THE LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

From today’s New York Times: “The Pentagon said Friday it would impose new restrictions on reporters covering the Department of Defense, requiring them to pledge not to gather or use any information that had not been formally authorized for release or risk losing their credentials to cover the military. information must be approved for public release by aI appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified.”

The move is clearly intended to drastically restrict the flow of information from the Defense Department by Donald  T****. A military operating in secret can go anywhere, do anything  and break any law, and the public will be kept in the dark. 

My thought here is this. Reporters who sign the pledge understand and accept the risk of being denied access to the Pentagon if they violate their word. So be it. But what of those who refuse to sign the pledge? 

The pledge is a Defense Department Administrative Policy document and does not have the force of law. There are any number of ways to report on the Pentagon and the military without entering the building or having access to “formally authorized for release”pablum from the DOJ, the voracity of which will which clearly compromised. 

Again we must go back to  the first Amendment: “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech.. or of the press…” Since the nation’s inception this has been judged to apply to both the Congress and the Executive. There may be legal challenges about Freedom of Speech and prior censorship following the the Department’s new regulation. And so should there be. 

But for reporters operating outside the constraints of the pledge there can be no limitations to what they can report. They may or may not have any credentials to be revoked, are breaking no law and have the power of the Constitution of the United sSates of America on their six. 

So yeah, I suppose it would be important to have someone at Pentagon briefings taking down whatever version of the facts the government is prepared to “formally authorize.” And from the standpoint of a compliant press corps it’s a pretty easy way to make a living.

But by requiring the press to accept prior censorship, by denying reporters unrestricted access to the corridors of the Pentagon and threatening them with banishment if they don’t follow the rules, they may have just let the lion out the back door. 

Because the first question any respectable, responsible and dedicated member of the Fourth Estate is going to ask is, “what are they hiding?” I’m betting on them to find out.

And neither T**** nor his DOJ toadies can do squat.  

The Bernhard Perspective

                                             

 Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) was one of Donald T****’s stellar additions to his cabinet. And one of his most controversial. Known for his lack any medical background or training, for his anti-vaccine beliefs and for his espousing of controversial and conspiratorial ideologies, there was much trepidation among science, research and health systems professionals as Kennedy assumed office. 

And there was good reason. The Mission Statement of HHS, which is found on its own and other government websites, says the Department’s mission is “to enhance the health and well-being of all Americans, by providing for effective health and human services and by fostering sound, sustained advances in the sciences underlying medicine, public health, and social services.” Kennedy’s first acts constituted clear acts of betrayal of that mission.

Consider these actions taken in his first seven months.

He fired thousands of federal health care workers, severely weakening programs designed to protect Americans from cancer, heart attacks, strokes, lead poisoning, injury, violence and more. He cancelled virtually all investments in promising medical research. He replaced experts on federal health advisory committees with unqualified individuals whose only requirements were they share his unscientific views.

He announced the end of U.S. support for global vaccination programs such as Gavi that protect millions of children and keeps Americans safe. And he advocated for federal legislation that will cause millions of people to lose their Medicaid coverage. 

He has also cancelled ongoing projects addressing maternal health, LGBTQ+ health, racial and ethnic minority health, autism, cancer, substance abuse and diabetes in underserved communities. His response to the largest measles outbreak in the United Sates in a generation was to focused on unproven treatments while downplaying vaccines. 

Kennedy’s alignment with the anti-vax movement has left the populace vulnerable for contracting inflictions such as polio, measles, rubella, hepatitis B, tetanus and more, many of which had been virtually eliminated.

And finally, Kennedy has fundamentally altered the COVID mandates, dropping them for all but the youngest and oldest. His claim that healthy adults don’t need the vaccine is an outright lie; otherwise healthy people died by the tens of thousands during the pandemic. 

His blocking of federal funding for school COVID vaccine programs even targets children. Federal prohibition chills local policy, depresses uptake, and increases transmission in a setting where respiratory viruses spread efficiently, raising risks for families and medically vulnerable community members.

Indeed, Kennedy’s authorization of the 2025–26 COVID shots largely to older adults and certain high-risk groups can lead to  hundreds of millions Americans being un-protected. And since the out-of-pocket cost for a COVID vaccination typically ranges from $140 to over $200, Kennedy’s statutes specifically target the poor and underclasses. Expect more hospitalizations and deaths in those unprotected populations because of this. 

Evidence that these actions are not intended to be the result of scientific research or opinion as required by the HSS mission comes from the Secretary’s own words. Kennedy has declared that all actions taken by HHS, and especially the Center for Disease Control (CDC), must conform with President Donald T****’s political agendas. 

For his part, President T**** has bilaterally cancelled dozens of research projects both at HHS and universities nationwide. These include but are not limited to cancer research projects including breast and ovarian cancer, cancer immunotherapies, and disparities in Indigenous people’s access to medical care. 

He cancelled funding for an NIH grant to study sickle cell disease and a device designed to support blood circulation in infants with congenital heart defects. He terminated a $65 million grant impacting 14 Alzheimer’s Disease research centers. Funding for the Diabetes Prevention Program tracking pre-diabetes and diabetes patients aimed at preventing transmissions among young people were wiped out by the president.

Taken together, T**** and Kennedy have cancelled research and prevention programs covering virtually the entire spectrum of human health and medical services. They have intentionally delayed or halted progress in finding treatments and cures for dozens of ailments and afflictions. Because of these actions, Americans with inherited tendencies or have simply contracted diseases, many of which are wholly preventable, will suffer and die. 

The claim that these cuts are necessary to reduce the federal deficit is laughable at best. The total proposed or enacted health and science-related cuts made by these two is perhaps some $40-50 billion. Relative to the budget’s estimated cost of anywhere from $3-4 trillion, that amounts to at best no more than 1.7% of that total; an insignificant drop in the fiscal bucket.

Constituting a seminal betrayal of the HHS mission, these actions by the president and his secretary seem close to madness. And indeed they are.

Since it’s clearly not about the budget, what are T**** and Kennedy’s motivations for these acts of madness? What are they really advocating? We gain that insight by taking Kennedy at his own words concerning a deadly virus that raged through this country just this year.

And the answer is terrifying. 

Remember the bird flu? In March 2025, Kennedy advocated a strategy that instead of culling flocks of chickens infected with the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus, farmers should consider, “letting it run through the flock so that we can identify the birds, and preserve the birds, that are immune to it.” His rationale was that these genetically superior survivors of the epidemic could be identified and used to establish new, supposedly superior, resistant flocks. Fortunately, Kennedy’s proposal to “let the virus cull susceptible birds” was not adopted as policy.

As of now there is no record Kennedy issuing a retraction, clarification (or apology) for anything he has said or done. Not for his staffing of his entire agency with incompetent sycophants and charlatans. Not for his curtailing or eliminating medical services across the board. Not for his advocating the catastrophic destruction of a critical agribusiness. And most definitely not for his wiping out research at virtually all levels of medical science. 

In truth, Kennedy has exhibited the same consideration for certain segments of American society that he does for chickens: let the weak die and the strong survive.  And these are the methods of this madness. 

It is a madness that is not concerned with the plight of certain segment of the population. And that includes the sick and infirm, those inflicted with or vulnerable to preventable disease, the marginalized and the poor. It includes those suffering from cancer, stroke, heart attacks, diabetes, lead poisoning, bad water, climate change, and more. It is a madness designed to facilitate not survival and flourishing, but of dying.

It is a madness that refuses to advocate for vaccinations that have proven to safeguard the population from diseases, many of which have all but disappeared in America decades ago. 

This is a madness advocating that in order to make America healthy, only those most resistant and resilient to disease and the well-off are best positioned to and therefore should survive. This is a madness advocating that a segment of the population languish and ultimately perish. 

That segment is specifically identified as the underclasses, the sick, the vulnerable, the marginalized and the poor. The children of these populations would be over-represented in the sample; they would never reach puberty, and indeed, that is the point.  

By the methods of this madness it is clear that Kennedy cares as little for the lives of people as he does for chickens. And in betrayal of its mission and his sworn duty, he has re-purposed of HHS to assure that by the methods of this madness, he will be advancing Donald T****’s political agenda.       

Yes, without question, the most insidious, the most hidden and the most damning element of this agenda is the nature of their targeted populations. Along with the already identified populations, it includes lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender and other marginalized people, it most definitely includes the invisible ones, the undocumented and homeless. These are people who, to a major extent, cannot successfully advocate for themselves 

And since it also includes the poor, the underclasses and the struggling, the targeted populations are significantly overrepresented by Black and Brown people. And it is that racial aspect of the madness of Donald T*** and John F. Kennedy Jr. that is the most egregiously horrifying and damning. 

There is a word for this madness: Eugenics                                                                                                                            

Eugenics: The modern psudo-scientific concept of organized advocacy and policy proposals which advocates that society should encourage “desirable” traits through the enhancement of those qualities in much the same way farmers engage in animal husbandry. 

Historically, eugenics has been intertwined with scientific racism and other discriminatory ideologies implemented through policies such as forced sterilizations and marriage restrictions.

If this all sounds familiar, it should. Eugenics was the program used by Dr. Mengele and his team of Nazi doctors to advance their political agenda of creating Adolf Hitler’s “Master Race.” 

In furtherance of this goal, Nazi doctors performed experiments including sterilization, artificial insemination, and racial – including Jewish – investigations. The broader Nazi program included systematic forced sterilization and euthanasia. Whole populations were identified and put to death. 

Now of course we are not anywhere close to the Nazi horrors. But Donald T****’s inherent racism and his affinity for white supremacy is well-documented, as is his distain for the poor, the marginalized and the underclasses. And as head of the HHS, Kennedy has shown a similar distain by eliminating virtually all programs and research designed to aid and assist their targeted populations to survive. 

Clearly, T****’s and Kennedy, in order to advance their program to make America healthy, they have instituted the process of not aiding and assisting all segments of the population to achieve health. Instead, their policy, based on a political agenda rather than medical science, aims to diminish to the point of elimination, those segments of society which they deem undesirable. That is what the Nazis did in Germany. That is the essence of eugenics.

And by the specific and intentional actions of Donald T**** and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., it is happening now, in America. 

FOREIGN AID             

One of the Right-wing Conservative myths about American foreign aid propounded by Donald T**** is that the U.S. can’t afford to keep sending American dollars overseas. But T**** is lying. The fact is that foreign aid consists mostly of America tax dollars being spent at home.

Known as “tied aid,” some 75%` of American foreign aid consists, as in the case of virtually all military aid, of goods made or assembled in America by American workers in American factories. 

Additionally, the food we used to send overseas as USAID to feed starving millions is grown by American farmers who made their living selling it to the American government. 

The remaining 25% of foreign aid, loosely categorized as “Humanitarian Assistance,” is channeled through US-based agencies which work with a mix of nonprofits and local organizations to implement specific projects5. Most of this work is done by Americans as well.

True, there are cash disbursements. But these are not the norm and are scrutinized and monitored closely. The image that pallets of cash being loaded on Air Force transports is what constitutes American foreign aid is a Right-wing conspiratorial fantasy.

The fact is that T****’s isolationist, “America First” policies, will have a negative impact on both the American economy and our standing on the world stage. Besides, foreign aid spending accounts for about only about 1% of the U.S. budget. Eliminating all of it would have little effect on controlling spending or reducing the federal deficit. 

The MAGA’a who support T****s America First mantra insist  that our taxpayer dollars remain at home. And that is all well and good. But they are led to believe a false narrative.

Nor are they told that these gifts “From the American People” solidify our standing as the world’s great humanitarian leader and moral compass.  No other country in the world can come close.  Yet for lack of American USAID assistance, untold millions of people in other parts of the world will suffer an die. 

But Donald doesn’t care about any of that. All Donald really knows how to do is lie.. 

MANIFESTO

I encourage people to resist the imposition of T****’s dictatorial, strongman regime on the body of our American democracy. I acknowledge that resistance through both word and deed can involve elements of serious risk. 

Our founding Fathers understood this truth at an elemental level. In concluding their Declaration of Independence they proclaim, “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”  

It is true, risk is a perilous adjunct to the maintenance of freedom. However, it cannot be avoided. In words often attributed to Thomas Jefferson, “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” And the time for that vigilance is now.

It is now our turn to accept the consequences of this truth, to maintain our vigilance, and to accept those risks, as did our Founding Fathers. For indeed, they held another abiding truth to be equally self evident, and so must we: 

It is better to live with one leg than spend your life on your knees. 

ANGEL OF DEATH, PART II

One unmistakeable trait of a tyrant is a demonstrable lack of concern for human life. The evils of Hitler and Stalin come readily to mind. Tragically, Donald T**** exhibits that same indifference. For, in spite of his claimed belief in Christianity, instead of endeavoring to feed the hungry, heal the sick and give aid and comfort to the needy, he has sanctioned and even facilitated human suffering and death. Consider: 

A prominent, detailed scientific report by a commission of 33 scientists was published by The Canadian medical journal Lancet in early 2021 which attributed about 22,000 deaths in 2019 to the T**** administration’s rollback of environmental regulations during his first term. Continuing studies connected to climate science have demonstrated a direct relationship to human suffering and death as a result of the changing climate. Exhibiting a callous disregard for the lives of his fellow Americans, T**** rejects the entire concept of global climate change, and has cancelled those studies. 

T****’s selection of Robert Kennedy Jr. as the Secretary of Health and Human Services has devastated medical research, which is essential in an ongoing effort to improve the quality of health care and thus save lives. T**** and Kennedy have cancelled research programs targeting diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s, cancer, neurological disorders, infectious diseases like influenza, and genetic conditions, thus delaying or halting progress in finding treatments and cures for these ailments. 

Vaccines based on messenger RNA (mRNA), the molecule that made possible the COVID vaccines, have shown to be  effective against diseases ranging from pancreatic cancer and Type 1 diabetes to multiple sclerosis and even bird flu. Yet, Kennedy, has re-branded mRNA therapies as “weapons of mass destruction.“ He spreads conspiratorial lies about untested vaccines being pumped into the food supply to “mass medicate” Americans.

Claiming that more COVID research was needed, Kennedy has also changed vaccine protocols. He alleges without evidence that healthy adults and children do not need to be vaccinated against a virus that is now endemic in the population. 

However, research shows that the virus does cause severe disease and hospitalization, and that the effects of “long covid” do commonly occur in people without pre-existing conditions. Mortality in these cases is not unknown. T**** and Kennedy ignore this truth and do not care about their victims.

T****’s actions and his selection of Kennedy for H.H.S. Secretary will result in tens if not hundreds of thousands of Americans to suffer needlessly, and some will die, from COVID and other wholly preventable diseases. Do either of these men care about the American people who will perish because of what they do? Not in the least.

On the world scene, by eliminating the USAID program T**** purposefully denied vital food and medical aid to myriads of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable human beings. The Lancet reported that an estimated 14 million wholly preventable deaths from starvation and medical conditions will occur in the next 5 years due to the elimination of USAID assistance. This number would include some 4.5 million deaths among children younger than 5 years.

  And since the overwhelming majority of his victims are not white, Donald T****, consummate racist that he is, most assuredly doesn’t give a damn about any of them.

T**** has also terminated American funding for Gavi, the organization that purchases vaccines for children in developing countries. This will significantly scale back support for efforts to combat malaria, one of the biggest killers globally. Donald has absolutely no concern for the tens or even hundreds of thousands of children, again almost all non-white, who will die because of what he has done.  

Here at home, the president’s bloodlust is evident by his rapid re-instatement of the federal death penalty and by his desire to add four more crimes to the list of Federal capital offenses. One of these crimes, large-scale (non‑homicide) drug trafficking, doesn’t reach the level of a capital offense in any state. But that doesn’t stop T****’s lusting for the power to kill. 

Neither does T**** care about this nation’s poor. All during his campaign and after, Donald has insisted he would not touch Medicaid spending. Yet his “Big Beautiful Bill” cut $1.2 trillion in Medicaid and Affordable Care Act subsidies. Betraying the promises he made, T****  gleefully signed his bill. 

Because of this, some 11.8 million Americans will lose their Medicaid coverage and their access to medical care. The number of those who will not survive because of this can only e surmised.

It is estimated that up to 40%, or some 23 million Americans, rely on Social Security for most or all their income In spite of this, the dismantling of Social Security is already in progress. Twelve percent of the Social Security workforce has been terminated. Many services, including almost the entire telephone answering and information service, have been either truncated eliminated as well. Offices have been “consolidated” or closed outright. 

T****’s actions and indifference in these instances will bring suffering and death to untold thousands of the poorest and most vulnerable of our citizens. Millions will no longer be able to get the medications and medical services they need to survive, will not be able to adequately feed themselves, or lose their homes. 

And while untold millions of them suffer and die, his MAGA toadies lie and deny the reality of Donald’s indifference to the lives that will be lost. For in truth, does Donald T**** care about the fate of America’s seniors and her poor? Not one bit.  

And then there is his alleged fight against fentanyl. Over 100,000 Americans have died since 2022 from fentanyl overdoses, an estimated 46,000 of them last year. Donald T****’s initial round of tariffs against Mexico and Canada were heralded as a way to force those countries to stop the smuggling of that drug into the country. This was, of course, absurd on the face of it.

In fact, his administration’s focus has little to do with addressing the root causes of addiction in the U.S. Instead, T**** would rather make political points with symbolic declarations about border security and raise taxes on Americans rather than actually consider helping the afflicted, the addicted, and the dying. 

And finally, there’s his first administrations response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which was basically no response at all. His studied inactions lead to a horrendous toll.

T**** knew in December 2019 what was happening in China and that disaster was headed our way, yet he did nothing to prepare America for what he knew was coming. And when the virus arrived, he claimed it was of no consequence and spent months calling it a fraud and a “Democrat Party hoax.” He was lying, of course, and he knew it. 

In the early stage of the pandemic there were three “interventions” identified to help stop the virus’ spread. But did Donald champion or model any of these behaviors? No. In fact, he did the opposite. And people died. And does he care? Of course not. 

T**** did declare a national COVID emergency. However, “Operation Warp Speed” to the contrary notwithstanding, T****  did nothing substantive to marshal the country’s vast resources to fight the virus. And when the vaccines arrived, did our nation’s leader roll up his sleeve and lead by example? No he did not.

Donald T*****’s considered and deliberate refusal to lead the fight against COVID-19 by decree, by action or by example took a horrible toll. Some 385,000 Americans died on T.****’s watch while he sat on his heels and suggested we ingest disinfectant. And so our president turned a mounting crisis into a monumental tragedy. 

Almost another half million Americans perished in 2021 before more dynamic leadership, higher levels of natural immunity and weaker strains of the virus finally brought the pandemic under control. But because of T****’s dereliction of duty, hundreds of thousands of Americans died from COVID-19 who did not have to. The blood of these dead Americans is on his hands. But does he care? Of course he doesn’t.

In all of these instances, Donald T**** had it within his power to uplift humanity by saving lives at home and around the world. By his actions alone he had the power to relieve the hunger and suffering of tens of millions of the world’s most vulnerable human beings. Instead, he did just the opposite. 

Our country’s stature as a great and humanitarian nation depends on our president, the people’s representative, and his laudable and estimable actions at home and on the world stage. But does Donald T**** assume that mantle of leadership? No. Instead, he sheds it. 

In depraved indifference to the requirements and demands of an enlightened leader and the needs of mankind, Donald T****’s deliberate actions and studied inaction has and will continue to lead to tragedy for millions of people in this country and around the world. With the power of life and death in his hands, deliberately, tragically and perversely, Donald T**** choses death. And he does not care.

It is almost as if he wants them to die. 

SICKO

“They say, ‘We don’t need him. Freedom. Freedom. He’s a dictator. He’s a dictator. A lot of people are saying, ‘Maybe we’d like a dictator.” 

“I don’t like a dictator. I’m not a dictator. I’m a man with great common sense, and I’m a smart person. And when I see what’s happening to our cities, and then you send in troops. Instead of being praised, they’re saying, ‘You’re trying to take over the Republic.’ These people are sick.” — Donald T****, 

No, Donald, they’re not sick. They’re right. It is you who are sick. And how do we know?

The text of your latest executive order suggests that the Justice Department will consider whether destruction of the American flag constitutes “violent crimes; hate crimes, illegal discrimination against American citizens, or other violations of Americans’ civil rights; and crimes against property and the peace, as well as conspiracies and attempts to violate, and aiding and abetting others to violate, such laws. But there’s another reason which is perhaps much more important; it’s called death. Because what happens when you burn a flag is the area goes crazy. If you have hundreds of people, they go crazy.”

Violent crimes? Hate crimes? “illegal” discrimination against America citizens and their civil rights? Instigating riots? Death? Even violation of local burning restrictions? 

That’s how we know.

The Bernhard Perspective

In his ranting screed about taking over the election process in this country, Donald T**** said “We are now the only country in the world that uses Mail-in-voting. All others gave it up because of the MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD ENCOUNTERED.” 

This of course is a lie. More than 30 other countries permit postal voting for some or all voters. This includes Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark and South Korea, among others. In Switzerland, around 90% of voters utilize mail-in ballots. Germany and the UK both have widespread postal voting.

And then he said: “Remember, the States are merely an ‘agent’ for the Federal Government and tabulating the votes, They must do what the Federal Government, represented by the President of the United States, tells them to do.” 

And that, too, is a lie. No president simply “tells us what to do.” Dictators do that. Tyrants and kings do that. But only the American people are sovereign in this country. And we are the people. 

T****’s lying is no surprise. That he is doing so as justification for his plan to solidify his one-man, strong-arm dictatorial rule by taking over the election process is no surprise, either. That he is not afraid to speak it out loud is absolutely frightening. 

He already has his toadies promoting him for a third term, and he has supported the idea of suspending elections in wartime. This was not done in either the Civil War nor WWII, but of course neither history nor precedent matter to him. I am quite certain he believes he can start a war any time he wants.

T**** has told the country exactly what he plans to do and how he plans to do it. His stated goal is to rule over us. His plan is already in the works. The people have already begun to respond, and rightfully so. 

From the great metropolitan centers to the most diminutive of towns, our righteous anger and discontent are palpable. T****’s numbers continue to fall. And as his popular support dwindles, his determination to maintain his grasp on the reins of power even past the end of his term will only harden.

If T**** and the MAGA’s can hijack the 2026 mid-terms, and there is good reason to believe they can unless we stop him, American democracy will go quietly into that long good-night. The Great Experiment will be over. Autocracy will rule. This cannot be. It is time. 

Indeed, As Thunderclap Newman said back in 1969:

“Call out the instigator

Because there’s something in the air.

We’ve got to get it together sooner or later

Because the revolution’s here.

And you know that it’s right.“

It’s not like we haven’t been warned. 

The Bernhard Perspective

Here’s a truth the Right-wing MAGA misogynists haven’t explained:  Why do women’s rights vary from state to state while men keep the same rights all across the nation? Do not all Americans have the right to equal protection under the law?

Damn right they do. See the Equal Protection Clause, Amendment XIV Section 1 of the United States Constitution. 

The problem is that misogyny as policy, as it exists today in many states, assumes and treats women as “less than” men, which by definition means unequal.

Of course it’s not just about women, but the bottom line here is that when it comes to women, Republicans, T****’s MAGA’s, and ultra-Christians distain to allow for equal protection for women, and codify violations of the 14th Amendment, Section 1. 

These actions are a betrayal of the American concept of the rule of law: no-one is above it or below it or unequal before it. But clearly T**** and his MAGA’s just don’t care. Non-believers in American greatness and American virtue, they apply their hatred and lawless bigotry at whim.  

But in America the Constitution is the highest law in the land. And it’s words mean what they say. And since there are no laws that control men’s bodies or restrict men’s access to medical advice, medications or treatment because they are men, there must be none that control or restrict women’s. 

Period.

The Bernhard Perspective

In over 70 years of following American politics, I have never seen anything as disgustingly contemptuous as lily-white, bigoted and racist Republican Texas State legislator preening and gloating over their blatant attempt to corrupt democracy by their illegal gerrymandering Congressional districts in their state. 

Republicans know that MAGA and their corrupt leader and dictator wannabe have crossed the line and have lost public trust and support. Knowing that they are in danger of losing their majority in the House and possibly even the Senate, they endeavor to choose their voters rather than, in affirmation of the essence of democracy, have the voters choose them. 

There is, however, another story in play here and a more sinister one as well that no-one is talking about. A thing that is deeply rooted in the consciousness of the Conspiratorial Right. It involves a consummation which is steadily approaching and it is the reason they embrace Donald T****’s rabid anti-immigration politics. It explains the lies about the Democrats opening the borders to millions upon millions of “illegals.” 

The dread and fear of this oncoming horror from the far Right is visceral. It is:The Replacement Theory. The ultra Right is horrifyingly aware that demographic studies predict that white people will be in a minority in this country by the middle of the century. 

The conspirators claim that the Democrats actively support open borders in order to hasten the replacement process by allowing Brown people to flood into the country unabated. In return, the immigrants will show their gratitude for being given free food, housing, medical coverage and job preferences; they will vote for Democrats.  

It will be the end of white dominance in American politics and the end of White Privilege in America.  Bigots and racists will lose their historically privileged place in society. In their worst case scenarios, Black and Brown people will then be do to them what they have been doing to Black and Brown people for the last 400 years.  And that’s what this is really all about.

In truth, Texas’ demographics have already gone that way, non-white people are already in the majority. Currently, 40% of Texans are white, while Hispanics, 40%, Blacks, 12%, and Asians or “Others,” 8%, combine for a total of 60% non-white Texans. 

What makes this move by the Texas Republicans despicable beyond the general practice of gerrymandering in America is that it is not targeting voters by party. Instead, it is being done by a fading minority desperate to retain political power and terrified of the consequences if they cannot. 

It is targeting them by race.

Under the Republican’s gerrymandered plan, over 76% of the districts will be majority white, while only some 23% will have a majority or plurality of non-white voters. The clear and obvious goal of the racist Texas State Legislature is to dilute the non-white vote and maintain minority rule.

This action is being undertaken at the direction of Donald T**** and under the supervision of Governor Abbott, and has the full blessing and support of the Republican Party. As Donald told CNBC, “I won Texas. I got the highest vote in the history of Texas, as you probably know, and we are entitled to five more seats.”

T**** of course is lying as usual. His margin of victory in Texas in 2024,13.7%, was not the largest in the state’s history. Franklin D Roosevelt won Texas by 17 points in 1932, and Richard Nixon won it by 33 points in 1972

No matter. In this country, no party is “entitled” to extra seats in the Congress for any reason whatsoever. The essence of democratic governance is that politicians win legislative seats the old fashioned way; they earn them. 

And finally, and emphatically, no party is entitled to any damn thing based on concepts of White supremacy, or white Privilege, or any other bigoted or racist bullshit. Not one damn thing.

 Not now. Not ever. 

8/10

The Bernhard Perspective

Although the specifics can’t be absolutely confirmed, the best-supported evidence is that T**** uses a combination of self-tanner, concealer (probably Bronx Colors Orange BHC06), and make-up. 

This is often likely self-applied or done without professional blending, resulting in the conspicuous and uneven hue. The results are often harsh

It also accounts for the occasional light circles around his eyes and the abrupt demarcation line across his forehead just in front of his hairline and down the side of his face.

And this all seems to be done at his own whim. No reputable evidence suggests the use of any medically prescribed or natural products which can produce this particular effect

And that’s not even to mention the industrial grade girdle he must have to wear in order to disguise his enormous bulk. 

Face it: Everything about this guy is phony. from the get-go.