Trump's Year of Havoc, Greed, and Ego (Part 2 of 2)

Ya there’s more. Sorry but… we’re going to crush em

At the end will be a video free to all. Typically I have these for all paid subscribers to most articles, where I discuss further and talk about what to look for etc, but I want every to have this one…please consider becoming a paid subscriber for the New Year! We have a lot to do… and honestly I’m very optimistic.

WAR AND PEACE

Having promised to negotiate an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine on Day One of his presidency, Trump failed miserably, as after nearly a year the conflict drags on with soldiers and civilians playing with their lives.

In the first half of the year, Trump swung wildly between favoring Russia and then favoring Ukraine. During a low moment for Kiev, Trump and his Vice President J.D. Vance dressed down Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as he sat with them in the Oval Office. Trump berated Zelenskyy, claiming the Ukrainians were risking World War II by continuing to defend themselves. Vance repeatedly and falsely suggested that Zelenskyy had never thanked the U.S. for its assistance in the war effort. A post-meeting press conference was canceled, and Trump took to social media to say Zelenskyy was “not ready for peace.”

Trump has often tilted in favor of Moscow, even though Vladimir Putin has refused to negotiate in good faith. (Putin won’t abandon his main goal -- the subjugation of the entire country.) Trump literally rolled out a red carpet for Putin when the two met in Alaska to discuss the war. The Russian refused to budge, and Trump left with nothing accomplished.

In the meantime, Trump has taken to conducting an undeclared war on Venezuela, attacking boats alleged to be involved in drug trafficking and killing more than 80 people. (In the worst case, survivors were hit and killed with a second attack.) With the US Navy steaming into the Caribbean, U.S. forces have begun seizing oil tankers involved in trade with Caracas and are poised to expand the conflict. Seven thousand miles away, on Christmas Day, Trump-ordered strikes hit Islamic State targets in Nigeria in retaliation for an attack on U.S. forces in Syria.

Overall, despite renaming the Institute for Peace for himself, and lobbying for the Nobel Peace Prize, Trump presided over an aggressive military, which he renamed the Department of War, and he questioned both U.S. alliances and the very purpose of the United Nations.

EGO DISPLAYS

With almost daily online declarations of his own grandeur and rants against critics, Trump has made his feelings a centerpiece of his rule. He has also taken action in bizarre fashion, beginning with a thoroughly un-American military parade to mark the country’s 250^th anniversary. The parade, which cost more than $25 million, featured more than 100 vehicles, 50 helicopters, 6,000 troops, and seven bands. Held on a cool day with rainy/ misty weather, the parade was sparsely attended, and Trump looked like a soggy dictator as he watched from a reviewing stand.

Months after the parade, Trump ordered the destruction of the historic East Wing of the White House, which included the offices of the First Lady and the architectural treasure that was the ballroom, which has been the site of countless events for nearly 125 years. He did this without the review of the National Capital Planning Commission and, as it turned out, against the wishes of the public, as a YouGov poll found that 53 percent opposed the demolition and plan for a much larger ballroom that would dwarf the White House itself.

Down along the Potomac, Trump’s hand-picked Kennedy Center board, which he chairs, decided to add his name to the facility, making it The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy for the Performing Arts, This move, astounded both the Kennedy family, and many members Congress, who say that any name change would be up to the House and Senate. Lawsuits have been filed to reverse the change, audiences have shrunk, revenues have declined, and performers, including the jazz group that traditionally plays a Christmas concert, have refused to appear.

The name changes (remember he put his name on the Institute of Peace) recall the reign of Roman emperors and modern dictators. In similar moves, Trump also named a prescription plan -- TrumpRX -- after himself. (The plan is supposed to help people buy drugs at lower prices.) And he created Trump Accounts for children born between 2025 and 2028 who will get $1,000 from the government as seed money.

INJUSTICE

Having taken office, declaring “I am your retribution,” Trump immediately fired Justice Department personnel who had been involved in the prosecution of rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. The marauders, who numbered more than 2,000, had marched to the Capitol at the behest of Trump, who had just delivered an incendiary speech at a rally devoted to his false claim that the 2020 election had been “stolen” and that Congress should be prevented from certifying Joe Biden’s victory. The attackers, who briefly held the building. were responsible for the deaths of five people and injuries suffered by more than 100 police officers. After hours of delay, during which they vandalized the Capitol, doing $2.7 million in damage, Trump urged them to abandon their cause, and they departed.

Although he denounced their actions at the time, Trump had gradually joined MAGA believers who insist the attackers were patriots and tourists wrongly arrested, prosecuted, convicted, and imprisoned. As he punished the prosecutors, Trump issued pardons for all but the worst offenders. Numbering close to 1,500, the pardons were issued on the day he was inaugurated.

As time passed, it became clear that the new Administration was determined to direct the prosecutions brought by the department. This decision violated a long-standing tradition of independence for the department. This independence had been established after the Nixon administration had used it to harass opponents and critics.

Trump, who has said that Nixon didn’t go far enough in his exercise of power, appointed a rabid loyalist named Lindsey Halligan to the job of U.S. attorney in Northern Virginia, who went after two prominent “enemies.” One, New York Attorney General Letitia James, who had brought a sweepingly successful civil lawsuit against Trump’s businesses, was charged with mortgage fraud. The other, former FBI Director James Comey, was charged with lying to Congress.

The case against James was so weak that the department failed, twice, to get grand juries to indict her. In the Comey case, an indictment was procured, but the judge in the case dismissed it because Halligan had been improperly appointed. The statute of limitations has run out on the case, so it seems as if it cannot be refiled.

While the Comey case collapsed due to poor judgment and incompetence, one of the most egregious administration offenses against the law occurred when a judge ordered the deportation of two planeloads of immigrants. Instead of turning the airborne planes around, officials directed them to land in El Salvador, where they were incarcerated in the notoriously brutal prison.

Although I could mention other assaults on the legal system, I’ll end this section with Trump’s bizarre and excessive use of the presidential pardon. Although the Constitution permits unfettered use of this authority, previous presidents have exercised it with certain prudence. Trump, who believes that power should be used under any circumstance, has issued pardons to a variety of political friends, including big-money donors. He also pardoned supporters like a law enforcement chief who traded badges for money and the billionaire founder of a cryptocurrency operation.

PROFITEERING

Speaking of crypto, in the weeks before he took office, Trump’s family a $Trump crypto coin, with $2 billion in backing from the United Arab Emirates. His family appears to have made more than $1 billion on this scheme. (Add another $200 million for a souvenir “mem coin” that has steadily declined in price, leaving buyers holding the bag.

Other, more prosaic cash-ins have involved Melania Trump’s sale of documentary rights to Amazon ($40 million) and the $400 million gift of a Boeing 747 aircraft, which will be outfitted as an Air Force One but will eventually be donated to the Trump presidential library.

Trump’s sons, Eric and Donald Jr., have exploited the presidency as they sought profits in the Middle East and Washington. They netted a golf course community development in Qatar, and development projects in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Dubai, and Vietnam. Donald Trump Jr. and friends opened a private club called The Executive Branch, which charges $200,000 initiation fee. Trump Jr. also benefited from a Pentagon contract given to a company he has a stake in.

Overall, it is estimated that the Trump family has gained billions of dollars in wealth in a year’s time. Just one of these deals would have been a scandal in any other administration. However, Trump’s behavior is, in general, so scandalous that no one can keep track or focus on any one thing long enough to cause much damage, except for the Epstein case.

EPSTEIN SCANDAL

Having whipped up MAGA concern about the elite (they thought Democratic) figures who were friends of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein (who committed suicide in prison), Trump took office in part on the promise to release federal files on the case. Then came months of stalling and obfuscation. At one point, Attorney General Pam Bondi tried to quell the outrage over the delays with the release of just a few documents. This only inflamed the situation.

For months, Democrats and the press speculated that Trump was delaying the release because, as a longtime friend of Epstein, he feared his name would be all over the files. Pictures of him with the Palm Beach pedophile had already been published, and rumors of his involvement with very young and underage women flew around Washington.

Congress finally got fed up with the prevarications and passed a bill requiring that the documents be released on December 19^th. The Justice Department, which was charged with redacting and releasing the files, did not satisfy the law. Instead, it has released batches and, as of the latest reports, still holds about 1 million pages.

Trump’s name has been all over the documents but so far no smoking gun has been found. So ra the cover-up has been the worst part of the scandal, but those one million pages may contain evidence that establishes Trump has something worse than the deceased Epstein’s buddy.

REASON FOR HOPE

In one year, Trump has wreaked more havoc than any president before him. His policies have devastated the health care system, the press, universities, the scientific community, our standing in the world, our relationships abroad, and our system of justice.

But something else has happened. Support for the president has plummeted from 50 to 46 percent on average. (Some polls have him lower.). When you look at his policies, things are also bad. Approval of his economic policy: 36 percent. On his anti- immigration program: 62 percent disapprove. Healthcare: 30 percent approval. Ukraine: 31 percent.

To put it bluntly, people don’t like Trump, and they don’t like what he is doing. This reality, which portends disaster for the GOP come the 2026 Congressional election, means that at least a few House and Senate Republicans will be distancing themselves from him. This could make it impossible for him to move forward on any new legislation.

In the meantime, the courts, in particular the Supreme Court, seems willing to stand up to Trump, at least occasionally. Most recently, the justices ruled against the administration’s deployment of the National Guard to American cities under the pretense of crime-fighting. The court is also likely to reject Trump’s challenge to the longstanding interpretation that grants citizenship to people born in the U.S., even to parents here illegally.

The movement is suffering from internal conflicts over anti-Semitism, the Epstein files, who should succeed Trump, and the upcoming elections. Evidence of his weakness includes the GOP’s poor showing in 2025’s off-year election and the defection of several MAGA stalwarts at the Trump-centric Heritage Foundation think tank.

Granted, there are eleven months to go before the next election, but enthusiasm his clearly on our side and the Democrats have stymied Trump on the key economic issue: affordability. Add the 7 million-plus turnout for the October “No Kings” protests around the country, and you’ve got ample reasons for hope.

Yes, the past year of Trump has been horrible. Next year is going to be better. Let’s make it “The Year of Us!”

Video for discussion: