I see certain factions of our political spectrum announcing that they are the ones who want freedom defined by less government. This same group actively supports a president who has become so authoritarian and intrusive in our lives that people have literally found it necessary to march in the streets in protest.
An all-controlling authoritarian leader is not less government. I would never define the current Imperial Presidency as one that advances the cause of personal freedom. It is a government of selective personal oppression to advance an ideology.
Under the guise of lowering taxes, we have seen the time-honored technique of bait and switch. While lowering the taxes of the poor a little, they managed to lower the taxes of the rich even more. They did this by removing many of the social benefits long taken for granted by the wage-earning public, forcing them to pay for such services themselves. That small tax break is gone, and the middle- and lower-income brackets are worse off. Trump and his fellow billionaires measure their success by pointing to the stock market. Millionaires are now billionaires and we have our first trillionaire.
No, you can’t support a Trump concept of Executive Governance while advocating for freedom from government intrusions. This same hypocrisy is at work when we hear this president break out his Communist rhetoric and claim that America is under attack by godless Commie heathens. He claims this Communist label fits all that oppose him as they have no respect for the law, justice, principle, or tradition.
This coming from a man who regularly breaks the law, ignores court decisions, abuses the justice system, takes payments from criminals who then get exonerated, ignores time-honored principles, and takes pride in breaking with tradition. This from a man who claims a love of religion while holding top-secret skiff meetings to figure ways in which to keep the contents of the Epstein files away from judgmental eyes. If he is as innocent as he claims, he should have no problem releasing the files. His claims of religious piety are laughable.
In another reality check, I have seen where the Trump tariffs are extolled as having created a budget surplus. This fiction is only accurate if you look at select months where temporary cuts and tariff inflows have created isolated monthly surpluses. This happens while the annual picture remains in a deep deficit.
Scrolling back a few months I stumbled upon a post that lauded Trump’s eight claimed global peace agreements that should have landed him a Nobel Peace Prize. In this list were such lasting peace agreements as the Israel-Gaza peace. There are thousands of people who have died since that October “agreement” who would beg to differ that this has been a stable ceasefire.
A similar situation exists in Armenia and Azerbaijan where a lasting peace is in diplomatic limbo. Like the “Mission Accomplished” banner claiming premature victory in Iraq, most of these claimed peace agreements are a long way from an end to hostilities. Our so-called peace agreement with Iran is currently teetering like Kash Patel in the U.S. men’s ice hockey locker room at the Winter Olympics.
This government has been compared to Germany under Hitler, Italy under Mussolini, and Russia under Stalin. I would offer another analogy, Iran under the Ayatollahs. While Trump would never be confused with a pious religious cleric, he does like to falsely project a god-like presence. He has promoted white Christian nationalism to the delight of many.
Trump appeals to both those of true religious faith and those whose faith is nothing more than religious aggrandizement used to boost personal power, wealth, status, or political influence. Trump’s faith is self-glorification over any genuine spiritual service. The scriptures' warning against pride is ignored. Like the Ayatollahs, Trump has advanced toxic masculinity epitomized by Pete Hegseth. American women may never be forced to wear a Burka, but their relevance is being coerced into subservience.
Politics has always made for strange bedfellows, as the saying goes, and neither side can claim the exclusive moral high ground. It remains to be seen who among the leaders of both political camps will rise above the fray to right this ship foundering under the weight of hypocrisy. It’s time for a reality check.
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