Trump's Last Stand

There is a clear short-term path for the United States out of our present self-inflicted funhouse nightmare. While it requires some societal sacrifice and suffering, there is a sequence of critical events that would not only allow us to move beyond the present, however, it will provide a rapid foundation to new avenues of economic fairness, opportunity, and growth, reverse multiple generations of anti-democracy legislation and policy, and reposition the United States as a stable global partner for generations into a brighter future for all.

Before describing the path it is best to establish some important background and context noted below.

Lurking in the shadows of the United States are a handful of billionaires, enjoying the power of extreme wealth concentration. They are the “Kingmakers”, working behind the scenes to dictate which candidates rise and fall on our ballots. Selecting the judges who are then elevated in the judicial system. Picking who is acceptable for a Cabinet post, an advisory role, or an ambassadorship. They are generally happy to remain shrouded in the darkness afforded to them by legislation, policy, and the “Citizens United” Supreme Court decision. People like Barre Seid investing a billion dollars to radically change the judicial system, aligning it with anti-democratic Federalist Society doctrine.

And before those cards, letters, and emails pour in saying “What about George Soros? What about the Hollywood Elite?” -the difference is the anti-democracy oligarchs are donating money to subvert the rule of law, societal protections, and even the entire system to amass more power and wealth. When you fund a candidate who is imploring Big Oil to “donate” to his campaign in return for eliminating environmental regulation and enforcement versus a candidate who is advocating for environmental stewardship and climate action -that’s one of hundreds of vast differences. (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/09/climate/trump-oil-gas-mar-a-lago.html)

Occasionally one of the billionaires decides to emerge from the darkness to dazzle the global stage with their self-declared brilliance, like Elon Musk, declaring his affinity for fascist, anti-democracy organizations, and leaders while decrying empathy and compassion as vile human tendencies. Unfortunately for people like Musk, raw intelligence of the kind emanating from Albert Einstein, Frances Perkins, Carl Sagan, Katherine Johnson, Marie Curie, Noam Chomsky, and John Kenneth Galbraith of the world is absent.

The projection of their self-deluded genius is related to their accumulated wealth, in which they already begin their life with an inheritance or a pile of money from mommy and daddy. And the flawed societal perception of their genius readily falls from them as soon as they have access to media outlets faster than a recalled Tesla Cybertruck (also known as a Wank Panzer or Incelmobile) loses its panels.

Sometimes, one of the billionaires, better suited to a hidden life of fraud, corruption, exploitation, and sex crimes, basks in the warm glow of media attention and revels in the attention. Instantly, those who profit from reality shows and circus acts understand the synergistic relationship between the “narcissist showman” and the show -and elevate them to a 24x7 spotlight. (https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-taps-apprentice-producer-uk-special-envoy-2024-12-21)

For a bit of mathematical perspective, (thinking of here…) a billionaire has accumulated a million dollars at least 1,000 times. If you earn $40,000 per year and work from age 20 until age 65, you will have earned $1.8 million while laboring day in and day out for 45 years. Paying for your housing, transportation, healthcare, groceries, utilities, and living costs, at the end of your 45 years, it’s doubtful you have anywhere near a million dollars saved for your retirement. It’s also important to keep in mind that after 45 years of your labor, with thanks to the criminal organization formerly known as the GOP, you still should work two more years. If you retire at 65 your Social Security pension would be an estimated $1,514 per month. And those funds don’t magically appear from a benevolent government thanking you for nearly a half-century of productivity. The funds are from your contributions of $2,790 per year (and your employer contributes a similar amount on your behalf).

For comparison, Donald Trump received $413 million from his racist father, Fred, mostly from evading the taxes that your parents or grandparents had to pay. (https://apnews.com/article/0452d29cd2564eaf97605ab90acc3a67). So the criminal-elect, with the media’s culpability projects his extreme success through profound business acumen. The reality is you could give anyone $413 million and regardless of business experience and intellect, they would be unlikely to bankrupt a casino, start up a “University” later shut down due to financial failure and fraud, and bankrupt a handful of other businesses. In fact, at the end of the day, you could probably give half that money to Mr. Ed the talking horse, or Lassie -and they would be in a better financial position than a felon filing multiple bankruptcies, cheating laborers, committing fraud, violating the emoluments clause, and requiring bailouts from Russian oligarchs, Saudi royalty, and questionable loans from Deutsche Bank.

It’s also important to note that all accumulated wealth is not the same. In earlier articles such as “Idiot Kings of Late-Stage Capitalism” I make an important distinction between wealth that is earned versus wealth that is taken -and they should be treated differently from our tax policies to encourage the former versus the latter.

Where Competing Priorities Intersect:
Fragile Marriages of Convenience

Many billionaires want more influence and power and, therefore, more wealth. While some have the vision and courage to drive innovation and create societal value. They are the disruptors, the exception case. If wealth is a pie, they are expanding the pie, growing the economy, and the few I have known have my respect.

More common are millionaires or billionaires who amass vast wealth and yet, are unsatisfied. They want more and attempt to influence law and policy by making outsized “donations” or bribes, to create special rules for themselves. Think of the owner of a sports team who threatens to move the favorite local team elsewhere if the city refuses to fund (with taxpayer money) the new stadium (and then doubles ticket prices for the same people who effectively built the stadium).

They attack regulation and enforcement of important societal protections such as clean air and safe drinking water -because filtration and capture systems cost them money -while respiratory disease due to emissions costs them nothing (externalizing their costs to you and me).

They attack fair taxation because Fred Trump, Donald Trump, and others have demonstrated that taxes are not for the wealthy, taxes, like wars and serving your country are for losers.

They stop funding Social Security after they’ve taken their first $176,100 (the 2025 cap) in regular income -some high-earners stop paying in January -while everyone else is paying throughout the entire year.

They want to privatize prisons, police, fire, and other governmental services -so they can shift the objective from providing services to generating profit instead.

They especially want to privatize education so they can eliminate uncomfortable parts of an educational curriculum regarding civics, fair economics, climate protection, and parts of history that don’t cast a wealth concentrated few in a brilliant patriotic red, white, and blue light. They are not expanding the pie -they are doing all they can to use their extensive means to eat from your slice, my slice, and slices from our future.

For them, (and for Putin) the criminal-elect and his hillbilly represent a weak, intellectually-challenged Executive Branch that is easy to manipulate. It is a fragile marriage of convenience. As long as they “donate” to the criminal-elect and flatter him he will demand his criminal enterprise passes permanent tax cuts and other quid pro quo favors for the donor class.

The wealthy want more, however, they recognize there is a threshold. They know if they try to eat the entire pie, that never ends well. So they attempt to push everyone to a wall to take the maximum they can without causing a violent, disruptive response.

Throughout U.S. History they have pushed toward the threshold, sometimes testing it and moving a little beyond which then causes a significant reaction and rebalancing of the system. In the 1960s and 1970s, there were multiple movements intersecting. Voting rights, civil rights, labor rights, equal rights, the peace movement, and more were beginning to merge and people were questioning many aspects of a system that prioritized and favored the accumulated wealth of a few over the quality of life for all.

On August 23, 1971, Lewis Powell sent a famous “Confidential Memorandum” to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce titled “Attack on the American Free Enterprise System”.

For those interested in reading the Powell Memo (it’s well worth the time -it is a small, important precursor to the 900+ page Project 2025) I’ve uploaded a copy of the pdf file here: https://civ.works/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/PowellMemorandum.pdf

The Powell Memo is important, Powell outlines a comprehensive framework for the wealthy in the United States to reclaim control of the the government. The plan was launched by Reagan and it has been funded and growing in power for 45 years. It has led to the creation of right-wing “Think” tanks, right-wing influence in education, media, the courts, and the tax and economic wealth-concentrating policies bringing any meaningful form of democracy in the United States to the brink of disaster today.

As the “Powell Machine” continues to grow in power it continues to shift U.S. politics to right-wing extremes. In the 2024 election cycle, if former VP Kamala Harris had suggested a wage and price freeze to address inflation and price gouging, she would have been called a dangerous communist. Her messaging about dealing with the perceived key issue of the 2024 race was carefully tempered and therefore, fell flat. Yet, Republican Richard Nixon IMPLEMENTED a wage and price freeze in 1971. He created the Environmental Protection Agency, which is now being destroyed by the criminal-elect and his appointed EPA saboteur, Lee Zeldin. And Nixon opened relations with China (now deemed by the extremist Heritage Foundation a top ten enemy of the United States in a list including teachers, DEI, democrats, masks, universities, law firms, immigrants, refugees, scientists, journalists, and public sector workers). In 1965, when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of the arc of the moral universe bending toward justice, he did not foresee the massive weight of wealth bending it to its near breaking point the other way.

Along comes a mostly empty vessel called “Trump” who was handed wealth that was largely stolen, is inherently corrupt, and responds to praise. (I’ve known housepets who also respond to praise, however have not been bestowed with inherited wealth).

The Dow Jones Clearance Sale

The bleeding and volatility might continue. An average worker fortunate enough to have some savings sees their retirement savings and 401(k) plans shrink and this naturally causes fear and uncertainty.

When billionaires view a trend like this it is generally after they have taken asset defense measures -shifting their portfolio into foreign currencies and investment, gold, commodities, real estate, and other investments offering shelter from the storm. Some, with advance warning from Trump, Bessent, or others in the Trump disorganized crime family may have already hit on a massive payday with major short positions on equities most likely to freefall from Trump tariff tantrum madness. With actions timed with subsequent insider communications (maybe on a disappearing signal chat for example), they will buy stocks with the same frenzied abandon often seen when Krispy Kreme announces a buy a dozen, get a dozen free sale.

The Only Real Billionaire Fear Factor:

When money stops flowing upward

Billionaires might view large-scale marches, rallies, and protests from one of their gated and secure properties in Palm Beach. They may glimpse what they perceive as a quaint crowd of tiny ants holding signs when viewed from their penthouse tower in New York, Chicago, Boston, or Los Angeles. Such large scale well-organized, non-violent protests, marches, and rallies are still important. Nevertheless, they are unlikely to bring about significant changes unless they continue to grow in size, scope, and frequency.

And the coverage by billionaire-owned corporate media networks might be scant and focused on a handful of fringe protesters concerned about government-controlled weather, chemtrails, or vaccines. Billionaires aren’t going to see the petitions you click and sign about pipelines, deportations, or Supreme Court “Justices” on inexplicable luxurious vacations (they may sue you about pipelines though, so be careful).

The reason the Powell Memorandum is so relevant to the present is by providing the framework for the right-wing “machine” Powell reveals what causes terror, panic, and billionaire blood to run cold.

The Little Shop of Billionaire Horrors is …

… Revealed by Deconstructing the Powell Memo

Nothing causes insomnia in Koch, Musk, Mellon, Thiel, Adelson, McMahon, Seid, the Walmart Walton family heirs, the Uihleins, and others faster than:

• An intersection of well-organized people and movements

  • Billionaires want to keep us divided and therefore, conquered

• A well-educated, informed, and engaged society

  • Such a society doesn’t elevate leadership like Bonzo’s co-star or a deranged corrupt criminal, does not embrace a private citizen let loose to destroy governmental protections, and does not tolerate a group of conspiracy theorists, corrupted, alcoholics, incompetents, and saboteurs acting as Cabinet members.

• Freedom of academic thought (not politicized such as we can’t teach about actual history because it is not “patriotic” or whitewashed enough).

• Real Think Tanks: (not “think” tanks first given an outcome by Charles Koch and then backing into the “outcome” using flat earth theory, unicorns, and magic -yet producing shiny compelling reports with lots of graphs repeated numerous times on “Fox & Fiends” or “NewsLax).

• Unfettered news and information

  • Why did Murdoch build Fox “News”? Why did Bezos buy the Washington Post? Why did Musk buy and destroy Twitter? Because they want to control the news that flows to us. Fact/evidence-based information is a pillar of any meaningful democracy.

• An independent justice system and courts.

• A government by and for the people.

  • Elected officials with integrity (even when we disagree with their policy perspectives).

In pictures, the pit of billionaire horror resides in:

• Academic freedom, critical thinking, and research.

  

  

  

  

• Investigative journalists, unfettered news, and independent media.

• Real think tanks.

• Independent courts and justice system.

• An Intersection of People’s Movements

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

A well-educated and informed society considers larger issues (beyond rising egg prices) related to the quality of life, peaceful global cooperation, a decent future for the next generation and generations yet to come, economic fairness, equality, justice, affordable healthcare and housing, public safety, climate, and more. An educated, informed, and engaged society will not tolerate the moral arc of the universe bending in any direction other than justice, equality, and democracy.

If the actions of the criminal-elect continue to inflict significant economic harm, his criminal enterprise might need to replace him. JD Vance, the pretend hillbilly/Heritage mascot would be easy for them to control, and he would be less inclined toward the in-your-face cruelty of “old King Joffrey”.

Stopping the Flow of Wealth to the Top

Because the GOP appetite to risk their willfully ignorant and/or racist hate-filled MAGA cult base is limited, I’m convinced the only method of a non-violent upheaval would be through a prolonged work stoppage. The “supply line” in the billionaire-funded takeover of the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Branch in the United States is the accumulated wealth they have amassed.

To be widespread and successful it will require the pre-commitment of a new government that proactively supports this non-violent return to our journey toward the rule of law, equality, and democracy.

To provide support they must commit to immediately pass federal law that retroactively zeroes-out reasonable rent/mortgage and utility payments for your primary home, erase any food/medicine/necessary related credit debt incurred during the stoppage, and restore any employee terminated for participating in the stoppage.

Billionaires, corporations, predatory banks and others must bear the economic brunt of a response they have provoked through multiple generations of lobbying, subverting the political and judicial system, and effectively diminishing the quality of life for every individual and family -whether you wear a red hat or you don’t.

Political pre-commitment (think of Newt Gingrich and his “Contract with America” -only this time it is a commitment to “We the People” and not “They the Donors”) to implement the following:

• Appoint a special prosecutor and immediately suspend, investigate, remove, indict, and convict all Federal and/or State/Local government officials who participated in the January 6, 2021 insurrection, the continued election denial, the obstruction of Congressional, Federal, State, and Local investigations into the illegal attempts to overthrow the 2020 elections (including “Judges”, “Justices”, and their insurrection funding spouses. Remove Thomas and Alito from SCOTUS because of the ethics violations. This is a vital first step -nothing can be addressed otherwise.

Then, the implementation of the following would address many vulnerabilities and complete failures in our present system.

• The nationwide implementation of Ranked Choice Voting.
• End gerrymandering.
• Pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.
• Overturn “Citizens United”: Complete and comprehensive campaign finance reform focused on limited public funding of campaigns.
• Strengthen ethics and anti-corruption laws -and severe criminal and civil penalties for any elected or appointed public official for betrayal.
• Ensure judicial independence and strengthen ethics requirements and reporting.
• Address systemic racism and inequality.
• Strengthen and protect freedom of the press, transparency, and independent media.
• Statehood for Washington DC and Puerto Rico.
• Restore the Department of Education. Prioritize public funding for Pre-K, K-12, and higher education to provide this and future generations with the ability to compete and innovate in a dynamic and challenging world, while strengthening democracy, justice, and equality in the United States.
• Public education must be de-politicized. Education should be centered on the basis of scientific facts, evidence, and critical thinking. And it must be recognized as a key pillar of any meaningful democracy.
• Restore funding and personnel of all Federal agencies impacted by the illegal and unconstitutional actions of Trump, Vance, Musk, and Cabinet. Hold Trump and Musk liable for damages related to their illegal acts.
• Provide greater transparency and accountability of all Federal agencies, who must clearly state their mission, key performance indicators, and reporting to all of us (since they are investing and stewarding our taxpayer funds).
• Recognize the value and importance of immigrants and refugees in our national history and pass comprehensive immigration reform.
• Prioritize climate action and environmental protection pragmatically-balanced with energy affordability and independence.
• Pass sensible gun violence prevention laws that precludes individual possession of military grade assault rifles and weaponry.
• Work toward a high-quality, cost-effective public healthcare for all system (like most other industrialized nations).
• Restore funding for universities, public health, scientific research.
• Restore USAID.
• Restore estate taxes, eliminate the income cap on Social Security payroll taxes, close massive corporate, income, and capital gains tax loopholes, negotiate a global wealth tax (any country serious about democracy must be concerned about billionaire influence and takeover). Create incentives for innovation and societal value, while also erecting tax barriers to corporate externalities, lobbying, and non-value creation wealth transfers.
• Our government, regardless of political party in control, must agree to respect territorial integrity, human rights, the International Court, and prioritize peaceful collaboration and diplomacy. And we must strengthen our commitment to NATO and together address any nation intent upon genocidal and/or ethnic cleansing acts.

The reason these points are vital is that even if we were to succeed in terminating the present criminal organization that has taken over, without the above steps, it would only be a temporary fix and we’d be at another inflection point in a few years.

Yes, I recognize most will say this plan is idealistic fantasy.

Nevertheless, beyond this criminal administration we must deal with climate and a significant decline in human labor demand as demand is shifted to AI. The shift to AI is causing and will cause major disruption, shifting massive amounts of money to the “TechBros” —who have already proven they cannot be trusted with extreme wealth and unbridled power.

The alternative to a prolonged general strike would likely be violent and cause major disruption and widespread suffering, in the United States and beyond. While Putin and other adversaries would gleefully welcome this, it should be avoided at all costs.

Finally -I’m sure the list above is incomplete, what would you add to make it a comprehensive restart of our system of government to make it work for all?

Imagine the society we could enjoy and pass along to future generations if we reimagine and rebuild the United States before it is too late (and granted, it may already be too late).

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