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Candidate will be gone, ideology will remain

One day quite soon, I am confident that our American political system will rid itself of the poisonous MAGA founder, Donald Trump.

He’s been elected twice as president. The Constitution says two terms is enough. No more. He’ll be gone and on Jan. 20, 2029, someone new will take office.

I will be glad to send Trump packing. I fear, however, that the movement he founded will linger for a good while longer. It will lurk in the shadows. It will present itself on occasion when the right candidate feels comfortable enough to run on the MAGA notion … whatever the hell it is.

I say this provide some counsel to those who are looking forward to Election Day 2028 when Trump’s name won’t be on the ballot for the first time since 2012 when Barack Obama won re-election as president. The 2016, 2020 and 2024 elections all had Trump’s name on ballots.

This imbecile has poisoned the presidency. His corruption is utterly breathtaking. So is his vengefulness. His lack of empathy, his grace, his collegiality all are MIA. Trump’s poison will take time to cleanse itself.

Trump’s exit is welcome. I won’t be cheering too loudly, knowing that what he has built will remain.

national news

GOP finds its spine

Great day in the morning … as it appears the congressional Republican caucus has discovered its spine and perhaps even grown a collective set of stones.

What prompted this late-blooming coming of age for the GOP caucus? It’s the slush fund founded by Donald J. Trump, the lame-duck POTUS who has found a way to potentially reward the traitors who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Trump settled a $10 million lawsuit he filed against the Internal Revenue Service claiming the IRS violated his rights by demanding he release his tax returns. But he also managed to squirrel away nearly $1.8 million for a slush fund he can use for whatever purpose he wants.

This act has actually enraged congressional Republicans. They seem sincerely angry about it, avoiding milquetoast terms like “unacceptable” or “disappointing.” Oh, no. Sen. Thom Tillis, the retiring GOP member from North Carolina, calls it “stupid on stilts.” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who lost his primary bid for re-election to a MAGA fanatic, predicts this act is going to push the House and Senate into Democratic hands this November. GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas predicts that millions of Republican voters will cast their ballots for Democrats, ensuring a flip of congressional power.

It’s futile to ask, “What the hell took ’em so long?”

What is remarkable, though, is that the GOP is speaking out even as Trump continues to flex his muscle and doom otherwise faithful GOP candidates’ chances against even more radical foes. Indeed, Cornyn might face that fate tonight in his runoff race against scandal-ridden Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

I don’t know where all this is heading. I hope it produces a congressional result that suits my bias. Time will tell on that matter. Still, it does make me smile at the thought of Republicans finding their voice as it relates to the shameless corruption that continues to flow from the White House.

national news

Can’t forget the epithets

Man, it is difficult for me to remove my mind from the imaginary flashback machine when I hear the GOP suck-ups heap praise on a man many of them once labeled with a number of highly unflattering descriptions.

They included terms such as: racist, narcissist, pathological liar, fraud, phony, ignoramus, moron … and my favorite, sniveling coward.

That was then, when Donald J. Trump was one of many Republicans seeking the party’s presidential nomination for the 2016 run for the U.S. presidency. A Democrat, Barack H. Obama, had just completed two successful terms as president and Trump lurked amont a large field of GOP contenders in the fight to succeed a man they once vilified with another set of epithets.

Trump got elected in 2016. He lost his bid for re-election in 2020. He won again in 2024. What became of all those name-callers? They joined the president’s MAGA cult and now label as Republican In Name Only anyone who dares speak ill of the guy who once provoked an insurrection in an attempt to overturn the2020 election results.

We’re in the midst of another election cycle and the former Trump critics today can’t stop cheering loudly for the guy who they once labeled — correctly, in my view — all those mean things I listed at the top of this blog post.

Our airwaves are being flooded at the moment by Republican runoff candidates seeking to “out-Trump” other Republicans. Ted Cruz stands behind Chip Roy who’s running for Texas attorney general by calling him the most dedicated Trumpkin in the U.S. House. Cruz, I should tell you, once labeled Trump a “sniveling coward.”

Well, Sen. Cruz, which is it … sniveling coward or the greatest statesman since Daniel Webster?

national news

Go slow, Democrats, when you take control

I am now going to offer a bit of advice to congressional Democrats who appear poised to take control of the legislative branch of government once we count the ballots cast in the 2026 midterm election.

I want to be simple and crystal clear, so please pay attention. Do not spike the proverbial football once it becomes clear that the power is shifting from Republican to Democratic control. You can win with grace and class, Democrats, just as you have been forced to lose with it since the Age of Trump grabbed control of the agenda.

It is tempting, I reckon, to show the GOP that it no longer is in charge. How many times in recent years have Republicans done so in showing Democrats that the Rs control the agenda? Too many to count.

It’s easy, I suppose, to stick it in the Rs’ ear. It would be counterproductive. I have yearned for a return to civility in Congress. The House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, will take the speaker’s gavel next January and then, presumably, will get to work. My hope for the new speaker will be that he doesn’t floorboard the agenda, that he takes a reasoned approach to legislating.

OK, I know what you might be thinking: This blogger has called for the impeachment of Trump. I still believe the POTUS has committed multiple impeachable offenses. I want the new majority to ensure it has an ironclad case before filing those impeachment articles. No need to rush.

A new day is likely to dawn. Let us welcome it with solemnity.

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Rep. Self … talk to us!

The gentleman who represents me in Congress is at once frustrating and quite capable.

The capability comes from his political experience as Collin County judge before making the move to D.C. The frustration comes from his relative silence related to the conduct of Donald J. Trump.

Trump’s cowardice during the Vietnam War has surfaced again as a talking point, given the war of choice he launched against Iran. Trump evaded induction into the armed forces, citing those infamous bone spurs. Yet he is so willing to send your young men and women into harm’s way for reasons that rtemain a mystery to most Americans.

One of the members of Congress who continues to stand with Trump is Self, a decorated Army Ranger, a combat officer. I believe Rep. Self is an honorable man, and I applaud his service in the Army. However, why in the world did he remain silent when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth angrily chastised six congressional Democrats for remaining members of the military that they are obligated to refuse to obey unlawful orders.

Democrats raised holy hell over Hegseth’s tirade. Republicans stayed silent. One of the silent GOP members is Keith Self, a 20-year military retiree who knows an unlawful order when he sees it and knows how to act when he is issued one.

Keith Self remains a dedicated Trumpkin. I won’t change his mind on that matter. But for the life of me, I don’t understand how he can remain silent while the commander in chief exhibits profound ignorance of the Constitution he took an oath to defend.

national news

GOP silence speaks volumes

Republicans’ stone-cold silence in response to Donald Trump’s lies continues to boggle my noggin … such as what he said the other day about the potential end to the Iran war.

You cannot make this stuff up!

He started the war with Iran. Trump is now working to end it. If he succeeds and the Iranians stop firing back at us and Israel, he’ll take credit for ending that war. Yes? Of course he will!

But then he said the other day that no previous president in U.S. history has ended a war. He has ended eight of ’em, or so he said. Hold on a second, Mr. Ignoramus in Chief.

In 1941, we were drawn into World War II when the Japanese bombed our fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. President Roosevelt asked Congress the next day to declare war against Japan, which it did. Then the Nazi Germans declared war on us and we responded by declaring war on them.

Nearly four years later, FDR died of a stroke, up stepped Vice President Harry Truman to take over as commander in chief. On May 7, 1945, President Truman accepted Germany’s unconditional surrender. WWII in Europe ended … on Truman’s watch. Give ’em Hell Harry wasn’t done. We dropped two A-bombs on Japan in August 1945. The Japanese surrendered on Aug. 14 and on Sept. 2, 1945, Japanese military leaders signed the surrender documents aboard the battleship U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

I learned of that historical sequence when I was a little boy.

He keeps blathering about his “landslide” election as POTUS; it was nothing of the sort. How he won more Electoral College votes than any POTUS since President Reagan; another provable lie.

And through all of this, the Republican conference in Congress sits silently on its hands, saying nothing to correct the record.

These GOP officials disgrace themselves, the government they are elected to run and the once-great political party they supposedly represent.

legal news, national news

This election cycle? It’s the real deal!

Every election cycle possibly dating back to the beginning of our great republic has produced a comment from a candidate or a pundit that “this election is the most important in our nation’s history.”

Well, gang, I have news for you. The one coming up in November is the real thing. This one likely will determine the future of our republic. It will center on a candidate who won’t be on any ballot in any state. It will focus on the current occupant of the White House, Donald J. Trump.

He’s not up for a vote. In fact, he’ll never face the voters again. And for that we all should cheer loudly.

This election matters … a lot! The House of Representatives is likely to flip from Republican to Democratic control. The GOP is clinging to a majority that is virtually meaningless. It’s down to a seat or two or maybe three. Hell, I cannot keep track of it. GOP operatives are saying out loud what many others have said for about the past year: The Republican Party is going to get creamed! Every House seat is up for election. I don’t know what the latest forecasts are projecting, but I keep hearing a 30- to 50-seat swing from GOP to Democratic control.

Then there’s the U.S. Senate. Until just recently, it had been thought that flipping the Senate from GOP to Democrat was too steep a hill to climb. Suddenly, there is real belief that the Senate could be in play. North Carolina could flip. So could Maine. And get ready for this little nugget: Texas, the GOP bastion, could be in play as well.

Indeed, I have heard from some key Texas Republican strategists who suggest that Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico has a serious chance of seizing the Senate seat now held by Republican John Cornyn, who is in a runoff against the deeply flawed MAGA darling, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The economy is in the crapper. We’re at war with Iran. The POTUS keeps seizing power. Chaos pervades every executive branch agency.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a prescription building for a first-class electoral blowout. It won’t please every American. However, I would be thrilled beyond measure to see my government return to the art of governing.

Donald Trump, State news

Cornyn’s time as senator is up?

If I were a betting man — and I damn sure am not — I might be inclined to think that Sen. John Cornyn is facing a serious challenge to his once-storied congressional career.

He’s going to face Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on May 26 in a runoff election for the Senate seat Cornyn has occupied seemingly since The Flood. Why the gloomy outlook?

Cornyn finished first in a three-way Republican Party primary, winning 42% of the vote. Paxton finished second with 41%. Third place went to U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, who collected 13%.

Paxton and Hunt both paint Cornyn as a RINO, a ridiculous assertion on its face. If there is a more dedicated Republican in the Senate than Cornyn, I do not know who that would be. Indeed, Paxton and Donald Trump, his bestie in the White House, are the real Republicans in name only.

So, with the field narrowed to the top two GOP finishers, it falls on Paxton to seek Hunt voters to close the narrow gap between him and Cornyn. If the Hunt crowd is as MAGA gullible as I suspect they are, Paxton should have little trouble rounding up the support he needs to send Cornyn packing.

And what about Paxton? The guy is ethically challenged, to state the obvious. He was indicted early during his time as AG by a Collin County grand jury of securities trading allegations. He was supposed to go to trial long ago, but skated free of that episode. Several key legal aides quit the AG’s office and accused Paxton of corruption. The Republican-dominated House of Reps impeached Paxton, who then avoided conviction in the Texas Senate when Republican senators declined to follow their House colleagues’ lead.

If Paxton should manage to win the runoff, he will face a seriously rising star in the Texas Democratic Party, state Rep. James Talarico, who I will guess is dying to run against the ethically challenged AG.

We have just witnessed the opening act of a yearlong political drama. It’s going to get a whole lot rougher as we move on through the year. And if I were running the Democrat’s campaign, I just might be drooling at the chance to take on Ken Paxton.

First things first. Paxton has to win the GOP runoff. Here’s hoping for a donnybrookl

local news, political news

RINOs are everywhere!

Seems as if it takes damn little to be labeled a RINO these days … you know, a Republican in name only.

Donald Trump, the nation’s RINO in chief, throws the term around with utterly no understanding of the irony that he calls anyone a RINO.

Texas is going through its primary election today. State Rep. Jeff Leach has been called a RINO by his challenger Henry Thorsen. Why? Well, it seems that Leach had the temerity to serve as a prosecutor in Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial in the Texas Senate.

Never mind the body of work that Leach compiled while representing Collin County in the Legislature. You turn against a crook like Paxton? You’re toast.

It’s happened to other anti-Trump Republicans, such as former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney. She stood her ground and went for Trump’s jugular. She remains a conservative Republican. But she’s now out of office, scorned by the very party to which she once dedicated her political life.

Paxton and Trump are now besties. That’s the connection between the Texas AG and the POTUS.

I won’t vote in the Texas GOP primary today. I am going. to pull for Jeff Leach. I don’t know him well, but I do know him to be a conservative with a conscience. What’s more, he is no RINO!

Donald Trump, national news

Stage set for midterm wipeout

Donald J. Trump could have followed the path forged by every one of the men who preceded him in the office he occupies.

He could have reached out to Democrats and said, “I pledge to work with you to cure what ails us.” Well … he didn’t do that when he stood in front of a partially filled House of Reps chamber to deliver the State of the Union speech that has been widely panned.

Instead, he called Democrats names for their refusal to attend the speech. He accused them of inflating the cost of food, of following an “open border” policy pushed by former President Biden, of putting Americans in danger.

The SOTU didn’t go well for Trump. Polling data suggests that Americans saw straight through what he was doing, which was he talked to his MAGA base, seeking to rally the shrinking core of fervent Trumpkins to get out and vote.

I watched about half of Trump’s speech. I didn’t see the staredown he had with U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona or when he introduced all the celebrities who attended the speech. I understand Democrats joined their GOP colleagues in applauding the U.S. men’s hockey team fresh from winning Olympic gold in Milan, Italy; the bipartisan ovation was a nice touch to be sure.

Trump, though, has set the table for a GOP rout when the midterm election comes around in November. I have no clue how many congressional seats the Democrats will gain. I am going to hope for all my worth that the Constitution will stand strong against Trump’s all but admitted attempt to rig the election.

I believe we are now witnessing the beginning of the end of Donald Trump’s stranglehold on the democracy the rest of us cherish.