Month: September 2025

This country is in the midst of a pre-meditated man-made storm intended to undermine the Constitution and the rule of law, destroy the economy, isolate the country, remove safety nets, confuse scientific facts and fiction, and dismantle civil rights. Creating chaos and instability with every firing, tweet, speech, ICE arrest, tariff, corporate shake down, international threat, prosecution of political enemies, and executive order is meant to drive resistant American citizens to the edge of insanity and to political violence in the streets. By design, as soon as any sign of violence ensues, Trump has called in the National Guard and the U.S. Military to get us accustomed to the idea of force under authoritarian rule. And now he has begun to label opposing groups, like Antifa (literally means – anti-fascism), as terrorist organizations.

It’s becoming increasingly apparent that the Democrats, the Courts, and even corporate leaders are not going to save us. We are going to have to save ourselves. I think the path toward saving this country is different for white people and people of color. Given the root of the problem, white people must be the ones who take to the streets in protest and who confront white “Christian” nationalism head on. The conflict resides within their families, friends, associates, neighbors, churches, and elected officials. They need to decide what kind of country we will be since they continue to hold the bulk of the wealth and influence over corporate and political decision making. Their uproar when Jimmy Kimmel was suspended by presidential edict ultimately forced Disney to relent and put him back on the air.

I believe we are observing a country in the midst of a battle to either defend or eradicate white supremacy along with its crimes against humanity. People in the Trump administration like Steven Miller, Russell Vought, and Tom Holman are working vigorously to reestablish white male supremacy throughout the country. They are working in concert with Republicans like the House Leader, Mike Johnson and the majority on the Supreme Court. You know we are headed for dark times when the Supreme Court authorizes indiscriminate firings, racial profiling, presidential immunity for criminal acts, and presidential defunding of Congressional appropriations. Republicans who know this is fundamentally wrong are too cowardly to openly oppose them and corporate leaders are too concerned with the disruption of their operations and profits to openly challenge them. Are there enough decent and sufficiently courageous white people to fight this battle? I honestly don’t know.

What I do know is that white suprematists are emboldened and increasingly willing to act on their worse instincts. Their words are disgusting, their marches are appalling, their jobs in law enforcement and ICE make their “sanctioned” violence even more disturbing. Who would have thought that we would see two young black young men hanging from trees in 2025? Anyone who thinks this administration is on the side of all Americans, particularly people of color, feminists, religious minorities, and LGBTQ folks is delusional.

What I do know is that targeted citizens need to work fast to build an arc of safety against the storm. I have ten recommendations; 1) Be extra careful to stay out of harm’s way by avoiding confrontation with straight white people; 2) Get information from reliable sources (not this government nor corporate media because they are now required to lie, withhold information, exaggerate, and gaslight); 3) Prepare to move out of poor red states for safety, freedoms, and opportunities; 4) Have your passport ready because it may become necessary to flee the country; 5) Listen to and follow the advice of actual scientists and medical doctors; 6) Save and invest a much greater percentage of your income; 7) Support minority owned businesses instead of corporate businesses; 8) Invest time, money, and energy in the righteous causes that defend us; 9) Make education and skills training a priority, supporting our own schools or homeschooling; and 10) Closely monitor the activities of our sons and daughters to insure they aren’t in the crosshairs of a criminal justice system that will be even more determined to imprison them.

There is a Proverb that says, “A wise man sees trouble and hides himself.” It’s time to prepare an arc against the coming storm. The time has come that we must become each other’s social safety net. As the dark forces try to paint us as public enemies, we’re going to need to shine a bright spotlight on our humanity, our contributions, our excellence, our talents, and our competency at every opportunity to protect our children’s self-esteem and to win more white people to our side. And above all else, we are going to need to support our courageous white allies, each other, and exercise our right to vote for as long as possible.

I grew up with two older brothers. The younger of the two was bigger and stronger. On occasions when the younger lost “the war of wits” to our older brother, he resorted to the rules of engagement to start a physical fight. The rule was that you could never start a physical fight, but you could hit back if someone hit you first. So, my younger brother would move excessively close to the eldest so that the slightest move that ultimately resulted in a touch would be used as the provocation he needed to punch our older brother. He once tried that tactic on me but was soon reminded that boys are never allowed to hit girls under any circumstances. Later he broke that rule. I was eleven and he was twelve when I beat him in a basketball shooting contest called “Around the World”. His ego was so bruised that in his rage he physically attacked me. Yes, I was happy about my victory, but no, I was not gloating about it. So, I was shocked by his reaction. Not only did he get in big trouble, but I never played that game with him again. In fact, I kept my distance for a while because I viewed him as both irrational and explosive. In his twenties he was diagnosed with a mood disorder. My brother’s behavior taught me a valuable lesson about how some people take a scorched earth approach to protect their ego, resolve conflict, eliminate competition or exert their will.

Donald Trump behaves like my younger brother once did. In 2016, we saw how quickly he evoked public insults, baseless accusations and embarrassing nicknames to exploit the insecurities of his competitors, forcing them to drop out of the presidential race. His scorched earth approach made him appear strong to a segment of the country who wanted to burn down a system that challenged the cultural, economic, and political domination of white “Christian” people. But he was repulsive to the rest of us who valued our diversity and the country’s movement toward fairness. We abhorred his indecent tactics and five million more of us voted for Hillary Clinton, but the electoral college gave Trump the presidency.

Exposed but unchallenged, his bullying continued to ravage the will of Republican lawmakers using public ridicule and threats of being primaried if they didn’t bend to his will. That gave him three seats on the Supreme Court and a good number of federal judges. That kept him from being removed from office twice after being twice impeached for his criminal behavior. Like my brother in childhood, his power of persuasion was never based on the merits of his argument, but on the threat of brutality. And he attracted a lot of people who lack a good argument, but love the 2nd Amendment and are willing to behave just like him.

As we’ve all seen, his propensity to tell big lies and to use threats to enforce his will has only ramped up since our Republican lead Senate and our own judicial system failed to hold him accountable for not only causing a violent attack on the Capital to stop the certification of the 2020 election, but for watching it happen without acting to stop it for hours. There was no shortage of enablers (including former attorney general Merrick Garland), a corrupt Supreme Court who ignored the disqualification clause in the Constitution and then granted him presidential immunity. Then there are the complicit MAGA loyalists who endorse the bullshit, the incompetence, and the bad policies. Perhaps worse is an apathetic electorate who don’t bother to vote. Working in concert, they encouraged and empowered the dangerous monster we are now dealing with.

It is evident to me that Donald Trump, his handpicked cabinet members, MAGA loyalists, and his newly minted ICE agents are itching for a fight. They can’t logically defend the long list of their unconstitutional, lawless, shortsighted, cruel, harmful and incompetent actions. It appears that breaking things and cruelty is the point. They began this term by firing government workers without cause. They shuttered agencies that provided food and medicine to poor nations, destroying loyalty and goodwill. They cut funding for scientific and medical research. They removed environmental protections, threatened the sovereignty of Canada, Iceland, Panama, and now Venezuela. They destroyed confidence in our public health system, gave tax breaks to the wealthy, rolled back the public safety net, attacked our diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in a multicultural nation, and started a worldwide tariff war. With the blessing of the Supreme Court, they continue to kidnap brown people off the streets. They use mere allegations to deport non-criminals to prisons abroad without due process. They use the justice department and the FBI to seek revenge against anyone who tried to hold Trump accountable for his criminal activities. They bully businesses and universities into acting against their will, threaten judges, and shake down businesses. They force networks to contribute money or to fire journalists and late-night comedians by using the FCC to withhold approval of business mergers.

Their behavior and their policies are wildly unpopular because they are unlawful, corrupt, shortsighted and often criminal. Trump is known to exaggerate claims and to fabricate lies to justify his actions. Like how he characterizes Mexican immigrants as rapists, murderers, drug dealers or insane. Like accusing Haitian immigrants of eating people’s pets. Like the time a few protestors in downtown Los Angeles set fire to three driverless vehicles and he said the entire city of Los Angeles required the National Guard and the military to reign in the violence. He regularly publicizes unsubstantiated allegations to punish his perceived enemies. He just used our military on two separate occasions to kill people in fishing boats off the coast of Venezuela, claiming without evidence that they were heading to the U.S. with illegal drugs.

All this matters because innocent lives are lost or threatened by his reckless disregard for the truth, his greed, his need for admiration, his need for revenge against anyone who tries to hold him accountable, and his determination to remove anyone who thinks differently from him. His behavior is blatantly criminal and abhorrent, and his policies are so unpopular that he must appease white “Christian” nationalists who want to usher in a Taliban-like theocracy run by white males. Theirs is a marriage of convenience that can’t last because Trump is not a Christian by their own standards (and neither are they by Jesus’ standards). The white “Christian” nationalists are using Trump to destroy the country and break the will of the American people so that they can rebuild it to their liking. Project 2025 was their playbook and because it was unpopular, Trump publicly disavowed it to get elected. Even though lying is what he does, many were still fooled into believing he wasn’t going to follow it. But he is.

Like an unhinged and shortsighted child, Trump wants the entire world to endorse his madness as brilliance and to obey in advance or face his brutality. Let’s refuse. He fakes ignorance of the sneers for smiles, the boos for cheers, and the silence for agreement. He’s aware that forced compliments aren’t actual admiration. The problem is that he is petty and that he enjoys watching haters being forced into submission. The whispers of disgust behind his back and the desire to be rid of him as soon as possible only fuel his resolve for retribution. Like other autocrats before him, his behavior destroys trust, actual loyalty, and undermines the strength of the nation. He simply creates more haters.

Our resistance to Trump must be unified and beyond his reach. Corporations are running scared of him when they should be running scared of us. Target and now Disney are learning this. We are the ones who buy corporate products and keep them in business. The brightest brains are simply leaving the country or no longer coming to our universities. Innovation and productivity come from the people. Blue states are setting up their own public health care systems. Ultimately, we are the ones who fuel this economy. It’s pretty clear that his supporters are not the smartest people, though a few are the richest. I’m convinced that collectively, we can out-think, out vote, and withhold our spending in ways that shape future decision-making.

As Trump extends his takeover of corporate media outlets, what if we simply stop watching corporate media? I already stopped getting my news from them. When he plugs and silences one media outlet, we like a stream of water forge a new path. Our resistance must be loud, clear, and ubiquitous. We can no longer sit on the sidelines. Yes, the trolling and truth telling using creative media, songs, speeches, sermons, skits, cartoons, artwork, and independent podcasts and independent news outlets must continue to grow and spread. I’m fond of sharing creative content to help reach a broader audience. It’s the least I can do.

In addition to online content, boycott participation must spread, and the peaceful street protests must continue largely without black folks because our presence alone will be provocation for state violence. Trump and the white “Christian” nationalists who support him need to see lots and lots of white people. Only then will they truly understand that they are not the majority and that their views are unpopular. Make it shameful and embarrassing to be MAGA without confronting them directly. Simply ignore them.

The lawsuits must also continue, and we must financially support the organizations and law firms behind them like Democracy Forward, the ACLU, the NAACP Legal Defense. We must use our voices, our talents, and our pocketbooks to defend our country against the white “Christian” nationalist and the childish bully who have joined hands against us. I suggest taking the funds from cancelling Disney Plus or from that Starbucks coffee and applying them to the legal defense of our civil rights and our democracy.

In these perilous times, cowardice, apathy, and silence are not an option. We must be smart and unified in our resistance as we support all the various efforts to defend what is Constitutional, what is lawful, what is decent, and what is good for our nation. We must not engage in the violent fight they are itching for. Instead, we must continue to force the bully to react by publicly disagreeing and loudly exposing his nonsense. As he retaliates by breaking more laws, contradicting the Constitution, showing his indecency, and evoking brutality, his desperate actions will inevitably turn enough people against him to overthrow him and his white “Christian” nationalist allies.

I take hope in the reminder that there are more of us on the side of decency and goodwill than there are on the side of destruction and violence. And don’t forget that we are also smarter and more creative. May our resolve get stronger by the day.

Lately I feel like I’m living in an episode of the “Twilight Zone” or the Netflix series, “Black Mirror”. The television news is filled with dreadful stories; social media has unbelievable claims and ridiculous debates with ignorant people; and my everyday conversations are spent lamenting or debunking nonsense. This is what happens when delusional thinking takes hold of enough people to elect leaders who not only prorogate the delusions but demand their prominence and acceptance and worse, make decisions based on them.

The saddest part is that these delusions feed uneducated insecure people with visions of prosperity and white grandeur while simultaneously causing real life hardships to themselves and many others. The advocators of these delusions expect reasonable people to suspend their reliance on what their eyes, pocketbooks, and scientific evidence tells them. At the same time, they are pushing the masses to reject learned values like empathy, equality, fairness, and care for others. So, where is the massive pushback? My guess is that some citizens are too scared to speak while many others are too busy to recognize the danger. And then there are the prayers who believe God or the Universe will take care of it all. I’ll just quote that scripture that says, “Faith without works is dead.” (James 2;17). It’s time to resist in earnest.

The promoters of these delusions want people to believe that white “Christian” men are in every way superior to everyone else by virtue of God’s favor upon their skin color and gender. They argue that this makes them destined to dominate. They want everyone to accept that women as young as 14 years old are designed to be submissive sex toys, mothers, and house servants who live under their protection and that only then can women be happy and fulfilled. They want all humans to reject the humanity of LGBTQ people, targeting them as deviants to be eradicated. If you listen to the rhetoric of prominent white “Christian” male spokesmen, like Charlie Kirk, you will hear these messages loud and clear.

The problem is that they are nowhere near superior. In fact, they are incompetent. At every turn, their shortsighted, misguided and uninformed decisions have led to economic chaos, wars, job losses, public health uncertainty, mistrust of the news, insurrection, kidnapping people off the streets, flawed disaster relief, wasted tax dollars, military policing on the streets, closed hospitals, rising inflation, a breakdown in international relations, defunding medical and scientific research, farming disasters, destruction of education, increases in mass shootings, and now legalized discrimination. Imagine having to walk around with papers to prove you are legally allowed to be here if you have brown, yellow, or black skin. They are re-creating 1930’s Germany before our eyes.

Their weapons are scapegoating, gaslighting, terror, confusion, and guns. Yes, they lie, they cheat, they threaten, they extort, they hide information, they rewrite history, ignore the Constitution and laws, ban books, withhold research funding, and they fire the experienced workers and the experts in government positions, replacing them with loyalists. And now their bigotry-fueled incompetence led to an outrageous ICE raid where they detained (in cuffs and chains), imprisoned, and then deported 300 South Koreans who were “legally” here to help build a battery plant and train U.S. workers. Of course, last minute pleas by Trump to keep them here failed. They just insulted another ally as well as South Korean investors, kissing thousands of good paying jobs goodbye in the process!

It is disturbing that a third of the country is backing all of their incompetence simply because they are more comfortable with white men in charge. Sadly, some are even people of color who struggle with an inferiority complex. The weak-minded feel threatened by the rising prominence of women, people of color, and religious minorities. They are convinced that homosexuality and transgender are contagious and may diminish their numbers and influence. The narrative they were fed since childhood convinced them that whiteness coupled with Christianity are virtues that entitle white people to assume leadership and to secure the best homes, the best jobs, the highest pay, and entry into the best schools. They’ve been told that this nation belongs to white people and the rest of us are merely guest workers. They were led to believe this nation is the white man’s birthright because God favored them by allowing them to steal the land from its original inhabitants. They choose to ignore the horrors of the white ancestors’ actions and the subsequent enslavement of black people, denying their humanity. I think a line in the song, “Colors of the Wind” says it best when describing white suprematists: “You think the only people who are people, are the people who look and think like you.”

Charlie Kirk, a community college dropout, embodied this kind of delusional thinking and was hellbent on spreading the delusion of white Christian male superiority and their right to dominate. He took his message to white college students across the country under the guise of “free speech” and “debate”. He promoted the 2nd Amendment as a necessary tool to defend what he called his birthright. The irony of his comment that some guns deaths are “worth it” to maintain the right to bear arms is not lost on me.

It wasn’t surprising that his rhetoric stirred up a lot of anger. It was repulsive. And it wasn’t surprising that his violent death stirred up so much vitriol against those who want to uphold a multicultural democracy that aspires to equality and justice for all. Kirk was an effective mouthpiece for the delusion. However, I was surprised by how lightening quick MAGA leaders and media outlets were to sanitize his message while pointing their fingers at those of us who do not buy into their white supremacist delusion. Their message was that the left must be held responsible for the death of one of their most beloved young leaders (not their loud propogandist). Of course, they blamed the left without evidence. But once again, their incompetence was on full display, quickly followed by their blatant hypocrisy when it was discovered that the killer was “one of their own”.

I wasn’t surprised about that. In fact, I told my husband that I would lay wager that the shooter was a Trump supporter who had reasons to hate Charlie Kirk. I can only speculate that perhaps Kirk offended Mormons as lacking an acceptable “Christian” pedigree to lead. Maybe it was something else. Perhaps we’ll soon learn his actual motive. In any case, Charlie Kirk’s murder was yet another alarm sounding. His actual agenda and hateful rhetoric have been blasted throughout social media around the world, exposing him for the hateful sexist, racist, homophobe, and xenophobe that he actually is. He pushed the delusion for fame and got rich doing it. So sad for his wife and young children.

Ultimately, what will save this nation from a full-blown takeover by this utopian delusion under white “Christian” male rule is a greater number of citizens realizing the horrific economic, social, and healthcare consequences that come from allowing bigoted white men who continually display their cruelty and incompetence to lead us. It’s time to wake up the collective sleeping giant that demands competence, truth, justice, and decency as the humane path to a more prosperous American way of life.

The polls show that Americans have lost confidence in both political parties. Admittedly, so have I. However, it is clear to me that the Democrats have not completely rejected the Constitution nor the rule of law and most importantly, they do not support Project 2025 nor the white “Christian” nationalist agenda that places white males in a permanent position of dominance based solely on their whiteness. And so, I wrote to the Democrat minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, this past Friday and I share that letter with you, hoping you will be inspired to do the same. It is time that our lawmakers hear from us.

September 5, 2025

Dear Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries,

I’m frustrated with our Party.  Where is our fight?  I abhor the flawed and out of touch messaging and inept strategy that is causing Democrats to bleed support during this chaotic, criminal and incompetent reign of Donald Trump.  I’m voting and sending in donations to your fund and to individual candidates because we need to win.  But many citizens are disengaging at a rapid speed.  We should be winning over these citizens amid the cowardice, hypocrisy, constant lying, and blatant discrimination of the Republicans, but we are not.  Our messaging is unclear, muted, and weak when it needs to be stronger and louder and everywhere.

I believe democrats stand for the actual values and needs of the American people, but you guys behave like you lack the ability to articulate those values in a simple way and that you aren’t willing to fight for them in a meaningful way.  Perhaps you are too beholden to certain donors? I do think that hosting Town Halls was a good start, and I appreciate what Gavin Newsome and other governors are doing.  But we need to be everywhere.  You don’t even need to talk about the Republicans.  Their true colors are apparent, and most people aren’t happy with the direction they are taking us.  Democrats need much more visibility and a clearly heroic message to save the country.

These are dangerous times for women, children, LGBTQ folks, seniors, immigrants, workers, veterans, the disabled, people of color and the planet itself and you guys are losing support because you aren’t standing strong against the evil forces coming for us.  It’s time for you to put forth a clear vision for this nation’s future.  Be everywhere with a message, not just with your hand out!

Our platform should first and foremost include codifying the Constitution and its ideals through actual legislation so that no future president can run circles around it.  Trump should not have been allowed to run for office again, but there was no way to enforce the Constitution. We must close the gaps between the Constitution and the actual laws to enforce it.

Second, Democrat leaders must clearly and loudly announce a vision for this nation that includes a fair and simplified tax code, fairness in opportunity, equal protection under the law that includes a woman’s right to choose and strengthens anti-discrimination laws, reasonable gun regulations, prioritizing public health and safety by following scientific evidence, ensuring the education of our children, regulating AI to protect humans, comprehensive immigration reform, investing in infrastructure, expanding the social safety net for our seniors, disabled, children and veterans.  All this in addition to funding research and innovation that benefits the nation. 

And finally, I believe the Party will gain support by labeling yourselves the actual representatives of the people by pushing for campaign reform that eliminates dark money and limits donations from individuals, groups and corporations.  Be the Party that supports independent redistricting by the citizens, not politicians. Limit campaigns for all public offices, including the presidency to just 6 weeks before an election.  Ensure easy, safe and fair elections that eliminate the ability to cheat.  This constant campaigning, fundraising, and election conspiracies are driving the nation away from even wanting elections at all.     

It is imperative that you take the time to address the concerns of conservatives and others.  Stand up for secure elections. Dispel the myth that Democrats support killing healthy, viable fetuses in the womb up to the nineth month on a whim.  Make it clear that our Party is not anti-business, but pro-business when it adds value to American life.  Make it clear that regulations are needed for public safety. Make it clear that we are a Party that values law and order as well due process and accountability.  Defend the value of immigrants and commit to passing immigration reform that serves the nation without cruelty.

I suggest that the Party quickly gets on the same page and delivers this kind of comprehensive message everywhere and often before the mid-terms.  In the minds of too many Americans, Democrats are no different from Republicans because they are too weak to stand up for what is good and what is right for the American people and the planet.  Many believe you are owned by corporations and the wealthy so that you can’t represent us well. I hope you throw off such shackles.

I call upon you to act fast to change that perception or our nation will continue its freefall and more people will suffer under the authoritarianism and lawlessness of Trump and the white nationalist agenda of the Republicans will move forward.  

Sincerely,

Dr. Juanita A. Hall, voting citizen