, against the corrupt dictatorship in Washington.   

Which leads us finally back to the beginning: the King Chaos administration itself.  But that will require another time.