MAGA Suicide?

Judging from outward appearances, the MAGA movement intends to commit suicide by pursuing its unquestioning loyalty to Trump. The consequences of this mad king era, enabled by MAGA and a compliant Congress and SCOTUS, are bearing rotten fruit, leaving a bitter taste in the mouths of the American public and the world. The incompetence and corruption of Trump’s loyalists have turned the American public against the Republican Party, which allowed itself to be consumed by MAGA. In the space of several years, it will be difficult to find anyone who will admit they supported this aberration in American history.

With the tariffs ruled unconstitutional, the immediate response was to find another way to levy tariffs. Meanwhile, the economy and people’s retirement savings suffer repeated attacks from whipsawing Trump policies regarding tariffs, war, healthcare, and the cost of living. American citizens have been executed in the streets as a result of his policies. Campaign promises are cast aside now that his final election is behind him.

Driven by impulse, ideology, and revenge, he consciously divides the nation he is sworn to protect and serve. He continually probes and tests the boundaries of presidential precedent and Constitutional law. He has profited from his office, enriching himself by a billion dollars in just his first year. He pardoned a convicted financier who invested 4 billion dollars in Trump crypto. He hosted a gala for buyers who spent $150 million on his “meme coin”. He accepted a jet from Qatar, regardless of prohibitions against gifts from foreign governments, at a cost to taxpayers of at least a billion dollars for retrofitting, and will likely end up at his presidential library.

Confronted by declining Republican popularity, the administration created the SAVE Act, intended to reduce voter turnout and help stave off defeat. Ignoring the fact that their own voters will be affected by this, they simultaneously undermine faith in our electoral system by spreading the myth that election fraud is real. The president has threatened to nationalize the elections and has engaged intelligence agencies in searching for foreign influence in elections. His continual lies about stolen elections are unfounded, and he tried to overturn the 2020 election by force. This president thinks that the truth is whatever he says it is, at that particular instant. `

As a self-proclaimed master negotiator, Trump refuses to develop the depth of knowledge needed to bargain with other leaders because he feels no need to learn and prepare himself, and only occasionally sits for abbreviated daily intelligence briefs, a staple of presidential routine. Incapable of admitting fault, he has no means to self-correct his thinking, so he continually blunders when confronted by someone like Putin, who is a master at manipulation. His staff is afraid to contradict him, so there is little internal feedback.

Now this administration wants to increase the budget for the Pentagon to 1.5 trillion. This is an organization that has never passed a financial audit. Starting a war of choice, Trump contradicted the campaign pledge of no new wars and is spreading chaos, higher prices, and disruption throughout the world economy. The punitive strategy of attacking an Iranian culture with 3000 years of history, and which honors martyrdom, is questionable. The Pentagon undoubtedly war-gamed the closing of the Straits of Hormuz for years, but somehow this was ignored. It appears he has granted de facto control of the Strait to Iran, where they are currently charging millions for a safe passage.

Trump’s Republican sycophants found a role model in Viktor Orban, the Hungarian autocrat who transformed Hungary’s democracy into a virtual dictatorship. Orban changed their constitution, transformed their independent court system into one loyal to the governing party, gerrymandered electoral districts, and instituted culture wars. He attacked civil organizations and silenced opposing political parties and the media. The American conservative group CPAC held a conference in Budapest with Orban as a speaker and brought him to another conference in Texas. Recently, our vice president campaigned for Orban in Hungary.

We are at a critical stage in our democracy. The downward trajectory set by Trump, Maga and Project 2025 leads to catastrophic failure. The corrosive effects of this regime resulted in a serious deterioration of American well-being and national security. The next administration and the new Congress will be burdened by the aftermath of the current excesses.

Distortions, lies, and the inflation of cultural issues allowed radical actors to manipulate American opinion and capture and abuse our democratic processes. Successive Democratic administrations have been forced to spend political capital, precious resources, and time repairing the international, national, and economic mistakes of their Republican

predecessors. Once again, Democrats will be faced with correcting and repairing relationships and trust. The stark reality of our current condition must lead to a course correction by American voters.

Steve Foreman
Warren County, VA

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