Beyond Impeachment
The Necessity of a Special Tribunal
"Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails… neither persons nor property will be safe." -Frederick Douglass
A Brisk Walk Through 50+ Years:
The GOP’s Fifty Year War on Democracy
Make Plans
The Powell Memo of August 23, 1971 established the framework for the billionaire assault on democracy, justice, and education in the United States.
An article about the Memo: https://bomdia.substack.com/p/confidential-memorandum-94fbf68970c8
Concentrate Wealth
Reagan’s economic policies began 50+ years of wealth concentration in the United States. It’s accomplished by slashing taxes for the wealthy, shifting the costs of higher education to students and their families, weakening Unions, and attacking government, societal protections, the social safety net, and more.
Buy the Courts, Install “Friendly” Judges
Harlan Crow and Paul Singer provided luxurious gifts to “Justice” Thomas and “Justice” Alito that were not declared by Thomas and Alito as required.
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2023/jun/21/samuel-alito-undisclosed-gifts-billionaire-paul-singer-supreme-court
https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-scotus-undisclosed-luxury-travel-gifts-crow
Barre Seid “donated” a cool $1.6 billion to a fund run by Federalist Society Leonard Leo.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/25/leonard-leo-npr-interview
Revise History About the Violent January 6, 2021 Insurrection
These were just some “over-zealous” tourists (with zipties, bats, crowbars, hatchets, hammers, knives, brass knuckles, mace, ladders, ropes, and stun guns. They even constructed a scaffolding to hang then Vice President Pence).
Despite the attacks on the Capitol Police, some Trump-pardoned “tourists” are now running for office.
https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-trump-politics-republicans-pardons-d70e8e27c1907ebb53a6b44d388eb703
Plan More and Use the System to Attack the System
The Heritage Foundation published “Project 2025” a comprehensive 900+ page plan to weaken and destroy the guardrails of democracy.
Elevate Cultists, Lackeys, Sycophants, and Zealots
Instead of experienced, competent, dedicated public servants working for all of us, the criminal-elect has surrounded himself with the incompetent, the corrupt, the inexperienced, Fox News hosts, Oprah co-stars, conspiracy theorists, industry lobbyists, wealthy narcissistic imbeciles, anti-science loons, and Putin sympathizers.
Misdirect Your Racist MAGA Cultists With “Red Meat”
Don’t look at your 401K! Don’t look at the price of eggs! Don’t look at the new unemployment numbers! Look at puppy-killing Kristi Noem’s beautiful hairstyle in front of all those dangerous criminals in prison! Look at all of the students and people of color we are kidnapping in the middle of the night and trafficking to faraway places! Watch us end diversity, inclusion, and equity programs! Let’s ban and burn books! Drill baby drill! Discriminate all you want. End LGBTQ+ rights.
Look at how anti-Woke we are!!!
And while your willfully ignorant racist zealots are are celebrating …
Steal:
Steal more:
And steal even more:
Remove All of the Guardrails
Attack Federal Judges
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/07/republicans-trump-musk-attacks-us-judges
Attack Voting and Undermine Democracy
The “SAVE” Act
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-save-act-would-disenfranchise-millions-of-citizens/
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-save-act-an-attempt-to-restrict-voting-rights/
North Carolina Supreme Court
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/16/north-carolina-supreme-court-election
https://www.vox.com/scotus/408666/supreme-court-north-carolina-allison-riggs-griffin-stolen-election
Gerrymandering
https://www.aclu.org/court-cases?issue=gerrymandering
And Future Attacks on Elections
https://www.democracydocket.com/opinion/the-coming-attack-on-free-and-fair-elections/
Mr. Trump said last Friday [July 26, 2024] to a gathering of Christian conservatives:
“I love you. You got to get out and vote. In four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not going to have to vote.” -Criminal-elect Donald J. Trump
What is Government?
The government exists to represent the will of the people, protect individual rights and freedoms, ensure equal participation in decision-making through free and fair elections, uphold the rule of law, and provide accountability and transparency in governance.
A government is not an abstract thing. It is comprised of people who should be dedicated to advancing the interests of our society. The rule of law, promoting fairness and equality (including public education), natural resource management, trade, foreign relationships, diplomacy, defense, environmental stewardship, encouraging innovation and economic opportunity, managing the collection of our taxes, and then allocating the funds in a manner that is aligned with our short-term needs and long-term goals as a society such as a public safety net, social security, housing, and healthcare.
The Trump Cabinet
The Trump Cabinet and key advisers comprise a group who, despite a solemn Oath to govern and defend the U.S. Constitution, have instead pledged their complete fealty to Trump without regard for the rule of law or anyone else.
With the possible exception of Secretary of Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, every key member of the Trump cabal was appointed to subvert and/or destroy the agency they have been “entrusted to lead”. Furthermore, each agency saboteur is inexperienced and/or incompetent. Fox News hosts are suddenly in charge of the military and national intelligence. The Education Secretary from the Wrestling entertainment world is being sued for turning a blind eye to sex abuse of minors. (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/wwe-sex-abuse-suit-raises-concerns-ahead-linda-mcmahons-hearing-run-ed-rcna190997) And they have all pledged to betray their oath to country and instead have pledged absolute fealty to the criminal-elect, therefore voluntarily joining his criminal organization.
Future Elections?
The Republican Party (or GOP) believes that with gerrymandering, voter suppression, attempts to throw out tens of thousands of votes, the massive influence of ”Citizens United” dark money, the role of the electoral college to undermine democracy, Trump-appointed “judges” like Aileen Cannon, and so-called “Justices” like the bent Alito and Thomas, they can do whatever they want -and they will still control the house and senate in 2026 (if there are future elections).
The GOP has shown that they can even publish a 900+ page document describing how they intend to destroy democracy -and a cultist base of “factose”-intolerant supporters will still elect them.
Will the GOP Find Liz Cheney-style Courage?
A growing few in the GOP understand that when their billionaire donors lose wealth due to economic instability, hourly changes in tariff and trade policies, the rapidly declining value of the US dollar against the Euro and other currencies, when jobs are lost, and each new round of Trump/Musk/DOGE "government efficiency is unmasked to reveal newly corrupt single-source contracts for SpaceX and Starlink, concern about whether Trump is “draining the swamp” or is the swamp begins to manifest.
At present most in the GOP have remained silent, or are grumbling to one another in the halls of Congress, not wanting to reject a solid base of MAGA cultists who, in 2024, represented one-third of eligible voters in the United States. Since one-third of eligible voters couldn’t be bothered to vote in 2024, MAGA voters accounted for slightly more than one-half of those who cast a vote between an incompetent corrupt criminal and a highly-qualified woman and positioned the criminal-elect for his second Executive Branch crime wave.
We are already seeing some “Buyer’s Remorse”. I never dreamed I would someday be on the same side as Charles Koch and Leonard Leo. And yet here we are. (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/07/trump-tariffs-lawsuit)
If there are elections in 2026 and beyond, there will not be a blue wave, not a red wave, but a wave of people embracing the core principles of the rule of law, the concept of competent governance, equality, and democracy. A 2026 vote renewing a 250-year-old fight to overthrow tyranny, tariffs, and royalty in favor of reasonable self-governance.
Wait! Some Good Trump Things!!!
Some time ago a friend challenged me to name one good thing Trump has done. I found more! (Thanks Doug).
First, he has kept many incompetent lawyers busy as defense counsel. He exposed the fact that his AG, Pam “Bribe Me” Bondi could be bought with a relatively cheap $25K donation. (https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/the-trump-foundation-pam-bondi-scandal/)
He has laid bare many of the weaknesses and vulnerabilities in our guardrails of democracy. Trump has also established a clear precedent for a multi-agency approach to extrajudicial justice -in deportations (State-sponsored kidnappings and disappearances) and the revocation of student visas for exercising Constitutionally-guaranteed rights. This creative Trump perspective established an important idea in some of my thinking about addressing his criminal empire outside of the current system.
Trump should never have been eligible to run for President. The United States is in uncharted waters, and the justice system in its present form is inadequate to address a self-declared tyrant monarch. Instead, the system is geared toward protecting private wealth while focusing its attention on people of color, the underserved, and the poor.
Just as Timothy McVeigh once attacked the system through horrific violence, Trump, his co-conspirators, sycophants, and lackeys have used the system to attack itself. They have been enabled by massive amounts of billionaire wealth and generations of the erosion of democracy guardrails through wealth concentration, willful ignorance, the consolidation of media in order to “Manufacture Consent” such as Fox “News”, and decisions such as “Citizens United”.
While 168 people were killed in the Oklahoma bombing, a recent Boston University study estimates that as of April 2025, the Trump/Musk destruction of USAID has caused the deaths of 120,000 children and over 180,000 needless deaths globally. (Tell me again just how “pro-life” you are by supporting this abhorrent criminal President.)
(https://www.impactcounter.com/dashboard?view=table&sort=title&order=asc)
Because of the international impact of Trump and his cabal and the inadequacies of the U.S. justice system to address the horrific global impact of his crimes, he, his Cabinet, his major donors, election deniers who continued to provide aid and comfort while obstructing justice in the United States, and those who participated in the January 6, 2021 violent insurrection, should all be arrested (or re-arrested), and turned over to the International Criminal Court for trial, their assets frozen, while they are held awaiting due process a cornerstone of justice until the rise of criminal-elect Trump.
If we, as a nation, continue to let “bygones be bygones”, shrug our shoulders, and believe this should end at impeachment -we are just putting our system on life support until the rise of the next corrupt fascist destroys the concept of the United States for all time. This was and is an all-out and ongoing attack on our system. It is not a bombing, and yet, do we need to be reminded law enforcement died as a result of the January 6th attack on the Capitol? Do we need to be reminded of the needless deaths caused by Trump’s first administration when he suggested the pandemic was no big deal and you could just drink bleach and shine a UV light to be cured?
People sacrificed and died to gain independence from a monarchy 250 years ago. People sacrificed and died to prevent a murderous fascist from taking over the world 80 years ago. If we aren’t going to be serious about this continuing attack on democracy and the rule of law, we are dishonoring all who fought and died on our journey toward “a more perfect Union”. The current system and historic traditions of the justice system in the United States are ill-equipped to address this continuing attack and insurrection.
The door was opened when Nixon was pardoned by Ford. When there was no justice for Reagan’s Iran-Contra affair. And when the GOP acted as accessories after the fact by voting against the criminal-elect’s two impeachments during his first crime wave.
And finally, Merrick Garland left the door wide open by not fiercely pursuing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States and disqualifying all insurrectionists, planners, funders, and accessories after the fact. It is Constitutional Law. People need to understand there are Amendments to the Constitution other than the Second.
The criminal-elect Trump should have been barred along with every election denier at the local/State level, or in Congress. (https://statesunited.org/post-election-2024/)
The only way to close the door now is to create a special court and appoint special prosecutors and judges independent of the currently bent, partisan, and inadequate system.
A radically-changed election-denierless Congressional demographic in concert with a new Executive Branch could pass legislation to address the criminality that has occurred and pass legislation to ensure we nail the door shut for future attempts to attack and subvert the rule of law for the benefit of a handful of billionaires and criminals.
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, also known as the Insurrection Clause or Disqualification Clause, prevents individuals who previously swore an oath to support the Constitution and then engaged in insurrection or rebellion, or gave aid or comfort to the enemies of the Constitution, from holding certain positions. This includes being a Senator or Representative, an elector of President or Vice-President, or holding any federal or state office, civil or military.
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