2026 TRUMP THE END?

What a difference a year makes, America in one year morphed from the arbiter of world order, to an unashamed avatar of the law of the jungle. At home Might is right was hammered onto the Trump meme coin, The Kennedy Memorial Center was unceremoniously changed to the Donald J. Trump AND the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center. Trump’s anarchist in chief, Steve Bannon hailed him as “an instrument of G-d." Trump himself has been more modest merely rating himself equal or better to George Washington. 

The US President fancies himself as a dictator and bizarrely stated at Davos, in front of the world, “The 2020 election was rigged …..people will soon be prosecuted for what they did. That is probably breaking news”. What is breaking news is on account of the protests against his storm troopers, who have  murdered two American citizens on the streets of Minnesota,  he is going to have to back track on the gestapo like tactics. Fantasies of declaring an Insurrection, sending in the military and suspending the midterm elections have to be thrown out of the window.

With the world and America in a Trump induced turmoil the question is where will the tired undisciplined incoherent authoritarian and his deformed MAGA Republican Party be at the end of 2026? Mercifully the midterm elections are due in November. Hopefully for America and the world his exhausting crusade is coming to an end.  

Trump has made it clear to the world that maybe there shouldn’t be elections. Currently there are 80 litigations against Trump’s Administration where the latter are attempting to tilt the outcome their way. Pam Bondi, Attorney General, in a letter to Governor Walz of Minnesota stated that one of the ways to resolve the issue of thousands of the Executive’s thugs in the streets was to provide his state’s voter rolls! A Federal Judge is adjudicating whether or not such an offer is rather a quid pro quo move than ridding the country of "the worst of the worst" illegal immigrants.

Whichever way this is diced and sliced the year 2025 was Trump’s. That was the year, among many other feats, he made more money than he has in his entire bankruptcy and criminal life. But what about 2026?

2026 THE YEAR THAT COULD HAVE BEEN

What more could a megalomaniacal individual hope for? In 79 years of frenetic pursuit, Trump, if he had any insight, would answer there isn’t anything that could be enough. 2026 was gonna be the year that he would qualify for Mount Rushmore. This was America’s 250th Anniversary since it declared its Independence, an irony lost on Trump. There will be the World Soccer Cup which was being organized by FIFA, the organization arguably the most corrupt in sport. They had already awarded Trump their first Peace Prize. Trump had falsely claimed that he was responsible for the championship being awarded to the Americas.

Then there were so many options available for him to become the 21st Century Churchill. Iran needed to be sorted out and only he could do it. He was still in the game to effect peace in the Middle East and only he could do it. According to him he had already been responsible for resolving 8 wars and deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. He could establish America’s dominance in the Western hemisphere including Greenland, Canada and Cuba with the diplomacy and cunning that he had illustrated with Venezuela. All this even though he hadn’t sorted out the Russian - Ukraine war on Day One…. He operated that he was feared by all so they would bow to his will.  

But Trump’s real legacy was to be to "make America white and Christian again", like The Founders apparently really intended. In the process he would sort out the Immigration “problem”.  Surely he could do it any way he liked, that’s what the people had voted for. He would also inter alia create an oligarchy. Trump didn’t even pretend that the real people that mattered were the Tech and AI bros who were in the front row at his inauguration, ahead of his sycophantic ignorant cabinet. His newest best friend is only the world’s second richest man who incidentally has shelled out a fortune to control chunks of the legacy media and the insanely popular internet “Tik Tok”.

So what could go wrong? 

2026 - WHAT IS GOING WRONG?

The 47th President became a standing joke on the international scene and back home his plight is much worse. He is behind in the polls big time. While Harris the Democratic Presidential candidate only won 19 States in 2024, in 2026 the Democrats are ahead in 40 - all seven “swing” states and former blood red states such as Texas and Florida had Democratic polling majorities. So what went wrong?

Trump went to the economic forum at Davos “cock of the hoop”. He was still demanding Greenland but the NATO allies were ganging up against him so the best he could do was stick to the 1951 deal with Denmark and just declare victory. Zelensky was no longer with cup in hand handing out the praise and thanks. Trump’s biggest slap in the face was when his Board of Peace for the Gaza/Israel crisis couldn’t gain one respectable leader, not even Israel would enlist. 

Trump as his want in these situations lashed out only to receive a Churchillian response from Premier Carney of Canada who let him know in no uncertain terms that Canada was not America’s poor cousin. Adding insult to injury Carney went to Beijing and did a deal with Xi Jinping on electric cars. (Incidentally the German Chancellor Merz, UK's Keith Swarmer and others also have deals pending with the “more reliable” Chinese. The cherry on the top was the broadranging deal Europe and India signed that followed Davos. 

In his 70 minute address he smeared the NATO partners lack of bravery in America’s war in Afghanistan this time evoking a dressing down from the mild mannered British Prime Minister Swarmer. Trump completely out of character had to backtrack the next day heralding the British bravery in that prolonged battle.

At home the time had come to raid the Democratic cities to remove “the worst of the worst” illegals. It soon became evident that the policy was rather to fulfill a daily quota of 3000 arrests and as the months passed the violence and cruelty of the newly bolstered Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, (ICE), and the Border Protection Agency who according to Vice President Vance had absolute immunity, escalated. Different permutations of repression were tried in the various blue cities. It is fair comment to say that between the Governors, Mayors, the Courts and chiefly through, We The People, the undisciplined and untrained thugs were driven out, from Los Angeles to Columbus Ohio to Chicago. 

The major onslaught began in January 2026 where between 2,000 to 3,000 untrained and undisciplined thugs descended onto Minneapolis- St Paul in Minnesota wreaking havoc. They were met by ever increasing numbers of protestors bracing the icy subzero temperatures. Warrantless arrests, unbridled violence and invasions of property were the norm of these marauding gangs, many of whom had been paid a 50,000 dollar sign on bonus. These obscene activities engendered protests throughout the country. Sooner or later the inevitable happened and three protestors were shot, two fatally. 

The immediate reaction of the administration was to claim the officers’ lives were in danger but in this day and age there are cell phones that can communicate and record. The protestors had become organized with whistles to indicate the presence of ICE and followers to document the illegal behavior. In both homicides there were multiple camera angles resulting in a mockery of the officials 1970 like explanations. The faces of those responsible for these bogus explanations in the Administration were Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security and Greg Bovino, Border Patrol Chief.

The pressure was piled onto the Governor, Mayor and State Attorney General, the Minnesotan officials, who were allegedly inciting the mob. They were to be criminally investigated by the Department of Justice. The protestors were paid, leftist lunatics, terrorists, communists and either were attacking the agents or obstructing their lawful arrests. Neither side’s spokespeople were backing down till the death of the second victim. The latter was a well loved and respected Intensive Care Nurse at the local Veteran Administration Hospital. 

Like in so many historic situations a contentious issue can be crystalized by one person or one event. Such was the moment that the death of 37 year old Alex Pretti, a white American male, caused.

ALEX PRETTI - DECEASED JANUARY 20, 2026

What triggered the nation wide protest was the savage death of Alex Pretti at the hands of immigration enforcement officers. The Minnesota operation had been already going for 6 weeks. Already the nightly news was focussed on what was going on in Minnesota and the recriminations of another victim of the “illegal” immigrant raids, Renee Good, had barely died down. The patent rubbish that was the “official” version of the fatal incident was repeated by Kristi Noem even when several videos taken from separate angles told the true story. The Trump Administration hung onto the fact that a gun which Pretti was legally entitled to carry had been brandished at the officers. The state supporting media are still smearing him in one way or another,

Once the "official" story had been rebutted they argued that maybe that gun went off by mistake and caused another 9 shots to be fired at the ICU nurse. The fact that the Trump Administration has argued that the local authorities cannot be involved in the investigation is neither here nor there as the die was now cast that this was more than the American public were prepared to accept.

There were bipartisan calls for Noem to resign. Republican legislators saw this as the final nail in their November elections chances so they publicly and privately pressured Trump.Trump who really was responsible for all of this had kept out of the melee and threw Bovino, the Border Chief, under the bus. Suddenly the Minnesota officials were no longer being investigated rather Trump was having productive discussions with them. Trump would be sending a real bureaucrat Tom Homan to take over the operation and would “de- escalate”.Also a “fair” investigation would follow. 

It was all too little too late. Besides the ongoing “We The People” protests the National Nurses Association organized a “Week of Action”. Sixty commercial enterprises registered their concern, finally getting off the fence. The Second Amendment backers including the NRA were furious that Trump is attacking RN Pretti for lawfully carrying a gun. Religious leaders got involved. 

But the real problem was with the legislature. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic Minority Leader in the House, who is not known for  taking chances, has threatened that either Noem resigns or he will move for impeachment. He only needs three Republican votes in The House and 23 have already have indicated their concern. That would put The Senate Republicans in a bind - Trump or their constituencies? In addition without the Democrats the budget cannot be passed if more money for ICE is included. 

MORE BAD NEWS

Trump is preparing for a ruling from The Supreme Court declaring his tariffs illegal. Depending on the wording of the ruling will be the size of the financial calamity. At worst he will have to pay the vendors back every penny they paid to the treasury. COSTCO, the country’s largest retailer has already initiated litigation. The irresponsibility of Trump to unilaterally impose tariffs when it is as clear as day that the Constitution unambiguously states that the Legislature had “the power of the purse," is testimony to his immaturity and unsuitability to be President. It is a pity that “We The People” don’t exhibit the same common sense at the ballot box as we do in the streets.

AT THE END OF THE DAY

The Republicans generally bow to Trump’s will. The latter will do whatever he can not to lose the midterm elections. While there are many hands to be dealt between now and November there is little doubt that the Minnesotans specifically, the protestors generally have struck a blow for democracy. The Indivisible group are planning for their “No Kings” protest in March. They are aiming to beat their record of 7 million attendees.

One fact is for sure, Trump is not having a great 2026. Hopefully at least the beginning of the end.

 

TRUMP’S SECOND COUP ATTEMPT

One fact is for certain that the diversion of introducing the “Donroe” Doctrine and invading Venezuela and threatening a military invasion of Greenland will not mask Trump’s attempted coup of the American Constitution. All it will do is complicate his life and dominate the news cycle for a  period, but the objective of creating a White Christian American dictatorship, the Epstein affair, the economy and ultimately democracy itself will still be on the ballot in 2026. If anything what with legislative losses in the House and the Senate as well as coping with the unspeakable fatality of a bystander at an ICE operation in Minneapolis, Trump is unraveling even faster.

There have been frenzied cruel, and unconstitutional moves led by the 47th President, Donald Trump, to work towards the objective that only white skinned Christian nationalists constitute “We The People” and that the country is best served by a king. In order for the Trump administration to facilitate their constitutional coup they have claimed that an Emergency exists on nine different occasions as well as claiming that their illegal actions are in national security.

A factor ignored by most  is the response of the growing power of “We The People". The public have been reminded of Trump’s first coup attempt culminating in January 6, 2021 by the testimony to Congress of Special Counsel Jack Smith who claimed that Trump was guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt”.

THE FOUNDERS

The Founders of American democracy had two underlying beliefs - that all people were created equal and that the prospective Republic should not be ruled by a king. In creating layers of institutions that would serve as a safeguard against America once again being headed by a monarch, they stitched together, in 1789, the Constitution of what was considered to be the first democracy in the world. Throughout the two and half centuries since the epoch making development there has been progress and setbacks to the aspirational objectives.

Generally, there has an inescapable progressive expansion of the Founders’ creation, but the hope that constitutional safeguards could resist the evil, venality and bigotry of a King has never been more challenged than it is today. 

It is fair comment to say that the Republican dominated legislature rather than protect the Constitution have aided and abetted Trump while The Judiciary’s interventions represent a more complex story. 

It is also fair comment that The Founders could not have foreseen that “We The People” could have been a force in preventing a King subverting the aspirational values the Constitution had enshrined. 

To help create a White Christian National country the first order of business was to remove as many non white people as possible. 

REMOVAL FROM AMERICA OF “DANGEROUS CRIMINALS” - THE BROWN PEOPLE  - BY THE PARAMILITARY IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOM ENFORCEMENT AGENCY, (ICE).

The Immigration and Custom Enforcement Agency, ICE as a paramilitary force has the third highest military budget in the world, 170 billion dollars.  

There are an estimated 11 million illegal or undocumented and or not having permission to live permanently individuals in the country. Some of the latter have been in the country for decades. If the country is to be white these people need to be removed! The overwhelming number of these are predominantly from Latin America. The countries where these migrants are being deported are in the central American quadrant of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador indicative of the demographic targeted. Some deportees land in countries they have no ties to.

 It is the Trump objective to remove 1 million persons a year whom he states are “dangerous  criminals”. To date they claim to have deported 600,000 and that 1,500,000 individuals have self deported. There is no proof for these numbers, in fact at the time of the announcement it was logistically impossible to have reached the figure that Trump maintained the Administration had forcibly removed. 

The law allegedly that allows fascistic behavior of hooded men of the Immigration and Custom Enforcement Agency, ICE,  armed to the teeth swooping anywhere and everywhere, is the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. Of course this is nonsense as there is no declared war nor is their an invasion by another country’s army. The government’s action is therefore unconstitutional. However the litigation brought by hundreds of deportees, thousands are being held in shocking conditions in “concentration camps”,  is under The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, Failure to Receive Due Process.  In addition there is litigation under The Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, Equal Protection Under The Law. However judicial relief thus far has only impacted a fraction of those detained.

In removing every “illegal” brown non citizen in the country, the instrument being the masked ICE thugs, it is not a coincidence that the focus has been on the democratically controlled Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis, Cities in Texas, cities in Florida and Tennessee, for example. Trump has created the illusion that both ICE and local enforcement agencies were unable to control the crime in their cities, particularly the “thuggery” that ICE had provoked. First Trump would send in The National  Guard”, a quasi military force then the real military. Trump had addressed 800 Generals in October 2025 stating that they must ready themselves for getting rid of “All enemies internal” which is part of their oath of office.

The upheaval manufactured by ICE was resisted by the Democratic Governors and Mayors. The Courts ruled hat the situation didn’t  warrant the National Guards and Trump ultimately withdrew them. The Court’s role in the attempt at deporting all the Latinos was brought to the public’s attention by the saga of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. 

Kilmar Abrego Garcia

Trump had recognized that the judicial system was slow and where it suited him he has even defied court orders. What alerted the citizenry to the Trump’s administration’s open disregard for the rule of law was the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. While not specifically named, Garcia, was one of 200 alleged gang members who were summarily deported to a torture prison in El Salvador. A judge ruled that the plane even if already taken off must turn around as none of the deportees had received “due process”. The Bloomberg Agency subsequently reported that 90 percent of them had no criminal record. 

 

The Judge was defied and to this day he is demanding an explanation from the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security. He is not letting the matter go in that the Secretaries of the Agencies themselves may be hauled before the court to defend whether or not they are guilty of contempt of court. 

The lawyer for the Justice Department admitted that it was a clerical error that sent Garcia to the notorius Terrorism Confinement Detention Center in El Salvador. This led to a further series of court cases including in the Supreme Court ordering his return. The Administration initially resisted but the moment they brought him back he was charged with importing illegal immigrants. 

The Justice Department insisted they would deport him, regardless, of the outcome of the trials. They kept naming countries that publicly refused to accept him. He claimed that he wanted to self deport to Costa Rica who were prepared to accept him as a political refugee.The latter fact was falsely denied by the Justice Secretary Bondi’s Department. After case after case with judges ruling that he should be released from detention. Garcia then argued that the litigation against him was vindictive which the Bench concurred leaving the Trump Administration have to defend that this was not so.

To be continued. 

JUDICIARY - THE THIRD BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT

The Trump Administration has been temporarily thwarted by the District and Appeal Courts with their broad sweeping attempts at turning America into a soulless dictatorship including emptying out the Federal Departments and Agencies, removing social safety nets and violating the Constitution. The Supreme Court however has to a large extent suspended the lower courts’ injunctions to halt the Executive’s excesses and allowed the Government to proceed with their objectively blatant disregard for the rule of law and the Constitution itself till the matters are fully argued and briefed This has created anger and confusion among the District and Appeal Court Judges who have in 95 percent of the 400 cases against the Trump Administration ruled against them. An outstanding exception by the Supreme Court was their decision to declare unconstitutional Trump attempts to send the National Guard, a civilian adjunct to the militia itself, to control the “unrest” he had deliberately tried to provoke.

The Supreme Court are about to rule on two blatantly unconstitutional attempts by Trump to negate “Birthright Citizenship” and that the “Power of the Purse” is the prerogative of The Legislature. The latter issue is more central to the Trump coup attempt which is to ultimately replace income tax with a sales tax which places the financial burden even less on the wealthy and corporations. In short Trump’s so called tariffs are in fact taxes which constitutionally are not the privy of The Executive. The impact of that ruling will create even more chaos in Trump’s chaotic administration as there is already litigation from companies to get the money back they paid in tariffs. 

The ability of “We The People”  as a branch to protect a King from taking over the Government could never have been thought of in the late 18th Century.

“WE THE PEOPLE” - THE FOURTH RAIL

“We The People” is the iconic beginning of the preamble to the American Constitution. The Founders thought they were the representatives of the white propertied men both for the negotiations and in the subsequent legislature. The Founders could not have imagined that around about the 21st Century there would have been revolutions in communication and in transport for example. The revolutions of even newspapers, radio and television have been surpassed by the digital media. In a flash there can be a connection between millions of people. Also for better or worse the digital media had become democratized, anyone could join in. Individual podcasters with millions of followers has flourished. The progressive Meidas Network has bigger ratings then all media digital or conventional. The internet is used to inform, mobilize, even hold meetings through Zoom or follow them live on You Tube. 

A little known fact is that there are protests in America every minute of every day. Rachel Maddow spends the first half of her TV show displaying a round up of some of the demonstrations. There are also phone networks set up to warn that ICE is in the neighborhood. There are organized attempts at recording all the blatant violence they are perpetrating. Around every hotel that ICE is quartered there are protests through the night to keep them awake. Spontaneous protests appeared in 20 cities following the inexplicable homicide of Ms. Good in Minnesota involving ICE.

The protests that garner the most attention are those organized and coordinated by a group called “Indivisible”. This group conducts education leaders for their national “No Kings” protests. The June gathering of 3 million citizens was held at 2,100 venues throughout the country while the October meeting involved conservatively 7 million participants at 2,700 sites.They are aiming for 10 million at the next one as that represents 3 and a half percent of the population. The latter figure has coincided with regime change in other countries.

This increase of protests is reflected in Trump’s approval rating being at 36 percent and that in at least 25 elections across the country the Democrats have improved their vote by 17 percent.

AT THE END OF THE DAY

 Donald Trump is having yet another attempt to interfere in the result of an election. At this stage Trump’s position is, “all I am asking for is that 18 constituencies  be gerrymandered”.

MAGA TRUMP UNRAVELS

Trump’s effectiveness as President for the remaining three years of his term is growing more and more in doubt as his political control of Congress weakens and as he is appearing more and more mentally challenged.This has resulted in speculation as to who will control and reshape the Republican Party that has been molded by Trump for the past decade. 

The failure of Trump to deliver on his campaign promises particularly relating to the economy and inflation and most importantly the revelations of the Epstein affair have increased the probability that the Democratic Party will at least retake the House of Representatives in the 2026 midterm elections. With Republican losses in the interim Speaker Mike Johnson has his work cut out with his tiny majority to control the House of Representatives even before 2026.

The Trump Administration will do all it can to mitigate the damage resulting from  Congress’s resolution to release The Epstein Files The latter was accelerated by the revelations in e mails delivered by the Epstein estate to Congress. Trump will focus on any Democrats that are mentioned and deflect attention from the telltale contents as illustrated by charging key Democrat Legislators with sedition, sicking his masked thugs on “illegals”and bombing fishing boats.

Jay H. Ell will attempt to outline the state of play in these abnormal times starting with the weakening, both mentally and politically, of the powerhouse of the last decade, Donald J. Trump.

TRUMP THE WOBBLING  COLOSSUS

Trump the omnipotent or anointed one, who as Steve Bannon maintains was sent to earth “to be a divine instrument” and who also has been given earthly powers by the Supreme Court unimagined by Constitutionalists, has in the last few months sustained setbacks that have rocked his strongest adherents. These include continued devastating electoral results that have mirrored his record low approval ratings, a humiliation when his desire to remove a late night comedian was thwarted, outright defiance by federal prosecutors who have resigned or been fired in droves recently resulting in the disaster of a prosecution against two of his nemeses, judicial dressings down by the score and of course “The Epstein Files”. 

The unkindest cuts of them all were two rebuffs by the Republican Legislative bodies  which had previously obsequiously and fearfully obeyed his every whim. The first rebuff was from Senate, where the Republicans, in spite of repeated public exhortations by the President to drop the traditional need for 60 votes to pass the financing of the government, refused. This resulted in an historic long government shut down which the Democrats utilized to focus on the fact that health care had effectively been removed for up to 40 million Americans. 

The last brick in the Trump edifice to fall was the realization that at least 70 Republican members of the House of Representatives were about to defy him and commit a “hostile act” in voting for the release of “The Epstein Files”. Trump who operates in an alternate reality decided to change course and instruct the House Republicans to back the bill to release “The Files”.  To everyone’s shock The Senate adapted The House Resolution, by “unanimous consent”. All in all a staggering collapse of support for Trump’s priority to avoid the revelations of his decades long close relationship with the convicted pedophile. It is predicted that he will still not allow these disclosures thereby focussing even more attention on the scandal.

WHO WILL TAKEOVER TRUMP’S MAGA PARTY?

Jay H.Ell muses that this has to be the beginning of the end of the Trump and his Make American Great Again, (MAGA), Republican Party even though there have to be some who still attest to his cult. There are other contenders who can set the direction of the Republican Party and obscenely could make it even worse. 

There are the unashamed neo fascists led by Nic Fuentes and supported by the influential Tucker Carlson. These are the real anti semitic deal. While Carlson is a serious contender for 2028 it is his friend Fuentes who admires Hitler and Stalin and is a Holocaust denier. Taking them on is Ted Cruz who is also from the far right but is a traditional Christian Zionist. He, as is Vice President Vance, (the obvious favorite), are  appealing to the Christian Evangelicals and the late Charlie Kirk’s Christian “Turning Point” youth. 

Carlson and Fuentes will hope that the far right base and those that are against all foreign intervention including Israel will be enough to garner them the controls of the Republican Party. So far Marjorie Taylor - Greene, who took Trump on and beat him on the release of The Epstein Files, has not declared where she is in the battle for Trump’s MAGA Party. The only potential candidate with traditional Republican values, Marco Rubio, is chanceless.

But so much for what might happen to the Grand Old Party as the Trump MAGA version disintegrates. The immediate issue is the devastation that the Epstein Estate has wreaked by its dumping on the House Oversight Committee a ton of documents in response to a subpoena. 

THE EPSTEIN FILES

The recent trove of 23,000 e-mails released by the Estate of the convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein gave a foretaste of what the FBI files might contain: Was Trump aware of his closest friend for over a decade activities or even a participant- a fact that he has denied? In a related question why is Trump so anxious to shut up Giselle Maxwell, the convicted co conspirator of Epstein sentenced to 20 years in prison for pedophilia? Jay H. Ell has long believed that MAGA Trump’s major vulnerability is “The Epstein Files”, (see blogs in archive on right side , “This is Epsteingate”, July 28, 2025; “Trump: The Epstein Tsunami, August 22, 2025; “Trump, The Second Civil War And Epstein”, September 1, 2025 and “Charlie Kirk, Kimmel, Trump and Epstein, October 5, 2025”).

The  Estate e mails gave more than a hint at Trump’s involvement in Epstein’s unsavory activities, Epstein writes to Maxwell in 2011, “…… I want you to realize the dog that hasn’t barked yet is Trump… Virginia Roberts Giuffre spent several hours at my house with him….. he has never been mentioned …. Police Chief…. “ to which Maxwell replied, “….  I have been thinking about that….”. Epstein is alluding to the Sherlock Holmes story of the significance of a non event. Epstein had been released from the State Prison in 2009 and was subject to civil litigation at the time of sending this message. 

Tantalizing too is the fact that Epstein fed the Russians information on Trump prior to the infamous Helsinki meeting with Putin in July 2018 where the 45th USA President favored the Russians Premier’s version of interference in the 2016 Presidential election over his own Intelligence Agencies. In a communication with the then Chairman of the European Council, a former Prime Minister of Norway Thorjborn Jagland, Epstein stated, “….I think you might suggest to Putin that Lavrov, (the Russian Foreign Affairs Minister), can get insight by talking to me….”.

Democrat Larry Summers a former member of Clinton’s cabinet is unseemly implicated in the emails. Hilary and Bill Clinton are among the contacts Epstein had in many fields, ranging from politics, economics, academia, entertainment to the arts. A large number were not involved in his sex trafficking operations.

As blogged earlier Epstein was arrested in 2019 on charges of pedophilia and was found dead in his cell. The official verdict was suicide but the forensic pathologist employed by the Epstein family believed that the findings pointed more to homicide. 

It was the Democrats who led the charge to release the files and they too have been profoundly affected by the recent happenings.

THE DEMOCRATS - WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM THEIR FRIENDS.

Traditionally, with the Republicans controlling The Presidency, House and Senate the Democrats are lame ducks for at least the first two years, however they were helped politically by the lunacy of the President’s policies. Up until “The Files” were voted on, Trump appeared to be in control.  

The opportunities to attack the Trump controlled MAGA incumbents was illustrated by what their priorities were in their “Big Beautiful Bill”. The latter provided a massive tax cut for the wealthy, took a host of programs away from the lower income groups, defunded planned parenthood, child care, food stamps and preschool education and took away subsidies from public radio and television. Trump’s crippling tariffs on imported goods pushed up prices more resulting in everything being less and less affordable.

Most devastating the Republican Bill doubled costs for about 20 million citizens on the affordable care act, (ObamaCare) and took about 20,000,000 off Medicaid. It was on that issue that the Democrats shut down the government claiming that the Trump Government needed revenue to pay for their grotesque tax cuts at the expense of their citizen’s health care among other things.The Trump’s authoritarian approach to immigration with his thugs appearing to know no bounds has generally shocked the country while his naked lawless retribution against his enemies is drawing anger from the bench.

All this has helped the Democrats in bye elections which they have won increasing their vote by an average of 15 percent. A crucial bye election is scheduled in early December in red Tennessee where Trump won in 2024 by 22 percent. The polls have terrified to the extent that Trump, Vance and Speaker Johnson are all going to speak in favor of the Republican. A desperately insane political move because if the Democrats can pull off a win it is a no confidence vote in the presidency.

AT THE END OF THE DAY

The Epstein scandal hangs over Trump like a clinging albatross and it won’t go away. Invading Venezuela won’t help nor will charging opposition members with sedition for quoting the constitution.

There is going to be a rearranging of party support and policies. Although there is still a strong cultural and religious bias to what the Republicans stand for they haven’t delivered on that or their affordability platform. One wonders what support this same old same old formula can have in the future because that is where they appear to be headed - a modified autocratic MAGA

The Democrats need to agree on a common vision which can be modified for their three constituencies, Democratic Socialists, middle of the road voters and finally the many disenchanted former Republicans who are currently homeless.

It is hard to imagine how a mentally compromised Trump can see out three more years. His central financial policy the tariffs are hopelessly unconstitutional and may be declared such by the Supreme Court. The Cabinet members are the most insipid sycophantic group ever assembled in a democracy, and cannot be counted on to declare him unfit under the 25th Amendment.

There is a massive opposition organization to the government entitled Indivisible. Seven million citizens turned up to their last protest held in early October. Their activism plays and will continue play a central role in mobilizing protest and voting in elections. It seems that a second term of Trump has stung and awoken the elephant.