Quico, I completely understand your perspective on this. One hundred percent. And I am so sorry that this comment section is full of oblivious MAGA types who never will.
The irony is that this site was founded as a principled centrist forum, based on the need for sound critique of the left in order to effectively counteract the obvious danger of populist authoritarianism emanating from the right. And yet it seems that critique of the left, no matter what the intention, draws MAGA like flies.
They have no problem listening to people complain about the excesses of wokeness, but they then seem utterly confused and oblivious when confronted with the reality of the near constant stream of outrageous offenses being generated on a daily basis by Trump's corrupt government, as if from a malfunctioning assembly line.
I come here and lay down fact upon fact—which should hardly be necessary given the towering mountains of freely offered, self-incriminating evidence implicating this administration—and in response get told that I have TDS. It's utterly maddening.
If I'm correct in assuming you've taken refuge in Japan, I have to admit I'm jealous. I know they are often criticized for a culture of conformity, and no doubt it has its drawbacks. But right now, when American individuality has turned so toxic, that's got to feel like a breath of fresh air.
Take heart in the knowledge that you are not alone—by and large America sees these people for what they are—and may you heal your heart and soul.
Hola Senor Toro ... long time no talk, We had the pleasure of meeting in Caracas when we were both younger and much better looking. to what extent, if ANY, do you think that Hugo's short lived golpe de estado and a long long weekend at La Orchilla affected his actions and planning when he returned? do you think he always had the intent of taking down institutions that opposed him? did you think the long weekend at La Orchilla, hardened his stance on this and accelerated it?? One might make an imperfect comparison to Senor Trump? (and what he went through, they threw everything but the kitchen sink at him so now there's a feeling of "revenga"?
Will the emotional reaction is rooted in trauma the audience doesn’t share. It tracks that a lot of commenters don’t seem to know what tf I’m talking aboutabout…
Thanks. I think your message is clear. I hope we do not end up sharing your trauma, but I'm not optimistic. I'm shocked by how few Americans seem outraged by what's happened already.
I’m not seeing the commonality you constructed. The current administration is a counterrevolution against leftism. while imperfect as all administrations are, they’re still fighting the good fight against socialism, Marxism, communism and more. As a Democrat, I’ll take that any day over what we were progressing towards. I hope my party kicks the PMS wing (progressivist Marxist socialist) out of the tent, they’re parasites.
How delusional can you people be? They aren't "fighting the good fight". They are running roughshod over our Constitutional order thanks to a narcissist cult leader whose followers tolerate any offense, any abridgement, any flagrant violation of American laws, norms, and rules of common decency, as the acceptable price to pay for liberal tears.
They are attempting to impose martial law by bringing the national guard into our cities. They have masked secret police running around arresting people—some of them American citizens—asking for their "papers" if they look or sound too Hispanic, and shipping people off to gulags while denying them due process. They are literally murdering Venezuelan citizens on the high seas and telling us to trust them that these are bad guys.
Add to that Trump's astounding corruption. He's engaged in mass firing of IGs. He's corrupted the DOJ by getting rid of any agents who were even marginally connected to investigating his many crimes. He's shut down investigations into his political allies and openly exhorted his AG to prosecute his enemies. The DOJ has otherwise virtually stopped investigating white collar crime and foreign influence operations against our government.
For god's sake, his border czar Tom Homan was literally caught accepting a $50,000 bribe to steer contracts toward a company—a fictitious company since its representatives turned out to be undercover FBI agents—and the investigation was simply dropped!
Trump solicits obvious bribes from media companies who want his government to approve their mergers. He threatens media outlets with loss of broadcast licenses when he doesn't like what they say. They've denied people entrance to the country and deported legal residents for exercising free speech. The Pentagon has ejected nearly the entirety of their press corps because they wouldn't sign a pledge to be Pentagon mouthpieces and not investigate or report anything beyond approved Defense Department releases.
Trump runs his own cryptocurrency that foreign actors have invested in to enrich him in order to gain favor, and his kids run around making deals with foreign governments and companies while Trump talks with their heads of state. He has blatantly violated the emoluments clause by accepting a plane from Qatar, which is going to cost the government a billion dollars to refurbish to meet security standards.
And now Qatar gets a goddamn security guarantee *and* a military facility in Idaho?! That means American troops are committed, if necessary, to putting their lives on the line if someone attacks Qatar. (Unless Congress pushes back and refuses to allow enforcement since the President doesn't actually have the authority to enter into treaties with other nations without Congress's approval—but Republicans let Trump get away with whatever he wants.) All while a Trump owned company opens a golf course in Qatar. This is the same country Trump once accused of funding terrorism becaue of their willingness to harbor Hamas political officials.
Trump has openly pressured Republican states into mid-decade redistricting—a completely unprecedented action—to help Republicans hold on to the House in 2026. This has forced Democrat run states that already have anti-gerrymandering provisions to have to go to their legislatures or hold public referendums to gerrymander their states further in response. The administration isn't even trying to hide the fact that they're doing it to remain in power.
All while Trump and his people keep running around with "Trump 2028" hats, with the constant spectre of Trump using federal troops to interfere with our elections looming over us, as Trump attempts to intimidate half the country with lawless displays of force and abuse of National Guard personnel. And now they're trying to intimidate "No Kings" protestors by branding then as "terrorists" who "hate America" and threatening physical violence if anything gets out of hand.
When are people like you going to *wake up* and understand that Trump and his administration aren't just "imperfect". They are corrupt, authoritarian criminals. We have never seen an Administration act in such a blatantly partisan manner. We've never seen an American government who demonizes and villainizes half the country—more or less declaring a civil war against "the enemy within", as he described the American left to a room full of high-ranking military officials while explaining to them that they were about to have a role in policing American streets.
As Trump's former defense secretary James Mattis remarked, "Trump is the first President I've seen who doesn't even try to unite the American people."
Just how much are people's rights worth to the anti-woke? Just how much blatant lawlessness and corruption will you tolerate in order to stick it to the libs? Do you really not understand that your cultural grievances don't entitle you, or anyone, to use the power of the state against people you don't like?
Seriously, what is it going to take to convince you this Administration has gone too far?
People still supporting Trump and Trumpsplainig his many crimes are just pathetic. There is not a single FACT in the above that is incorrect. The degree of justification and poor pooing in your comment is the true derangement.
Remember, we had two choices: A leftist nimbob who was foisted upon us by the cabal who couldn’t put two sentences together and would be a laughing stock on the world stage and Trump . He’s not perfect, but I implicitly trust that he is pro-America and the sooner the Democratic Party sets up a platform that’s pro America, the sooner we’ll be able to debate MAGA strategies. Meanwhile, I’m fine with Trump’s actions.
Kamala Harris couldn't put two sentences together and would be a laughingstock on the world stage? Have you seen the debate between the two?
You see this is what you MAGA people don't seem to understand. You have this delusion that we weren't respected before Trump but now people take us seriously. Nothing could be further from the truth. *Trump* is a laughingstock. People *don't* respect him. Some people fear him, but those people are mostly our allies.
This guy has acted like Vladimir Putin's trained monkey since day one. Even after seeming to finally get it recently, one phone call by Putin and now he's back to calling for a summit to "negotiate peace" again. How soon before he's back to saying "it takes two to tango" to describe the tyrant attempting to conquer another country and the country defending its life?
Do you realize how the rest of the world views him—views us, as a result? Check the international polls. We are deplored virtually everywhere in the free world except for Israel.
He's turned Canada—Canada!—completely against us. They fucking hate us now. Or at least, they hate the part of us that is MAGA. Did you happen to notice that Trump single-handedly turned what was shaping up to be a rebound election for the right in Canada into a resounding triumph for the left? And all he had to do was constantly talk about annexing them as our 51st state, because Canada as a separate country "never made sense". 🤯
Do you pay attention to the myriad stupid things he says and does? Listen to his recent whopper: "As far as I'm aware, we've never had a President solve a war." Do you think shit like that makes people respect him? Respect us?
It doesn't. They're shaking their heads wondering how we could have been so stupid as to reelect the same guy who tried to overturn an election in 2020. Brazil—who turned hard against Bolsonaro for pulling the same shit Trump did— is making the world's greatest democracy look like some banana republic kingdom.
The free world simply can't rely on us anymore like they used to because they now see how much rides on marginal slivers of voters in the American midwest every four years. That's why NATO allies are beefing up their militaries—they're preparing for a post-America world. How about that.
By the way, you should check out the list of countries that now have *travel advisories* against the U.S. We're projected to have a net loss of $12.5 billion this year in year-to-year tourism dollars because people no longer want to come here.
And the world has also taken notice of how brain-dead his grasp of economics is. The guy who still thinks he's "taxing other countries" with tariffs, who thinks raising tariffs while deporting and substantial portion of our workforce is going to lower prices for the American consumer, makes people look at us and wonder how it is that we managed to become the world's greatest economy. Clearly Trump doesn't understand it, because he thinks we sucked before he came along.
Trump somehow thinks foreign companies will want to build factories over here in a business climate where companies can't even plan for the future because the guy running things changes his mind so often, and fires people in the government who deliver bad numbers. Seriously, would you want to invest in an America that's seems hell bent on forcing everyone to fly blind because he assumes all bad economic news is a conspiracy against him? Who's shooting his own country in the foot and destabilizing the value of the American dollar?
This is why inflation is rising. This is why job growth is slowing. This isn't temporary pain or a correction or readjustment. This is bad stuff that's the predictable outcome of bad policy. Just wait until countries start using the yuan instead of the dollar as their primary reserve currency.
The only reason people pay him any respect is because they know that flattery is the only thing he responds to. That's why you've got people saying he deserves a Nobel Peace prize for a hostage-for-prisoner swap when the provisions of the ceasefire still haven't even been agreed upon. Classic Trump premature victory lap. And people are lapping it up, while he stands up on a stage verbally fellating Victor Orban, embarrassing us even more.
Why? Because the MSM are still trying to prove that they aren't biased against Trump by lowering the bar for him, and many people are thinking right now that they can redirect him toward more noble ends by sucking up to him the way our enemies have for years. But they're wrong. We can't play that game like they can, because we actually care about our people.
But go ahead and brush all this off again by telling me I have TDS. Go ahead and continue to assume that your subjective view of Trump—manufactured by propagandists who profit off Trump's corruption and based on our petty cultural disputes—is shared by the rest of the world. That the world looks at us and marvels at the greatness of Trump for really sticking it to the transgenders and obnoxious cultural studies professors.
You're only demonstrating the stubborn mindlessness and ignorance that is actually driving how the rest of the world *really* looks at us.
Try reading past the first paragraph. I just fired a fusillade of facts at you. If it was a Power Point presentation I'd have a good twenty or so bullet points there—each one of them a previously unthinkable offense for an American president—and yet you just shrug it off as TDS. Try refuting or defending some of them.
It is not really worth responding to this idiocy but I can't help taking the bait. I don't like the Democrats at all as they are presently constituted, but at least the Dems did not try to overthrow a free election through violent insurrection. Can you imagine what would have happened if Biden has sent troops to take over Palm Beach? Your beloved Donald Trump's infinite avarice is systematically destroying every norm and every law that made our Republic the city on the hill that Reagan so deeply loved.
The real insurrection was Obama fabricating information and forcing the intelligence agencies to put it out as fact. The falsehood that Trump was in collusion with Russia He made it up. That’s insurrection. Nancy Pelosi rejecting the proper amount of security ordered and needed at the protest on January 6 was a set up. But you probably know all that. Then they didn’t give us a primary in 2024. That was a coup along with lying about Biden‘s health. The auto pen. and again they put a near idiot who couldn’t put two sentences together as the “choice”. We gotta get our deets right. Then let’s talk about the summer of love and the dozens of people who died and $2 billion worth of private property destroyed because crime and vandalism and destruction and violence are all part of the leftist toolbox. As a Seattleite I would go as far as to say that antifa is the de facto militia of the leftists.
"Counterrevolution" says it all since it has the word "revolution" in it. We have a good thing going in the US. Any major shakeup will almost certainly put us in a worse state than we were in before, and potentially catastrophically destroy what we had. Incremental change is the only way to guarantee we keep a stable democracy while improving it.
Let's remember that Chavez was a leftist and self declared socialist. I remember when he was first elected and all the left wing media in France ( where I was living at the time) were ecstatic.
As a socialist, Chavez believed in big government, which became all powerful government, which became all powerful and corrupt government serving him.
You could ask him, he's on BlueSky now as well as Twitter. As I have said in earlier comments, the ideology of Covid was used for a big time power grab for 3 years. Powerful people gonna grab power.. especially when there are billions to be earned by Pfizer and Moderna from the grabbing.
Amazing how someone claiming to be so deeply analytical can demonstrate so much emotional-fueled cognitive dissonance. An extreme analogy is tearful, fearful alarmist concern about the harm being caused by the allies bombing the Nazis back to nothing.
Trump has been, and currently is, blocked, challenged and opposed at very attempt to beat back the collectivist authoritarians that had shown their extreme intent during the global pandemic. He is no dictator. That is a dope claim. He is a duly elected president vested with leadership authority to fix the problems the out of control liberals have caused.
He has largely been overruled by lower courts, but he's won lots of appeals from appellate courts and SCOTUS. Trump is no dictator (yet), but it isn't for lack of trying. The author acknowledges this, but also points out, correctly, that this is how it begins, and we'd be fools to ignore the warning signs.
For god's sake, they even went to the SCOTUS with the argument that Federal courts couldn't unilaterally stop them from violating the law by issuing nationwide injunctions—and they gave that to him without even ruling on the merits of the real issue in question—that of the Constitutionally clear-as-day provision establishing birthright citizenship to those born on American soil.
No, Frank, once again you don't "got it". Since you seem to have trouble reading, let me highlight what I actually said: "Trump is no dictator (yet) but it isn't for lack of trying." We'll probably survive Trump's power grab, but that doesn't mean we aren't being irrevocably damaged in the process.
And let me be clear what I'm alleging about the courts: lower court judges are doing their jobs making sound decisions against the administration. We're talking basic things like respecting due process, not claiming powers reserved for war times, not activating the Natural Guard in states that don't ask for it, not using the military for domestic law enforcement when there is no evidence of an insurrection, etc.
Where they are having "victories" are in getting appellate courts and the Supreme Court to remove stays and injunctions until legal proceedings play out. Which is outrageously poor judgement given the likelihood Trump is breaking the law—just like the outrageously poor judgement inherent in fabricating out of thin air a doctrine of Presidential immunity right in time for Trump—easily our most lawless and corrupt president.
But that's what happens when you have a Supreme court built by the Federalisf Society, willing to assume for itself the power to undo democracy and American juris prudence in order to serve the political ideologies of its benefactors.
“Trump—easily our most lawless and corrupt president.”
Take another TDS biscuit and call your doctor.
Democrats put the National Guard in DC all for show. 10 presidents have used the national guard. The national guard has been deployed by Trump only when federal agents has been threatened and impeded. He has not sent them to any city for any other reason except DC which is federal territory. Using the National guard to quell civil unrest that state and local law enforcement is not dealing with is 100% legal and expected. I’m sure you would welcome it if the rioters were burning down your building or surrounding your family trapped in your car.
We are not being damaged by Trump, we are being saved. What the hell are you even protecting given the shit show brought on by Democrats the last near decade?
The lower court judges are abusing their power for partisan politics and they keep getting overturned by higher courts. That is how the justice system works. Elections have consequences. Trump is the chief executive vested by the Constitution and legal precedent with certain powers. He is using those powers and getting challenged at every step, but winning most of the challenges. Too bad you don’t like it. Move to Canada then.
That's just it, Frank. There are no "rioters state and local law enforcement is not dealing with". This is a figment of the MAGA imagination. Trump is watching Fox News play scenes from Portland in 2020 and thinking it's happening today. You're being gaslit by propagandists.
Yes, presidents jave employed the national guard, normally when asked to by the governors of those states. At times they've been brought in against the governor's wishes to protect citizens rights, such as when the University of Alabama was refusing to allow black students to attend as mandated by the Supreme Court.
Sometimes the Insurrection Act has been invoked to quell actual insurrections or dangerous riots. Like, say, the Rodney King riots. You think I have a problem with cracking down on looters and thugs using social unrest as an excuse to commit crimes? I don't. I just don't want military personnel involved unless absolutely necessary, and certainly not when the supposed "insurrections" are at best minor skirmishes with protesters and at worst complete fabrications.
There are no insurrections happening in Portland or Chicago. In fact Trump claimed Chicago was just about "crime"—the military is completely inappropriate to supplement a local police force for general purposes because they aren't trained to handle civilians, and there is zero legal justification for doing so. And it is glaringly obvious that military forces are being brought in along with abusive masked ICE thugs in order to provoke unrest so that Stephen Miller can unleash Armageddon on the Democratic enclaves he despises so much.
Trump isn't saving us from shit, except our own Constitution, and the America most of us have known all our lives. This Supreme Court isn't just opposed by liberals like me—it's getting increasingly criticized from across the political spectrum as being an enabler of an out of control executive.
So no Frank, I'm not going to go to Canada. How about you go to Russia or Hungary or China or one of these other countries whose illiberal rulers Trump admires so much and seeks to emulate? I'm sure Putin could use a few extra apparatchiks these days.
I'm staying to make sure we don't end up like them. It's my country too.
Am I correct that the title of this article was changed less than an hour after it was posted? On one tab I see the title
"America Feels An Awful Lot Like Venezuela Right Now"
but now I went to open it and it says
"No Kings and the Echo of Venezuela"
Did somebody quickly realize that that first title was simply too large for anyone to swallow? Makes me wonder what the content will be when I finally have time to read it this evening.
Why do you MAGGots keep playing the stupid Soros card? The guy is 95 years old and has a tiny fraction of the wealth of the folks you want to run the country - Musk and Thiel. At least Soros had the good grace to back out of the public eye before he became senile, unlike your beloved Donald Trump.
you understand I am not MAGA and was being sarcastic/making a joke? Because yea, I hear about Soros from my MAGA adjacent brother (who claims obama was a communist!!!!!🤣)
I actually agree with that. Too many want this. Still. Trump RAN ON THIS. Trump got millions of more votes PROMISING THIS. Polls from two weeks ago show sizable % of Americans think he is cleaning things up and WANT MORE OF THIS.
Meaning, not only is he psychologically immune to the cries of “tyranny!” by Democrats and media and surrounded by like minded cabinet members - but he is SUPPORTED BY HUGE NUMBERS OF AMERICANS who think he’s doing great.
Those three factors, combined, convince me this will progress to a bitter conclusion. Prepare. Protect you and yours. Your No Kings marches may make you feel tribally connected and filled with “agency” - and it will make absolutely no difference at all.
I used to read Caracas Chronicles and The Devil's Excrement. Thank you for this article. For a long time, I have seen what you saw. I tried to talk to a friend about how giving jobs to cronies seems like a bad way to do business in a government or anywhere else. Oddly the comment made her come up with something about how Democrats were ruining the country. And that will be the line forever- that the other side is doing it.
Hola Fernando. Long time no see, but we did meet once in Caracas, when we were both younger and much better looking. Wish I had a chance to pick your brain much more so than the limited opportunity gave me.. But una pregunta.. do you think it was always Hugo's plan to dismantle those institutions? and here is the crux of the question.. to what EXTENT, if any, did his long weekend removal from power affect and or accelerate this process? I mean let's admit it, we both know it was a golpe de estado a coup d'etat... but he survived it .. and coming back his thinking hardened to "I'm going to get these __uckers.. (similar to El Hombre de Naranja?)
Please no more Quico Toro. One staggered through the last article and hoped that there wasn't any more from this writer. Alas the return of more tearful, self absorption and complete speculation that America has the same ingrediances as a South American country to fall into authotitarianism. The Venezuela's GDP is estimated to be approximately $108.5 billion, while the United States has a GDP of about $29.2 trillion, making the U.S. economy significantly larger than Venezuela's. This stark difference highlights the economic challenges Venezuela faces compared to the robust economy of the United States. That and the population of Venezuela in 2025 estimated to be around 29.9 million people to America's 350,000 and their size approximately 912,050 square kilometers, making it about 11 times smaller than the United States, which has an area of around 9,833,517 square kilometers, this means Venezuela is about 9.27% the size of the United States and the two different economies, all the while attempting to compare Venezuela to that of Trump's America, just doesn't compute. Quico, very sad for you about your countries slide into authoritarianism, one has to respect your sorrow and frustration, but please don't regail us here in North America that what happened in Venezuela is going to happen here under Trumps administration.
there are enough similar examples in what happened in Venezuela to make the case or at least beg a comparison though US institutions stronger and the military/country would not support replacing the justices in the Supreme Court, for e.g. but I think it's a worthy speculation that Trump would do it, if he "could".
Nobody in comments gets it. Which makes sense. You can’t get it. Your experiential basis is too different…
Quico, I completely understand your perspective on this. One hundred percent. And I am so sorry that this comment section is full of oblivious MAGA types who never will.
The irony is that this site was founded as a principled centrist forum, based on the need for sound critique of the left in order to effectively counteract the obvious danger of populist authoritarianism emanating from the right. And yet it seems that critique of the left, no matter what the intention, draws MAGA like flies.
They have no problem listening to people complain about the excesses of wokeness, but they then seem utterly confused and oblivious when confronted with the reality of the near constant stream of outrageous offenses being generated on a daily basis by Trump's corrupt government, as if from a malfunctioning assembly line.
I come here and lay down fact upon fact—which should hardly be necessary given the towering mountains of freely offered, self-incriminating evidence implicating this administration—and in response get told that I have TDS. It's utterly maddening.
If I'm correct in assuming you've taken refuge in Japan, I have to admit I'm jealous. I know they are often criticized for a culture of conformity, and no doubt it has its drawbacks. But right now, when American individuality has turned so toxic, that's got to feel like a breath of fresh air.
Take heart in the knowledge that you are not alone—by and large America sees these people for what they are—and may you heal your heart and soul.
Quico, I am as confused as you are. Why do the comments believe it is the justification for the actions that determine how you feel?
Hola Senor Toro ... long time no talk, We had the pleasure of meeting in Caracas when we were both younger and much better looking. to what extent, if ANY, do you think that Hugo's short lived golpe de estado and a long long weekend at La Orchilla affected his actions and planning when he returned? do you think he always had the intent of taking down institutions that opposed him? did you think the long weekend at La Orchilla, hardened his stance on this and accelerated it?? One might make an imperfect comparison to Senor Trump? (and what he went through, they threw everything but the kitchen sink at him so now there's a feeling of "revenga"?
I thought your article was terrific. But could you explain your comment a bit more.
Also, do you think that many of the comments are AI generated. I assume there is no way for Persuasion to differentiate.
Will the emotional reaction is rooted in trauma the audience doesn’t share. It tracks that a lot of commenters don’t seem to know what tf I’m talking aboutabout…
Thanks. I think your message is clear. I hope we do not end up sharing your trauma, but I'm not optimistic. I'm shocked by how few Americans seem outraged by what's happened already.
I’m not seeing the commonality you constructed. The current administration is a counterrevolution against leftism. while imperfect as all administrations are, they’re still fighting the good fight against socialism, Marxism, communism and more. As a Democrat, I’ll take that any day over what we were progressing towards. I hope my party kicks the PMS wing (progressivist Marxist socialist) out of the tent, they’re parasites.
How delusional can you people be? They aren't "fighting the good fight". They are running roughshod over our Constitutional order thanks to a narcissist cult leader whose followers tolerate any offense, any abridgement, any flagrant violation of American laws, norms, and rules of common decency, as the acceptable price to pay for liberal tears.
They are attempting to impose martial law by bringing the national guard into our cities. They have masked secret police running around arresting people—some of them American citizens—asking for their "papers" if they look or sound too Hispanic, and shipping people off to gulags while denying them due process. They are literally murdering Venezuelan citizens on the high seas and telling us to trust them that these are bad guys.
Add to that Trump's astounding corruption. He's engaged in mass firing of IGs. He's corrupted the DOJ by getting rid of any agents who were even marginally connected to investigating his many crimes. He's shut down investigations into his political allies and openly exhorted his AG to prosecute his enemies. The DOJ has otherwise virtually stopped investigating white collar crime and foreign influence operations against our government.
For god's sake, his border czar Tom Homan was literally caught accepting a $50,000 bribe to steer contracts toward a company—a fictitious company since its representatives turned out to be undercover FBI agents—and the investigation was simply dropped!
Trump solicits obvious bribes from media companies who want his government to approve their mergers. He threatens media outlets with loss of broadcast licenses when he doesn't like what they say. They've denied people entrance to the country and deported legal residents for exercising free speech. The Pentagon has ejected nearly the entirety of their press corps because they wouldn't sign a pledge to be Pentagon mouthpieces and not investigate or report anything beyond approved Defense Department releases.
Trump runs his own cryptocurrency that foreign actors have invested in to enrich him in order to gain favor, and his kids run around making deals with foreign governments and companies while Trump talks with their heads of state. He has blatantly violated the emoluments clause by accepting a plane from Qatar, which is going to cost the government a billion dollars to refurbish to meet security standards.
And now Qatar gets a goddamn security guarantee *and* a military facility in Idaho?! That means American troops are committed, if necessary, to putting their lives on the line if someone attacks Qatar. (Unless Congress pushes back and refuses to allow enforcement since the President doesn't actually have the authority to enter into treaties with other nations without Congress's approval—but Republicans let Trump get away with whatever he wants.) All while a Trump owned company opens a golf course in Qatar. This is the same country Trump once accused of funding terrorism becaue of their willingness to harbor Hamas political officials.
Trump has openly pressured Republican states into mid-decade redistricting—a completely unprecedented action—to help Republicans hold on to the House in 2026. This has forced Democrat run states that already have anti-gerrymandering provisions to have to go to their legislatures or hold public referendums to gerrymander their states further in response. The administration isn't even trying to hide the fact that they're doing it to remain in power.
All while Trump and his people keep running around with "Trump 2028" hats, with the constant spectre of Trump using federal troops to interfere with our elections looming over us, as Trump attempts to intimidate half the country with lawless displays of force and abuse of National Guard personnel. And now they're trying to intimidate "No Kings" protestors by branding then as "terrorists" who "hate America" and threatening physical violence if anything gets out of hand.
When are people like you going to *wake up* and understand that Trump and his administration aren't just "imperfect". They are corrupt, authoritarian criminals. We have never seen an Administration act in such a blatantly partisan manner. We've never seen an American government who demonizes and villainizes half the country—more or less declaring a civil war against "the enemy within", as he described the American left to a room full of high-ranking military officials while explaining to them that they were about to have a role in policing American streets.
As Trump's former defense secretary James Mattis remarked, "Trump is the first President I've seen who doesn't even try to unite the American people."
Just how much are people's rights worth to the anti-woke? Just how much blatant lawlessness and corruption will you tolerate in order to stick it to the libs? Do you really not understand that your cultural grievances don't entitle you, or anyone, to use the power of the state against people you don't like?
Seriously, what is it going to take to convince you this Administration has gone too far?
That reads to me as pure TDS.
People still supporting Trump and Trumpsplainig his many crimes are just pathetic. There is not a single FACT in the above that is incorrect. The degree of justification and poor pooing in your comment is the true derangement.
Remember, we had two choices: A leftist nimbob who was foisted upon us by the cabal who couldn’t put two sentences together and would be a laughing stock on the world stage and Trump . He’s not perfect, but I implicitly trust that he is pro-America and the sooner the Democratic Party sets up a platform that’s pro America, the sooner we’ll be able to debate MAGA strategies. Meanwhile, I’m fine with Trump’s actions.
Kamala Harris couldn't put two sentences together and would be a laughingstock on the world stage? Have you seen the debate between the two?
You see this is what you MAGA people don't seem to understand. You have this delusion that we weren't respected before Trump but now people take us seriously. Nothing could be further from the truth. *Trump* is a laughingstock. People *don't* respect him. Some people fear him, but those people are mostly our allies.
This guy has acted like Vladimir Putin's trained monkey since day one. Even after seeming to finally get it recently, one phone call by Putin and now he's back to calling for a summit to "negotiate peace" again. How soon before he's back to saying "it takes two to tango" to describe the tyrant attempting to conquer another country and the country defending its life?
Do you realize how the rest of the world views him—views us, as a result? Check the international polls. We are deplored virtually everywhere in the free world except for Israel.
He's turned Canada—Canada!—completely against us. They fucking hate us now. Or at least, they hate the part of us that is MAGA. Did you happen to notice that Trump single-handedly turned what was shaping up to be a rebound election for the right in Canada into a resounding triumph for the left? And all he had to do was constantly talk about annexing them as our 51st state, because Canada as a separate country "never made sense". 🤯
Do you pay attention to the myriad stupid things he says and does? Listen to his recent whopper: "As far as I'm aware, we've never had a President solve a war." Do you think shit like that makes people respect him? Respect us?
It doesn't. They're shaking their heads wondering how we could have been so stupid as to reelect the same guy who tried to overturn an election in 2020. Brazil—who turned hard against Bolsonaro for pulling the same shit Trump did— is making the world's greatest democracy look like some banana republic kingdom.
The free world simply can't rely on us anymore like they used to because they now see how much rides on marginal slivers of voters in the American midwest every four years. That's why NATO allies are beefing up their militaries—they're preparing for a post-America world. How about that.
By the way, you should check out the list of countries that now have *travel advisories* against the U.S. We're projected to have a net loss of $12.5 billion this year in year-to-year tourism dollars because people no longer want to come here.
And the world has also taken notice of how brain-dead his grasp of economics is. The guy who still thinks he's "taxing other countries" with tariffs, who thinks raising tariffs while deporting and substantial portion of our workforce is going to lower prices for the American consumer, makes people look at us and wonder how it is that we managed to become the world's greatest economy. Clearly Trump doesn't understand it, because he thinks we sucked before he came along.
Trump somehow thinks foreign companies will want to build factories over here in a business climate where companies can't even plan for the future because the guy running things changes his mind so often, and fires people in the government who deliver bad numbers. Seriously, would you want to invest in an America that's seems hell bent on forcing everyone to fly blind because he assumes all bad economic news is a conspiracy against him? Who's shooting his own country in the foot and destabilizing the value of the American dollar?
This is why inflation is rising. This is why job growth is slowing. This isn't temporary pain or a correction or readjustment. This is bad stuff that's the predictable outcome of bad policy. Just wait until countries start using the yuan instead of the dollar as their primary reserve currency.
The only reason people pay him any respect is because they know that flattery is the only thing he responds to. That's why you've got people saying he deserves a Nobel Peace prize for a hostage-for-prisoner swap when the provisions of the ceasefire still haven't even been agreed upon. Classic Trump premature victory lap. And people are lapping it up, while he stands up on a stage verbally fellating Victor Orban, embarrassing us even more.
Why? Because the MSM are still trying to prove that they aren't biased against Trump by lowering the bar for him, and many people are thinking right now that they can redirect him toward more noble ends by sucking up to him the way our enemies have for years. But they're wrong. We can't play that game like they can, because we actually care about our people.
But go ahead and brush all this off again by telling me I have TDS. Go ahead and continue to assume that your subjective view of Trump—manufactured by propagandists who profit off Trump's corruption and based on our petty cultural disputes—is shared by the rest of the world. That the world looks at us and marvels at the greatness of Trump for really sticking it to the transgenders and obnoxious cultural studies professors.
You're only demonstrating the stubborn mindlessness and ignorance that is actually driving how the rest of the world *really* looks at us.
Try reading past the first paragraph. I just fired a fusillade of facts at you. If it was a Power Point presentation I'd have a good twenty or so bullet points there—each one of them a previously unthinkable offense for an American president—and yet you just shrug it off as TDS. Try refuting or defending some of them.
It is not really worth responding to this idiocy but I can't help taking the bait. I don't like the Democrats at all as they are presently constituted, but at least the Dems did not try to overthrow a free election through violent insurrection. Can you imagine what would have happened if Biden has sent troops to take over Palm Beach? Your beloved Donald Trump's infinite avarice is systematically destroying every norm and every law that made our Republic the city on the hill that Reagan so deeply loved.
The real insurrection was Obama fabricating information and forcing the intelligence agencies to put it out as fact. The falsehood that Trump was in collusion with Russia He made it up. That’s insurrection. Nancy Pelosi rejecting the proper amount of security ordered and needed at the protest on January 6 was a set up. But you probably know all that. Then they didn’t give us a primary in 2024. That was a coup along with lying about Biden‘s health. The auto pen. and again they put a near idiot who couldn’t put two sentences together as the “choice”. We gotta get our deets right. Then let’s talk about the summer of love and the dozens of people who died and $2 billion worth of private property destroyed because crime and vandalism and destruction and violence are all part of the leftist toolbox. As a Seattleite I would go as far as to say that antifa is the de facto militia of the leftists.
"Counterrevolution" says it all since it has the word "revolution" in it. We have a good thing going in the US. Any major shakeup will almost certainly put us in a worse state than we were in before, and potentially catastrophically destroy what we had. Incremental change is the only way to guarantee we keep a stable democracy while improving it.
Let's remember that Chavez was a leftist and self declared socialist. I remember when he was first elected and all the left wing media in France ( where I was living at the time) were ecstatic.
As a socialist, Chavez believed in big government, which became all powerful government, which became all powerful and corrupt government serving him.
So Chavez had an ideology to justify his power-grabbing. What's Trump's excuse?
You could ask him, he's on BlueSky now as well as Twitter. As I have said in earlier comments, the ideology of Covid was used for a big time power grab for 3 years. Powerful people gonna grab power.. especially when there are billions to be earned by Pfizer and Moderna from the grabbing.
Amazing how someone claiming to be so deeply analytical can demonstrate so much emotional-fueled cognitive dissonance. An extreme analogy is tearful, fearful alarmist concern about the harm being caused by the allies bombing the Nazis back to nothing.
Trump has been, and currently is, blocked, challenged and opposed at very attempt to beat back the collectivist authoritarians that had shown their extreme intent during the global pandemic. He is no dictator. That is a dope claim. He is a duly elected president vested with leadership authority to fix the problems the out of control liberals have caused.
He has largely been overruled by lower courts, but he's won lots of appeals from appellate courts and SCOTUS. Trump is no dictator (yet), but it isn't for lack of trying. The author acknowledges this, but also points out, correctly, that this is how it begins, and we'd be fools to ignore the warning signs.
For god's sake, they even went to the SCOTUS with the argument that Federal courts couldn't unilaterally stop them from violating the law by issuing nationwide injunctions—and they gave that to him without even ruling on the merits of the real issue in question—that of the Constitutionally clear-as-day provision establishing birthright citizenship to those born on American soil.
So, if the courts decide in opposition to what Eric73 thinks is legal and that then proves that Trump is a dictator?
Got it.
ignoring court orders seems pretty dictatorial to me.
Which court orders has the Trump Administration ignored?
You mean when the Biden Administration ignored the court orders related to student loan forgiveness?
You mean when the Biden Administration ignored the court orders related to the eviction moratorium?
You mean when the Biden Administration ignored the court orders related to its immigration actions?
You mean when the Biden Administration ignored the court orders related to race-based college admission?
No, Frank, once again you don't "got it". Since you seem to have trouble reading, let me highlight what I actually said: "Trump is no dictator (yet) but it isn't for lack of trying." We'll probably survive Trump's power grab, but that doesn't mean we aren't being irrevocably damaged in the process.
And let me be clear what I'm alleging about the courts: lower court judges are doing their jobs making sound decisions against the administration. We're talking basic things like respecting due process, not claiming powers reserved for war times, not activating the Natural Guard in states that don't ask for it, not using the military for domestic law enforcement when there is no evidence of an insurrection, etc.
Where they are having "victories" are in getting appellate courts and the Supreme Court to remove stays and injunctions until legal proceedings play out. Which is outrageously poor judgement given the likelihood Trump is breaking the law—just like the outrageously poor judgement inherent in fabricating out of thin air a doctrine of Presidential immunity right in time for Trump—easily our most lawless and corrupt president.
But that's what happens when you have a Supreme court built by the Federalisf Society, willing to assume for itself the power to undo democracy and American juris prudence in order to serve the political ideologies of its benefactors.
“Trump—easily our most lawless and corrupt president.”
Take another TDS biscuit and call your doctor.
Democrats put the National Guard in DC all for show. 10 presidents have used the national guard. The national guard has been deployed by Trump only when federal agents has been threatened and impeded. He has not sent them to any city for any other reason except DC which is federal territory. Using the National guard to quell civil unrest that state and local law enforcement is not dealing with is 100% legal and expected. I’m sure you would welcome it if the rioters were burning down your building or surrounding your family trapped in your car.
We are not being damaged by Trump, we are being saved. What the hell are you even protecting given the shit show brought on by Democrats the last near decade?
The lower court judges are abusing their power for partisan politics and they keep getting overturned by higher courts. That is how the justice system works. Elections have consequences. Trump is the chief executive vested by the Constitution and legal precedent with certain powers. He is using those powers and getting challenged at every step, but winning most of the challenges. Too bad you don’t like it. Move to Canada then.
That's just it, Frank. There are no "rioters state and local law enforcement is not dealing with". This is a figment of the MAGA imagination. Trump is watching Fox News play scenes from Portland in 2020 and thinking it's happening today. You're being gaslit by propagandists.
Yes, presidents jave employed the national guard, normally when asked to by the governors of those states. At times they've been brought in against the governor's wishes to protect citizens rights, such as when the University of Alabama was refusing to allow black students to attend as mandated by the Supreme Court.
Sometimes the Insurrection Act has been invoked to quell actual insurrections or dangerous riots. Like, say, the Rodney King riots. You think I have a problem with cracking down on looters and thugs using social unrest as an excuse to commit crimes? I don't. I just don't want military personnel involved unless absolutely necessary, and certainly not when the supposed "insurrections" are at best minor skirmishes with protesters and at worst complete fabrications.
There are no insurrections happening in Portland or Chicago. In fact Trump claimed Chicago was just about "crime"—the military is completely inappropriate to supplement a local police force for general purposes because they aren't trained to handle civilians, and there is zero legal justification for doing so. And it is glaringly obvious that military forces are being brought in along with abusive masked ICE thugs in order to provoke unrest so that Stephen Miller can unleash Armageddon on the Democratic enclaves he despises so much.
Trump isn't saving us from shit, except our own Constitution, and the America most of us have known all our lives. This Supreme Court isn't just opposed by liberals like me—it's getting increasingly criticized from across the political spectrum as being an enabler of an out of control executive.
So no Frank, I'm not going to go to Canada. How about you go to Russia or Hungary or China or one of these other countries whose illiberal rulers Trump admires so much and seeks to emulate? I'm sure Putin could use a few extra apparatchiks these days.
I'm staying to make sure we don't end up like them. It's my country too.
Am I correct that the title of this article was changed less than an hour after it was posted? On one tab I see the title
"America Feels An Awful Lot Like Venezuela Right Now"
but now I went to open it and it says
"No Kings and the Echo of Venezuela"
Did somebody quickly realize that that first title was simply too large for anyone to swallow? Makes me wonder what the content will be when I finally have time to read it this evening.
or maybe the editor writing the headline just thought it was a timely headline given the date?
Nah. Soros called the editor personally to request the change! And that Communist Obama left a threatening voicemail
Why do you MAGGots keep playing the stupid Soros card? The guy is 95 years old and has a tiny fraction of the wealth of the folks you want to run the country - Musk and Thiel. At least Soros had the good grace to back out of the public eye before he became senile, unlike your beloved Donald Trump.
you understand I am not MAGA and was being sarcastic/making a joke? Because yea, I hear about Soros from my MAGA adjacent brother (who claims obama was a communist!!!!!🤣)
So, I take from this:
1) You can’t stop it
2). It is a fait accompli
3) Personally prepare
4) Protect you and yours
I actually agree with that. Too many want this. Still. Trump RAN ON THIS. Trump got millions of more votes PROMISING THIS. Polls from two weeks ago show sizable % of Americans think he is cleaning things up and WANT MORE OF THIS.
Meaning, not only is he psychologically immune to the cries of “tyranny!” by Democrats and media and surrounded by like minded cabinet members - but he is SUPPORTED BY HUGE NUMBERS OF AMERICANS who think he’s doing great.
Those three factors, combined, convince me this will progress to a bitter conclusion. Prepare. Protect you and yours. Your No Kings marches may make you feel tribally connected and filled with “agency” - and it will make absolutely no difference at all.
I used to read Caracas Chronicles and The Devil's Excrement. Thank you for this article. For a long time, I have seen what you saw. I tried to talk to a friend about how giving jobs to cronies seems like a bad way to do business in a government or anywhere else. Oddly the comment made her come up with something about how Democrats were ruining the country. And that will be the line forever- that the other side is doing it.
Hola Fernando. Long time no see, but we did meet once in Caracas, when we were both younger and much better looking. Wish I had a chance to pick your brain much more so than the limited opportunity gave me.. But una pregunta.. do you think it was always Hugo's plan to dismantle those institutions? and here is the crux of the question.. to what EXTENT, if any, did his long weekend removal from power affect and or accelerate this process? I mean let's admit it, we both know it was a golpe de estado a coup d'etat... but he survived it .. and coming back his thinking hardened to "I'm going to get these __uckers.. (similar to El Hombre de Naranja?)
Left wing authoritarianism is less worse than right wing authoritarianism
Please no more Quico Toro. One staggered through the last article and hoped that there wasn't any more from this writer. Alas the return of more tearful, self absorption and complete speculation that America has the same ingrediances as a South American country to fall into authotitarianism. The Venezuela's GDP is estimated to be approximately $108.5 billion, while the United States has a GDP of about $29.2 trillion, making the U.S. economy significantly larger than Venezuela's. This stark difference highlights the economic challenges Venezuela faces compared to the robust economy of the United States. That and the population of Venezuela in 2025 estimated to be around 29.9 million people to America's 350,000 and their size approximately 912,050 square kilometers, making it about 11 times smaller than the United States, which has an area of around 9,833,517 square kilometers, this means Venezuela is about 9.27% the size of the United States and the two different economies, all the while attempting to compare Venezuela to that of Trump's America, just doesn't compute. Quico, very sad for you about your countries slide into authoritarianism, one has to respect your sorrow and frustration, but please don't regail us here in North America that what happened in Venezuela is going to happen here under Trumps administration.
there are enough similar examples in what happened in Venezuela to make the case or at least beg a comparison though US institutions stronger and the military/country would not support replacing the justices in the Supreme Court, for e.g. but I think it's a worthy speculation that Trump would do it, if he "could".