There are actual courts of law, and for some reason a more influential court of public opinion. Former US President Trump is in court for many actual crimes.
This is not political – sorry!
If you are a fan of Trump, you might assert that he is being prosecuted and having his days in court as a political hit. Well, it is not – the former US President at the time I am typing this article is going on trial for crimes that he committed well before he was even running for the presidency. Justice, although very lethargic – is catching up to him.
Right now, Trump is sitting for his criminal trial in New York for the falsification of business records. And these were problematic because these stem from a pathetically short and apparently unpleasant sex encounter with porn star Stormy Daniels in 2006. Trump was allegedly trying to sexually score with Daniels while his third wife who was has recently given birth to their son Baron was at home.
In other words, Trump cheated on the lady who would later become former first lady Melania Trump. But of course, Trump previously cheated on the first two wives also, so this is normal for Trump – but it was of course inconvenient for the subsequent 2016 presidential campaign. Even though it took several years for this situation to come to light. Stormy was on her late 20’s at the time of this dejected sex encounter, and Trump was already more than twice her age.
Trump is a trial because they paid off Stormy $130.000 for her silence, but the process they took to accomplish that transaction was very much mishandled – much like a lot of Trump’s legacy of business acumen, such as bankrupting more than one casino. Let that sink in for a second – who bankrupts a freaking casino?!
Not stranger to controversy, but stranger to accountability.
Trump touts himself the “law and order” president, and candidate. Except when there is scrutiny over the shady stuff that he has been doing for decades, which very much warrants a closer look – because it is illegal. Then he calls it a “witch hunt” or whatever epithet akin to that.
Trump is facing 90+ criminal charges spanning four additional high-profile cases on top of the 30+ criminal charges for his current case that also happens to include the “hush money” to Stormy. But remember the current case is really about falsifying business records, but the sex part is what makes people click on the headlines.
Again, let’s understand that the problem is not that Trump paid a porn star, is Trump’s falsification of the business records and how this was meant to prevent the American people from deciding with all the relevant data points that would speak to Trump’s character. Trump knew at the time this would hurt his chances. Fast forward to today, and his MAGA group is actually cool with all of it (the cheating-on-wife-sex and the actual business-falsification-crimes) – because no matter how bizarre Trump has gotten over the years, it has been just normalized on the MAGA crowd eyes.
This stuff that MAGA has normalized is not normal; it is very much flooded with red flags! The star witness for this week is his ex “fixer” and lawyer Michael Cohen – who went to prison for the very same crimes Trump is facing right now. Yes, because Trump directed him to do the stuff that got him in trouble, and like or dislike Cohen, he is bringing the receipts, and his testimony already were corroborated in the previous civil case in NY where Trump was found liable of fraud and still owes close to half a billion dollars.
Trump has not paid one red cent for that aforementioned fraud case or the other case where he was ordered to pay E. J. Carrol 83+Million dollars for defaming her after Trump was found liable for rape. The reason for these court cases also happened a long time before Trump was in the campaign trial. But Trump knows that if he gets a camera in front of him and repeats that it is a political prosecution, his acolytes and his fans will take that narrative at face value and parrot the same lie.
I don’t know what will be the end of this case, but it seems that Trump is getting more concerned about the very real possibility of going to prison. It is not looking good for him, and yes those are the consequences of his actions in the last several decades. I mentioned in previous articles on my Today in America Series that the GOP had a lot more choices in the primary than Trump – and that this legal baggage was going to come to bite them in the butt. That is happening of course. The GOP had a lot more choices in the primary, yet they chose the one with 90+ criminal charges as their front runner.
I’ve written other articles detailing all other crimes Trump is facing. This article is more to capture the timeframe. Trump is on his third week of trial; he has a gag order to prevent him from attacking the judge and jury – which Trump violated multiple times and has been fined for it. And in case Trump does not understand, it is because like it or not Trump is very influential with some people who are willing to carry acts of violence against whomever dares to “be mean to Trump.”
There have been death threats, thwarted acts of violence, and some actual violent acts that came to pass because Trump made an incendiary statement, and some of their fans took it upon themselves to “seek vigilante justice.” Hence the gag orders. But this is limited to the scope of the current NY trial. Trump can still say whatever he wants, even if it is inflammatory – so long it is not putting the live of the judge and jury in danger. And the fact is that we know Trump is screaming his grievances through the rooftops on any platform he gets – because it is recorded AND broadcasted!
Let me end today’s article by inviting you to look at the actual facts. The court documentation is available for public release. Biden has nothing to do with this case. Sure, that there are other criminal cases that the government is involved because it violates federal law – but this falsification of business records is derived from Trump’s unpleasant sex moment with Stormy. All this is his own doing – and he is learning how different the rules are for a criminal defendant in a court of law in America, versus a demagoguery in the court of public opinion. HLC
his article will be a snapshot to remember the events affecting US politics despite the news cycle potentially glossing over the stories for the sake of ratings.
We are inundated by noise, and short memories.
This might feel like a barbed piece against mainstream and independent media – and it is, because it needs to be said. Clickbait, sensationalism, and trending seem to be a lot more important than substance. The industry has evolved to be that way. Sadly, it is all about the mighty algorithm, and this algorithm is people’s attention span.
Important stories get buried all the time in the national discourse, while sometimes incidental-at-best attention grabbers get national attention and go viral. This is true for independent media as well as for mainstream media. To be fair, that’s not everybody with a platform – but definitely the majority. Even some with good intentions fall into this trap.
At Half Life Crisis I’ve been writing pieces and warnings about how authoritarian propaganda tactics are becoming more prominent. That is why I am adamant about preventing this misinformation from continuing. Though I have to admit it does feel like I am constantly screaming into a void. Especially when we see a lot of misleading voices having a huge platform.
There is a lot that occurred in April 2024. The arguably most significant event is the ongoing hush-money criminal trial against former U.S. President Trump. This trial is less about his infidelity and more about the misuse of campaign funds and hiding information about his character. The substance on those would have been key attributes leading to the 2016 presidential election. Yes, accountability for these criminal proceedings took many years to reach the bench!
On a related Trump situation, the US Supreme Court conservative majority seems to agree with awarding former US President Trump unlimited power through immunity! Think about this for a moment, they actually are arguing giving the president the power of executing (as in murdering) political rivals, or anybody Trump would find inconvenient – as an official function. And that insane rationale comes behind a myriad of demonstrable criminal charges against Trump.
Also, there is a civil war inside the GOP as they disagree on policy and personalities. The so called MAGA Republicans have been losing traction over great swats of the country, but their loyal followers are still very vocal, and have been advocating for violence should Trump be defeated again. They are clinging to the “big lie” that perpetuates Trump’s inaccurate assertion that he won the 2020 election. He did not, Trump pursued more than 60 court cases across the country and won zero, because there is simply no evidence for the 2020 election being rigged.
Also, the US Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson was saved largely by the Democrats from being kicked out by his own Republican party, an effort led by MAGA Republican Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. Keep in mind that she was mostly against the economic support for Ukraine’s defense, which by the way it is a world-wide and National Security concern she at the very least does not seem understand, and many around the world pray she is not trying to directly sabotage. By the way the GOP has a one-person majority on the House of Representatives right now, let that sink in.
Also, the impeachment investigation against incumbent US President Biden has unsurprisingly yield zero evidence against him. The chairman of that committee Republican Representative James Comer has not been able to provide an iota of proof for a Biden-related crime, and despite that they continue to spend an undisclosed amount of tax payers’ money and elected representatives and staff man-hours every single day for the last few years. Let that sink in too!
Finally, there the tensions at the geopolitical level, and the conflict is expanding exponentially – and has been already reaching American soil. Perhaps not kinetically, yet, but the propagandistic narratives and indicators are in full swing. From toxic masculinity, to rampant misinformation, to misleading distractions and dehumanizing rhetoric against several groups of people, and everything in between. That is why I am writing so much about it. We are losing sight of what is important, and that is convenient to those who want to divide us.
Meanwhile many prominent platforms seem to be more interested in chasing ratings rather than capturing what is truly important. And that is understanding that our very futures are at risk as dark chapters in authoritarian history are repeating, while their core audience is asleep at the wheel. HLC
As the media cycle moves fast, one important story gets buried. Former U.S. President Trump is nowhere near as rich as he claimed to be, why should YOU care?
Who owns his debt? Would they own the country?
Former U.S. President Donald J. Trump has always drawn a line when it came to people insinuating about his wealth. Why? Well, the answer is now very obvious, and it has been legally demonstrated – because he is not the billionaire he claims to be. He is a wealthy man, but he is cash poor. Not being exceedingly rich is not a bad thing, most people in the world are not billionaires, or even millionaires for that matter. The problem is the lies.
So, what if Trump exaggerated about his wealth? What’s the big deal? Glad you asked, because it matters a lot. For starters, if a person is shallow enough to pretend that they are richer than they are – it’s for mainly one of two reasons. First, because they either want to get better rates for loans and services, and use their allure of these riches as leverage. And that is fraud.
The other it is a lot sadder, because that means that they are in-fact lesser than THEY expected THEMSELVES to be – and instead of accepting the facts or moving towards that goal, they pretend they are richer than they are – perhaps to feel better about themselves, but the fact is that they will have to realize that their claims remain false, no matter how many people think these claims are true. Pretending you’re rich does not make you truly rich – might increase your debt though.
So, two problems – both are very problematic sides to the same coin. On the former because that means that they have likely used that leverage to do something that is illegal, and will have to forever watch their backs. And the second is because it is an exploitable factor. Especially if there is somebody with liquidity who would help them “maintain that façade” in exchange for favors and access. It has been reported Trump experienced both of those instances, many times over.
We know now for a fact that Trump has made a lot of very shady deals. He was civilly charged in New York for almost a half-a-billion dollars. He has been unable to pay for these fines. Or even find anybody who would actually lend him the money until he tries to appeal. And this is after Trump was granted an unprecedented break to only pay a fraction of the fine – still, he has been unable to pay any of his bills.
J. Marcelo Baqueroalvarez Authoritarianism & Propaganda The Puppet Master Tools.
Stiffing others it’s Trump’s Modus Operandi (MO)
If you’ve been alive since at least the 80’s, and unless you were stuck under a rock you would have heard of Trump’s countless hassles (airlines, steaks, water, games, etc.). Many of which went under. Generally, via bankruptcy. I mean, for example his “savvy business man” went bankrupted not one but four times regarding his casinos in Atlantic City, NJ!
But he is also known for not paying his legal bills. Want examples? Sure Rudy Guiliani, and the entire entourage who was part of his upcoming criminal charge in Georgia for election interference were all hung out to try by Trump, owing millions in legal fees to support Trump’s claim of a rigged election. Something that not one of the many trials has been able to prove at all – no one in more than 60.
Right now, every donation that goes to the GOP, as it has Trump’s daughter in Law Lara Trump in charge of the RNC, if you’re a donor – well it is first going to pay for Trump’s legal fees – then to whatever is it that your campaign donation is supposed to do. And yes, donations have taken a plunge in the GOP, and Trump has also destroyed the Grand Old Party with a poignant civil war between so called MAGA Republicans and pretty much everybody else in the conservative universe.
Trump for years was hiding his taxes, and he was very controlling of any release of his finances – even directing his cabinet while being a sitting president to prevent this to be seen by the American people. Why do you think that it is important? Because we need to know if the leader of the free world, and the person in control of the nuclear codes does not have a loan shark from an adversarial nation.
Why? Because if they do, then they are in fact governing our country via Trump’s wallet – rather than the leader of the free world working for the American people. It should be common sense, but it needs to be spelled out. Why? Because right now, since nobody wants to lend trump money to pay his fines, this opens the door for foreign donors to buy influence on a presidential front runner. And yes, that is bad – because then the country gets governed by a loan shark. You don’t want that, do you?
Final thought, don’t get mad at me, rather keep digging for yourself and find out more context for what I’ve mentioned. Trump’s team is working hard to hide this information from you. The information that reaches your ears by his team is carefully selected, keep researching on your own. You’ll thank me later. HLC
Today in America 03MAR2024 – Half Life Crisis www.halflifecrisis.com
There is so much occurring simultaneously in the national discourse that the truth tends to be muddied up. Today I bring clarity to these many issues.
This article will be broken down into a few parts in order to segment some of the craziness. It is going to be a bumpy ride, and although it will be a long article, this is the very top of the tip of the iceberg. An open mind is advisable to read these passages, because it will shed some light on information that tends to be redacted in some news outlets and from the voices of many pundits & other influencers.
The good news is that I am truly independent, therefore I have no political motivation. I am, however, very much against misinformation, because that affects us all – regardless of which side of the political spectrum we lean towards. Enjoy the ride!
Trump is not “that” rich.
In case this is the first time you see it, Trump had to admit via his attorneys that he does not have the amount of cash he used brag to the entire world he had. For many of us, realizing that Trump was nowhere as rich as he claimed to be it is not surprising. It might however finally dissuade a lot of his loyal followers in the MAGA base to finally leave him. The reason is because many MAGA followers just tolerated his antics because they thought he was a multi billionaire.
In case you were not aware, Trump recently lost two separate civil cases and was ordered to pay several million dollars in compensation. Most of his supporters still think it is a “witch hunt” perpetrated by President Biden. Of course that isn’t the case, and these problematic cases of sexual assault and fraud he was found liable in two separate courts, occurred well before the Biden Presidency or the Trump Presidency [for that matter] even started. Here is a quick synopsis of these two cases.
Both of these cases were handled by his attorney Alina Habba, who has been touted by her peers [meaning other attorneys] as highly incompetent. Whatever the case, she is to my knowledge the only attorney who has cost her client almost half a billion dollars.
Trump’s Civil Fraud Case.
Trump was fund liable from swindling many investors through the span of several years. Trump was directed to pay $355 million in penalties plus interests. But the total figure starts at $454 million because it also includes people in Trumps orbit, to include his two elder sons. The interest for the payments Trump owes each passing day he does not pay is $87,502 – and by the way the verdict took place on February 16, 2024. So, this figure just keeps climbing more and more.
This case of course found out that he was lying about his wealth and that he overinflated his assets to get loans, and undervalued them when it was time to pay taxes. The fact is that if he is unable to have this interest rate from rapidly accruing, that on its own is enough to ascertain that he simply does not have the cash to pay, or even to appeal the case. Trump said he was going to appeal, but he needs to post the money upfront to guarantee he will pay if he loses again. Which will likely be the case.
The fact is that neither banks, nor attorneys are lining up to support Trump. Trump also asked to pay only just north of $100 million [or a fraction of what it is required] to appeal. That was denied to him as it would have been denied to anybody in a similar situation. Trump went onto making some unusual fund-raising events, which included selling some hideous $400 golden shoes and a $100 cologne that by the way sold-out, but won’t be making it to their customers hands until the Summer.
Another thing that sprouted, even if by proxy, was at least one Go-fund me campaign, and people were contributing to pay the legal fees of this billionaire. There seems also to be some course of action of utilizing GOP campaign funds for his legal troubles. But my understanding is that would be highly illegal. Which by the way, there is another case under that premise – this time for paying hush money to a porn star.
Bottomline, Trump said via his attorneys that if he pays the entire amount [even as a bond], which is close to half a billion dollars penalty, he would have to start selling some of his real state. So, let’s put that in perspective. Trump was ordered to pay that amount because he was found that he defrauded a bunch of people. You know, as in taking their money, and now he does not have the money. In other words, it was spent – not properly invested to grow. This realization might finally be what turns off some of his base who considered him a financial genius.
Trump sexual abuse case.
On May 9, 2003 Trump was found liable for sexually assaulting E. Jean Carroll in 1996. Trump was directed to pay $5 million. But this case is a lot more nuisance than Trump simply being found liable for sexual assault, which under the New York statutes it is just different language that in fact found Trump liable of raping Carroll. Yes, they found and were able to provide proof that Trump is a rapist.
What some people might not realize about this case is that the statute of limitations has already expired, and although Carroll was unable to go against Trump back in the 90’s – remember, these were very different times. We have come a long way to being able to speak truth to power. For some of us who were alive in the 90’s I can assure you that the world has moved forward by leaps and bounds, yet there are many who want to return back to the most short-sighted blunders in those years.
However, as the story re-surfaced, Trump started bad mouthing Carroll and made some very defamatory remarks against her. The case went to court, Trump kept making some very low brow and insulting remarks in true Trump fashion style against Carroll – many of these remarks from very prominent platforms. You know, double down and triple down. So, the case ended up going to court for defamation. This of course backfired on Trump, because not only he was stuck with a $5 million award payable to Carrol, but he also got all his sexual abuse past come to light. It did not end there.
As expected, Trump was not happy at all with this, therefore he double down, and disparaged Carroll again. And this once again backfired. Remember, the case was already settled that Trump raped Carroll. Adding to the miscalculation, Trumps attorney, Alina Habba managed to make things a lot worse for Trump, turning this $5 million original award into a whopping $83.3 million award, as Carroll won her case for defamation again. It is very likely that Trump was the master mind directing Habba to say whatever is it that she said in the trial. Of course, that was not a good strategy.
One thing is clear, Trump has not paid a dime yet for either one of these millionaire awards against him. Which makes you think, if he really was a billionaire, paying off and then appealing could be a lot easier than accruing all this additional debt in interests, not to mention all the negative media attention that it puts on his supposed fortune. For now, only some of his most fervent MAGA supporters are still onboard and will pay their hard-earned money to help a billionaire pay his legal obligations. Food for thought.
Credit the link below to the Associated Press (AP) who is tracking Trump’s many criminal and civil cases. They have a huge team of journalists who can do that in real time; it is only me writing for the Half Life Crisis site at this time.
Hunter Biden handed GOP House Representatives their own butts.
In a different part of our bizarre political discourse, the GOP have been hell-bent in an unsuccessful effort to impeach President Biden. Bottomline, they have zero evidence. If the evidence to impeach Biden existed it would have been plastered all over the planet, and there would be non-stop coverage of it. That has not happened, nor will it, because what the GOP members are alluding towards simply does not exist.
In an effort to find some compromising links to Joe Biden, the GOP has been very adamant on pursuing dead-end leads related to the President’s son, Hunter Biden. For context, Hunter Biden is a recovering addict, and in the past, he had done some shenanigans, and has gotten in some trouble before. However, he has always made a conscientious effort to keep his father out of the spotlight, because he understands how important this is to his father’s public service.
For context Hunter Biden was still a young boy when Biden was elected to his first term in Congress. Fast forward, there have been a lot of allegations trying to tie Hunter Biden to his father. One of those sources was a former FBI informant who also was recently arrested because he was working with Russian intelligence in a concerted effort to interfere in US politics. And yes, that was the GOP’s star witness.
For some time, the GOP have been trying to corner Hunter Biden in many insidious ways. Even having sexually explicit images of him shown in the House Floor by Georgia Representative Majorie Taylor Greene. Yes, that happened! She showed what could be best described as revenge porn showing nude photos of Hunter Biden engaging in sexual intercourse during an official hearing.
And to add insult to injury, the GOP controlled House of representatives wanted to have Hunter Biden testify in a closed-door session – even though they had made this matter public to the entire country as the story of the century. Well, this was originally rejected, and Biden even showed up to Congress when they were deliberating about holding him in contempt of Congress – yet the GOP rejected the option of Hunger to testify in front of the whole country right there and there. You know, calling their bluff.
Fast forward to last week, and Hunter Biden did show up to a closed-door session, and handed the House GOP butts to them. The transcript is pretty long, but it is worth reading. The GOP Representatives tried to spin it as though it was a win, but for anybody with a 4th grade reading comprehension, you would be able to identify what the reality of the situation is all about. And the fact that it was political theater came full circle.
All this waste of taxpayer money and congressional man hours was nothing but a gigantic waste of time many of us realized years ago. There is no actual evidence to impeach Biden.
I recommend reading the entire transcript on the link below. It’s pretty long, but it is worth it. It might make you mad, or laugh in a tragically hilarious manner.
Reproductive rights are being threatened in the country.
You’ve probably been familiar with the overturn of Roe vs Wade by the Supreme Court that occurred in 2022. This is of course one of Trump’s supposedly proudest moments. And yes, this was possible because the three Supreme Court Justices confirmed under Trump were very much in favor of overturning Roe vs Wade – even though they denied during their confirmation hearings to be inclined to do exactly that.
Just like many of us realized that they were going after Roe vs Wade making abortions illegal and a lot more restrictive depending on each state – the situation was not likely going to end there. How do we know? Because the indicators of moving a certain “theocratical” political agenda has been plastered on the wall all along.
There is a certain group of “Christian Nationalists” – which is not the same as Christians from all stripes. In other words, not every Christian is a Christian Nationalist. Many Christians actually disavow Christian Nationalists as extremists who happen to use Christianity as a platform to push a political agenda. And Christian Nationalists are not shy about expressing that they want THEIR version of Christianity to be the rule of the land. In other words, a theocracy based on their particular interpretation. And yes, many of them are elected leaders.
For better or worse, this is actually a very unpopular stance – and in each and every one of the last several local, state, and national elections, the so called “pro-life” candidates have been defeated or severely underperformed at the ballot. Why is that? Because “Pro-Choice” does not equal “Pro-abortion.” In other words, the majority of Americans understand the difference, and how each case is unique. Further, they understand that the life and safety of the mother could be at severe risk with certain pregnancy complications.
And of course, most people are not onboard with forcing a woman to carry a pregnancy to full term, if the pregnancy was a result of rape or incest. Especially considering that some young women get raped while they are still children themselves. For example, should a 13-year-old be forced to carry to term the child of her rapist? When Roe vs Wade was overturned, it now makes it illegal for this 13-year-old not be forced to carry a rapist child to term. Think about that for a second – what if that 13-year-old young lady was YOUR child?
The fact is that what we are observing is authoritarian rhetoric disguised as morality under theocratic rules. This situation is running rampant in America, and it has been largely normalized. Why? Because there are Christians all over the place, even though many fail to realize that their denomination is one of a few thousands in the world. Yes, there are several Christian denominations, and they don’t agree in a lot of their doctrines – hence they have their own denomination.
Although many Christian denominations agree on certain points, there is a lot more than they disagree with. Want an example? Sure, how similar are the doctrines between the Jehovah Witnesses and the Latter-Day Saints? How similar or different are the rituals between Catholics and Pentecostals? How about the guys who handle dangerous snakes during service, or those who worship in the nude?
Yes, those are all just a few examples of devoted Christians. Would you go to the nude service or the venomous snake-handling service? So, under that logic, then you might not be ok if “a particular” denomination of Christianity becomes the theocratic rule of the land. That is why there is separation of church and state I the USA. Also, why churches get a tax exemption as long as they stay off the political discourse. Although we all know that many churches are not only violating that law, but they are also very cavalier about pushing politics from the pulpit.
Some states have a higher concentration of politically charged religious following. One of these places is Alabama, where recently, In-Vitro Fertilization or IVF is under attack, because they’re considering the cells in a petri dish being already a person. Yes, this IVF has JUST become an issue – just a few days ago. And it is taking traction on other states – mostly red states. And if you think this is not expanding think again.
And by the way, there are many Christians who used IVF in order to become parents. Now, this IVF procedure is in jeopardy because some people interpret their scriptures differently, and want to force everybody to interpret them in the same manner. And yes, it is affecting also law-abiding Christians and non-Christians.
If you are a Christian – especially, if you’re a Christian, you might want to realize that there is a particular denomination which wants to take over the way YOU worship. Yes, I am serious. This is happening. If you want to call them false prophets, or swindlers or opportunists, that’s YOUR choice. And keep in mind that there is a segment of people who use religion as a way to prevent you from having ANY choice in the near turn.
For example, did you know that there is a bill being proposed in Virginia right now that is endorsed mostly by state-GOP legislators who want to make it a lot harder to get contraception over the counter? So, think about this for a moment, there are people hell bent in not only limiting your options should a person get an unwanted pregnancy, but they are also making it harder to not get pregnant in the first place!
In other words, they are somehow working towards legislating about sexual intercourse between consenting adults. I wish I was being hyperbolic, but just like Roe vs Wade and other indicators of theocracy working to replace our democratic system, this very much seems to be in the horizon. Of course, that most people might not want to see it as such, because when we talk about religion it tends to hit a nerve on a great segment of the population… because they think it is singling THEM out.
Well, that is not the case, the reality is that a few are trying to impose their version of religion onto all of us while using the very same religious protections to hide their agenda, which is to ultimately negate religious freedom to the rest of the country.
There is a lot more to explore on this topic, and I plan on writing a full article and perhaps other additional content on this, because it will become a lot more significant sooner than later. And if you think there are not people in high positions pushing for this to become the norm, think again.
The Supreme Court is perceived as MAGA-biased.
Lately the United States Supreme Court has been perceived as biased by a very large segment of Americans. The reality is that there is an evident power dynamic difference. If you have been paying attention, you’ll know that the great majority of the justices are very conservative. And as I mentioned, three of them were recently confirmed during Trump’s term.
This is a good time to bring current Minority Senate Leader, Mitch McConnell who was the de-facto catalyst to pack the court with highly conservative, and MAGA friendly justices. And McConnel is also the person responsible for denying President Obama from adding his nominated Justice to the Supreme Court, because that was during Obama’s last year in office. Yet, McConnel pushed a conservative judge in the last year of Trump’s office.
For any of us paying attention, we realized this tactic from the start. He was going to pack the courts, not just the supreme court but a lot of other courts in the country – to get a higher level of political advantage with like-minded people. Some might say that is an unfair assertion, yet the proof to this assessment has come through via many cases that have gravitated towards conservative goals. IVF is one such case. There are plenty more, but not many of those cases make it to the national headlines.
But the scrutiny of the conservative Justices has also gathered more momentum after their decision to hear the case for Trump’s eligibility to be in the Colorado ballot. This of course will put a delay on a resolution for other cases that are related to why the State of Colorado supreme court found that Trump’s election interference and role for the January 6 insurrection makes him ineligible to run for office.
And if you think for a few seconds about this concern to have Trump back in office, it makes perfect sense. Trump has 91 criminal charges spanning several court cases, has been very vocal about some very divisive rhetoric, he was found to be a fraud and a rapist – and that is just a fraction of the many red flags anybody who is paying attention sees about Trump. Hence, most Americans voted against him in 2020. The difference is that he has alienated a lot of his base from that time. And a lot of his supporters have not been afforded the full story either… so they might jump ship once the truth also reaches their eyes and ears.
Well, unsurprisingly the Justices who were appointed by Trump and other conservative justices are very much onboard with seeing Trump to run for another term, despite the myriad of criminal and civil cases against him. And this is not me – as the author of this article – trying to put the integrity of the US Supreme Court in question – as far as how objective they are when it comes to political discourse. This is the common consensus from many people reporting on this topic.
But what I will say is that the rulings and the precedent for each case do raise a lot of questions. And one of the fears most people have is that there is a clear bias towards one segment of the population and a disenfranchisement of another – an even larger segment of the same population. The proof is that the most “conservative” doctrines have not been popular at the ballot. It is especially noteworthy that the MAGA segment of the Republican party is dwindling. Even though, many remaining MAGAs are still very vocal.
I linked this article to tell you more about the particular case regarding Trump’s eligibility to hold office. Credit to the New York Times. Even if you don’t agree with them, fact check them with media sources from all political sides – you’ll see the pattern soon enough.
Conflicts continue to ramp up, and they are likely related.
And with the political discourse, we also have to realize that we have a very real linkage to the larger geopolitical stance of the United States on the world stage. What we have to remember is that what happens in the USA resonates with the rest of the world with ripple effects that are mind-bending to some, and very clearly evident to others who can see the links to these events from a different vantage point.
What does that mean? It means that even the situations who seen tangentially related at best, or totally unrelated are very much part of the same construct. They are just not as evident when seeing it from a particular vantage point. And that would not be a person’s fault, they are just not afforded that vantage point to see the big picture.
For an illustrative example let’s say you’re in a valley, and you are at the bottom of the valley inside a forest. You might not be able to see the mountains around you, or even what is just a few yards from your vantage point. But if you climb the mountain, you’ll have a much larger view of the valley and where everting seems to be located. From there, you will be able to further explore with ease each area because you will have a better idea of how the terrain is laid out.
In geopolitics it is very much the same. For people who are in their own echo chambers, or political bubbles – they will not be able to see how the events are laid out and how they relate to one another. The way you can ascend this illustrative mountain is by understanding context. This context raises your awareness of what is going on, and from there you can see the road leading to each event. Keep in mind that each stage is going to have an inherited level of complexity, and it is meant to discourage people from keeping on climbing.
When I wrote my book AUTHORITARIANISM & PROPAGANDA The Puppet Master Tools, I provided some tools on how to see this context in ways that will help you climb to a better vantage point. The geopolitical realm is complex, and it is also very contentious. And the end result of many adversarial nations is to negate the USA from remaining the premiere nation in the world – and give an open avenue for adversarial regimes to take the USA’s place. This has been happening for a while, and they will succeed unless we realize what its going on under our own noses.
I’ve said it before and it is worth repeating. There are insider threats integrated within the confines of the United States of America, and in many countries that are allied or partnered with the USA. Insider threats come in two big categories:
1. Witting Insider Threats:
These are people who are performing actions and supporting adversarial narratives and carrying out their desires willingly. In other words, they are very cognizant that what they are doing goes against the USA and its influence in the world. Even if they disguise themselves as patriotic.
2. Unwitting insider Threat
These are people who are too stupid to realize they are doing everything the witting insider threat is also doing, but they are just not aware they are complicit. This latter one is a lot more dangerous than the first one, because they are easily manipulated.
And it is worth repeating that there are a lot of people in Capitol Hill and in other prominent platforms who are repeating and parroting those adversarial talking points verbatim! I will be dedicating specific content to identifying how this works and how to defend against it. Remember that these insider threats tend to be wolves in sheep’s clothing. They will seem patriotic and even probably drape themselves in the regalia that screams USA – but they are repeating the points from their adversaries.
An easy way to see if that is the case is by looking at state-sponsored propaganda and news from an adversarial nation. How do you know it might be an adversarial nation? Well, if it is solely run by the state, then that means that the freedom of press is non-existent, and all narratives must concur with the government or be silenced. So that is already a good pointer, because the USA has freedom of speech [at least for now], and you’re able to speak your mind without the government coming to violently retaliate against you and everything you’ve ever loved.
We still have this freedom we are very much taking for granted and there are a lot of nations who have recently lost it. They didn’t pay attention to the same indicators I am mentioning, and it was likely there was somebody just like me trying to raise awareness, and he or she ended up screaming into a void. I’m trying to change that trend, and fortunately there are many who see what I am seeing – we are just not communicating together effectively. That is what I want to change through my writing. HLC
HLC Muller Report www.halflifecrisis.com American History
The Muller report was a litmus test on how cognitive dissidence can be exploited for political purposes. Many people are still confused about its importance.
The confusion perdures to this day.
The Muller Report is names after the Department of Justice (DOJ) Special Counsel Robert Muller, who was a prominent career law enforcement professional at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States of America. He was appointed to conduct a thorough investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election.
Among the targets of the investigation, was included the recently elected U.S. President Donald J. Trump. The reason was because there were credible allegations that his campaign had close unduly communications with the Russian Federation, and that his campaign conspired together with Russian operatives to get an advantage against Trump’s presidential opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Russia stated on record they favored Trump over Clinton as President of the United States.
Before I move on, please find below the link to the entire Muller Report, as released to the public. Please keep in mind that some of the released Muller Report [enclosed] to the public have been redacted for reasons of National Security.
Mueller Report Article -Report on the investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election – www.halflifecrisis.com
IMPORTANT NOTE: It is worth mentioning that when citing Russia in this report, and on this article, it is not referring to the entire country of Russia – nor it is a so called “Rusophobic” attack. But unfortunately, the people involved in this report were from Russia. Any country involved in a similar fashion would have been cited on a consistent basis if they were under the scope of the investigation Mueller conducted. It is worth noting also that most Russian people (like most people around the world) are actually super nice, and they might or might not have a say, knowledge, or condone what happens outside their immediate purview.
You are welcome to read the entire report now (all 400+ pages), or after you finish this article. We will be touching upon some of the important takeaways from the report. The report itself is written in legal jargon, hence for some people it might seem counterintuitive to understand what Muller is actually trying to say. That’s the nature of the beast, legal writing is very different than normal everyday vernacular.
For this article I will be using down-to Earth vernacular to ensure it is better understood. And I said, “better understood” – because in legal terms words and context have a much encompassing terminology. That is why it takes years of going to law school and passing a bar exam to navigate the vernacular. To put in context the bar exam alone takes about 12 hours and it is extremely grueling. Some of us (who are not attorneys, but) due to the nature of our jobs just so happen to be acquainted with that language to “read it” – but not to “write it” – if that makes sense. E.g. You might be able to distinguish the difference between a high-quality and low-quality steak when you eat it, it is a whole different ballgame cooking it.
If you do end up reading the full report (which I recommend), it is best if you read it in little chunks, and with an open mind. The report is obviously very well written, but for those unfamiliar with the lingo, it will be interpreted like “scripture” (as in a bible or religious text) – and create a misperception that it is subject to some interpretations – especially if a person has a particular bias. However, biases are not the case when writing the report – Mueller himself was a Republican. But it is possible that some people might find ambiguity. Remember, this report was not meant to be read by the people, but rather by legal experts.
This in no way is demeaning to the general public, it is just part of the area of expertise needed for that particular specialty. Just like a bartender might have some specific language they use for some of their mixology, or just like us Sailors have a very specific vernacular when we talk about Navy stuff, or just how mathematicians communicate with complex formulas. Somebody outside those specialties might find it confusing if seeing it from the outside in.
Same thing with the Muller Report. It has a specific language, crafted by experts in that field. Fortunately, just like any cryptic language out there, there is a key to understanding in everyday terms what the intent and purpose for that report means to the general audience. There is a reason why I put this in context. You will see what I mean by that as you continue reading this article.
The Muller Report is inheritably complex, because it addressed a very complex issue. Further, it was unprecedented because it was the first time a sitting U.S. President was involved in the middle of this type of controversy. And of course, the environmental factors (not as in weather) in the country, particularly on political divisiveness – was making an already incendiary issue all the more volatile. There were a lot of entities who had a lot to lose based on the findings of this report. And those who had a lot to lose were both inside and outside the United States of America.
What does this mean? The Muller Report was never just about Trump, it was a lot bigger than that. It was about the possibility that third nation was interfering with the American Electoral process, and potentially getting away with it. Trump was largely anecdotal, but had to play also a center role for the investigation because he just so happened to be the President of these United States.
Understanding the Report’s Context.
The Mueller report was not about finding “Collusion” – why? Because Collusion is not a crime. It was about finding conspiracy to undermine an American Electoral Process. However, as Trump became extremely combative, and largely [on the Right-Wing of politics], attacks against Muller started to percolate, the scope of the investigation had no choice but to add instances of obstruction of justice to the mix. Cause and Effect.
What does that mean? Let me illustrate with an example. Let say person “X” is accused of beating up his spouse. An investigation into domestic abuse will start taking place. So, let’s say that while this domestic abuse investigation is going on, person “X’ decides to antagonize and threaten the police officers with violence, and incites others to antagonize and threaten these police officers – as they are conducting the domestic abuse investigation. What do you think is going to happen? If you assessed that an additional charge will be added to the domestic abuse charge, then you will be correct.
Further, antagonizing the police and threatening with violence while they are investigating domestic abuse – is not helping person “X” case, is it? Use the same analogy, but just change the charges and names, and that is what happened during the Muller Report. The fact that Trump and is acolytes were attacking, disparaging, and denigrating the character of Robert Muller, made it very evident that Muller likely found a lead Trump and his acolytes found very problematic (against them).
Robert Muller himself got death threats, much like many other Trump dissenters had endured in the last several years. Especially those with a platform. But the death threats normally come from a Trump acolyte, or somebody who feel vindicated to do so in their [Trump’s] base. I should emphasize that issuing death threats onto anybody is a crime. And yes, it is a crime no matter if you do that face-to-face, by email, by social media, or any other method of communication.
And bear this in mind because of the wide context of the report. Remember, the report is a snap-shot in time, but the significance of this report is a timeless tool about glaring vulnerabilities in the very fabric of American society. And yes, the exploitation of divisive vulnerabilities is designed to be like that – divisive and confusing. That is why I said that in the beginning it became a litmus test regarding our political stability.
Finding Trump guilty in the Muller Report
The official name for the Muller Report is “Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election” – this report encompasses two volumes, and spans for 448 pages. In other words, the scope of the investigation was to find the facts about Russian Interference, which is not necessarily the same as an investigation about Trump, although Trump was certainly a significant factor in the entire situation – because Russia was favoring Trump over Clinton.
For us to understand the significance of this report, we have to understand that using semantics to fight the merits of the issue is not a compelling argument. It is a lot more abstract than that, because we are dealing with a strategic-level adversary levering personnel near to the sitting President of the United States, in order to push their [foreign country’s] agenda. This report is not about finding collusion, it is about connecting conspiracy behind the mechanics for which the favoring for Trump turned into action favorable to Trump.
Hope this is making sense so far, because it is about to get more abstract. It is designed to be that way. The adversary is not going to put this complex issue in a black & white, Fifth-Grade level of understanding – instead, this topic is an all-stars varsity multi-level strategy being played upon the US via its own political intricacies. Again, it is designed to be highly complex, and that is why the actual merits of the case will seem counterintuitive to a great swath of the population. Again, this report was not meant to be read by the general public, it was meant to be read by the top Attorney in the Country – The Attorney General.
And this is an important distinction. Because Muller and his team had to be impartial in their investigation. Hence, Muller (who was in charge of the investigation) was not going to declare “Guilty” or “Innocent” – among other intricacies we’ll talk about – that was not his role. His role was to find facts, write about them, and pass to the Attorney General to (for a lack of a better word) decipher what was presented to him on this report, and for him to make a recommendation as the top law enforcement person in the Federal Government at the time.
And at this particular juncture is where politics started to get from ugly to very dangerous. For as long as we can remember in the American discourse, the partisan political climate has become more and more polarized. It was not designed to be that way – it was meant to give a voice from different points of view; but through the years demagogs and other special interest powers have created a wider division among politicians. All this division is extremely convenient to regimes leading nations who have poised themselves as adversaries against America.
Some politicians (hopefully unwittingly) tend to play and parrot propagandistic points that are specifically designed to polarize America more and more. The reason for the division is incidental at best, but certainly politics is a very visceral vehicle that gets people enticed to perform actions that can very well go against their own best interests. They just don’t realize it does, because it is designed to make those victims feel like vindicated heroes, whilst making them believe they are the smartest people in the room. Sadly, that is a very prolific manipulation tool.
The damage created to discredit the Muller Report is causing negative effects even today! And that report was released in 2019. For that reason, it is worth understanding what the political climate was back during those days. And the short answer is, that the ENTIRE U.S. Government, all three branches at the time were Republican. The Executive power (President), The Legislative power (Congress with the House & the Senate), and the Judicial power with a conservative majority.
If you were a Democrat, you had no chance to push any legislation at that time. That of course changed in the very next midterm election when the House Flipped to the Democrats, and the Republicans lost the majority. But by the time this report came over, it was all Republican Controlled. This was very important for many political reasons, and of course gave a very high advantage to Trump as far as how the narrative would be controlled to the rest of the Republican political base.
Sadly, that means that if Trump was found guilty of any wrong doing, there was a snow ball chance in hell of a probability the GOP (Republicans) would even hint on giving Trump any level of accountability, let alone prosecute him, recommend impeachment – or any punitive action whatsoever for that matter. Why? Because that would be political suicide, that is why.
Politics are strategic by nature, and sadly this strategy tends to leave constituents out of the equation. A shrewd politician would be able to plan several steps ahead and bamboozle a base of voters to believe a false narrative with little to no scrutiny. Yes, it is designed to be that way. A happy constituent tends to be one who feels their political leader is reading their minds, and doing their will – as faithful representatives of their democratic process in Capitol Hill. You could argue, THAT is EXACTLY why they were elected in the first place to do, right?
So, what does any of this have anything to do with the Muller Report? A lot actually, that is why I say it is abstract, and might even see tangential. Again, it is designed to be that way. When we look at the Muller Report there is not one page which reads “guilty” except to demonstrate that somebody pleaded as such to previous proceedings – for example, George Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty to lying to investigators. Papadopoulos was very close in Trump’s orbit – once he became inconvenient, Trump disavowed him.
Other big names in Trump’s orbit included Gates, Manafort, and Cohen. The later was also known as “Trump’s Fixer” and better known for the case involving porn-star actress Stormy Daniels – when she engaged in what was described as a hilariously short and unpleasant, though consensual sex encounter with Trump – when his wife Melania was staying home with their still infant son Baron. And I just want to add this part about the [if you can even call it] affair (which is factual by the way – however hilariously short). Because it adds to Trump’s character, and adds to why the overarching scope of his investigation is so important. Lack of character is vulnerable to exploitation – and having the President of the United States of America having an exploitable vulnerability is very dangerous for the country.
Another big player is Michael Flynn, who also pleaded guilty for lying to the FBI about talks he head with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Note that in every mention of “guilty” was for already a person in Trumps orbit who have already been convicted. It is important to pay attention to the fact that these individuals were very close to Trump – that is problematic. Who wins if the President of the United States of America has people who have pleaded guilty to some very problematic allegations? Regimes who are adversarial to America, that is who wins when this happens.
Letting Trump get away without prosecution, despite the findings of the Muller Report is what has prompted a lot of the cognitive dissidence that has endured to this day. And this is really the crux of the matter. Cognitive dissidence occurs when we let our biases control the narrative despite the facts. There is always a lot more to the empirical facts behind the superficial context of a situation. Some of the facts can certainly be obscured by misinformation, and lack of understanding of the full context.
In other words, when we are presented with a situation out of context, and we don’t have enough datapoints to ascertain the validity of those facts, then our assertion to those facts will be flawed. Hence the correct answer will feel counterintuitive, despite the facts being against their core argument. Again, it is designed to be that way. And a lot of people have fallen into that trap. It is not really their fault; a trap is designed to capture those unsuspecting souls. Much like a con artist tends to be charming and engaging. The difference is that with propaganda this is executed at a much larger scale and level of complexity.
Was Trump found Guilty?
Yes, he was found guilty of conspiracy of getting aid from a foreign government to help him with the election, and of obstructing justice and making all kinds of public acts of intimidation that among other things included death threats to Muller himself. The key word is “found” – that is not the same as “declared” guilty. Doing so gets into a semantic game that fosters cognitive dissidence.
This is how they differ. Finding instances of guilt does not necessarily mean that a person is going to be held accountable. For example, if you’re driving 20+ MPH over the speed limit, but there are no COPs around to pull you over, and issue you a citation for reckless driving – then you’re not getting accountability. You (should) know that what you did is highly illegal and can put you in a pumpkin suit, and there are several witnesses to your misdemeanor. Mainly every other car that you zoomed by – but they don’t have the authority to pull you over and give you a citation. But it is very obvious to all witnesses that you were breaking the law.
Somebody being declared guilty, that means that somebody who has the jurisdictional power to give you accountability is acting upon those findings. Following in the example, if a cop does pull you over and issues you a citation – the cop can start the accountability process, but not finish it. It would be up to a judge (in traffic court) to give the verdict on the infraction. Some judges might be lenient and let the speeder go with a warning, others might impose a heavy fine, others might send the driver straight to jail. I’ve seen cases like this all the time – it largely depends on how repentant the person placed in front of the judge is.
So, let’s bring this into context. Mueller (as the example being the cop on the above example) was gathering the information and writing the ticket. But it was going to be up to the attorney General (as the judge in the previous example) whom was required to make the determination about if the president was found guilty or not. The Attorney General at the time was Bill Bahr, and he gave the press a very misleading version of what Mueller described in the findings. The point being that Bahr likely wanted to try to make this problem disappear. Particularly because of the heavy political baggage it carried. Finding Trump guilty would make the Republican party implode.
How so? Well, the obvious thing is that if Trump was found guilty, then a lot of legal actions – none of which were convenient, nor had a precedent, would inevitably snowball out of control. There was a lot of appetitive for the entire report to be released. The GOP fought tooth and nail against it, but eventually it came out. But it took a long time. During that time there were countless attacks against Mueller himself, and many more death threats not only to him, but to other people who were in favor of releasing this document. So, the fact that you can read it (even on this site) was a gigantic undertaking that was being prevented by the highest levels of government at that time.
There was an important caveat. Because Trump was a sitting President – regardless if he was indeed guilty – he was NOT to be prosecuted. Those were the guidelines at the time, because it was meant to protect against people from attacking a President as a political eruption… with the pretense that the President was indeed an innocent person. Well, this is not very much the case in the Muller Report. Although he does not call Trump with the words “guilty” he did say that he was not exculpated from wrongdoing. And I said before, he was to present the facts, not to issue a guilty or innocent plea. But rather point if there was culpability. There was gargantuan evidence of guilt.
Using a “big word” such as not “exculpated” probably muddied the water – even though it is an accurate term. “Exculpated” means “acquitted” – Trump was not acquitted, if we put it in non-thesaurus terms. Muller went on to say that if Trump was not a sitting President he would have indeed been prosecuted. So, what does that mean? It meant that as long as Trump was President, then he was able to run that suspended guilt until he left office. But once he was gone, then accountability would follow. What would Trump’s next logical move be then?
Obviously, it was in Trump’s best interest to stay in power as long as possible! For one, because the statute of limitations would run out on this – and besides he did so much other crazy s—t after this event that the Muller Report will seem like small potatoes in comparison. But that does not mean it is any less significant, because this started a snowball effect for a lack of accountability to any sitting President.
Let’s talk about this snowball effect, this is a non-exhaustible list.
1. It forced the GOP to truly play ball and become Trump acolytes by choosing party over anything else Trump was able to get away with. Doing otherwise would be political suicide.
2. It empowered other adversarial nations to flood the USA with propaganda. The same type of divisive propaganda that has continued ever since – because it proved to be effective.
3. Fostered cognitive dissidence. It is convenient for other nations when we are divided, and if there is a communication breakdown. This first step was a proof of concept for adversarial nations as far as how people get lost in semantics rather than understanding the overall context.
4. The enemy is hidden in plain sight – who is the biggest enemy? Our own biases are being manipulated by our own misperceptions. It is designed to look black & white – but in reality, it is a very dynamic gradient. Hence, even people with good intentions will not see the true depth of the issue – it is designed to be that way – much like an illusionist only shows you what they want you to see, but the mechanics of the trick are out of sight to the general audience.
5. If Trump was able to get away with this, then he was going to continue pushing boundaries until he would get push back. He sure did, and hence he got impeached twice – and he is currently facing 90+ criminal cases, and a myriad of civil cases. Accountability started after he left the office – and the investigation into the merits for these cases already started the process before he left the presidency.
6. A lot of people got turned off by Trump, but also a whole bunch of them got ignited their new found passion for Trump. The Republican partly itself is very fragmented. Some of Trump’s more vocal supporters are Republicans themselves; though the hate and attacks from MAGA Republicans are often directed to more “obvious” challengers – which are the Democrats.
7. Trump started a very dangerous precedent that made people around the world distrust the United States of America. Who do you think wins when America gets isolated from NATO or other partner nations? It is not the USA; it is the countries who want to get the USA to lose its primacy in the world. By getting away from interfering with our political candidates’ process, this helps other countries who do not like America to perceive that the US candidates are for Sale.
8. Propaganda Points from other countries flooded the political discourse, and created an enormous social engineering campaign to find out which minds are more exploitable and obedient to Anti-American talking points, disguised as ultra-patriotic. Yes, it sounds like an oxymoron – that is why I say it seems counterintuitive to many. I wrote an entire book about it [AUTHORITARIANISM & PROPAGANDA The Puppet Master Tools], because it is affecting us all.
9. The entire world was watching the proceedings about the Muller Report, and caused a worldwide mistrust in the American legislative process. If the USA is not considered a reliable intrinsic arbiter of justice, then the rest of the world will start seeking for a “better alternative” to follow. There is no shortage of adversarial nations who want to set that standard. And if the USA is not holding their leaders accountable, then that becomes the norm for the rest of the world. Like it or not, the USA can either set the standard for equal accountability under the law, or yield that option to any other nation who wants to impose their political agendas onto the rest of the planet.
10. Interpreting the Muller Report on “semantics” rather than substance is a very fertile ground for Information Operations campaigns by adversarial nations. In other words, they get to realize how naïve particular segments of the population are based on their lack of reading comprehension – and turn them into obedient parroting assets. More importantly, by providing these out of context talking points, they will feel vindicated as though they have “won” a battle of wits with somebody else – when in reality they have not been afforded the entire context. Plenty of people who are cynical about complex issues, but get hung up on semantics, are very much off-the mark on the actual substance of the matter. And yes, that is extremely convenient and exploitable by adversarial nations.
Moving Forward, and Deprograming Compromised Minds.
It might sound idealistic, but there is a way to straighten up this slew of propagandistic campaigns pouring over the USA. I use the Muller Report as an example, but there are hundreds if not thousands additional examples linked to Trump alone. But he is not the only one who enjoys a cult following, many of his acolytes also benefit from that clout. And even those who say that they don’t support him could very well be misled by thinking that “giving him a perceived fair” shot is a valid argument – when in reality, Trump was indeed guilty – hence, giving a “perceived fair shot” after he already has tilted the system on this favor is in fact a win for America’s adversaries.
What do I mean by that? Lately, as I became an author, I had to start learning the intricacies of the social media world. Not that I am super stoke about that, and I only hang out on the different platforms whenever I have some downtime. Which is not that much time actually. At this point in time, I am either checking my social media accounts while I am taking mini breaks during actual stuff I need to do in the computer – of if I so happen to be in a waiting room – as I have to sit and stay put prior to a scheduled appointment.
But no, debating people on Twitter (X) in 280 characters or less, or in Threads in 500 characters or less is not the only thing I have to do with my day. Especially if the cognitive dissidence from somebody drowning in a glass of water that they poured themselves off proves it is too much of a waste of time for me to spend my scarce time dealing with them. I’ve met all kinds of people, from super nice human beings, to well-intentioned confused people, to incredibly nasty individuals. During the less desirable interactions, I am afforded the opportunity to use it as a metric on how this cognitive dissidence has taken a foothold in the propagandistic realm.
Generally speaking, some people who seem to fall into a certain category (being left or right), tend to trail a very particular pattern of biases. All of which are very exploitable, and they have been exploited in spectacular fashion (even if they think they are winning an argument – thus prompting them to perpetuate that behavior). To figure out if they have been deceived, sometimes it is as simple as doing a quick check by looking at their feed, their vernacular, their answers to other tweets, the memes they post, their level of misguided arrogance, etc.
It is similar but more complex when we validate and assess how some people (to include those I mentioned) have easily been manipulated by adversarial nations Information Operation campaigns, and other methods of exploiting their biases. These are synonyms for propaganda.
And if you think only Trump supporters fall for this, think again. Even those who are against Trump can be vulnerable to unwittingly support those who want to see Trump back in office. And yes, it will seem counterintuitive to them as well. I mentioned earlier in the article that this level of propaganda is at a high varsity level. Most people sadly will read tweets, or read important talking points at a very elementary level. Then it is very easy to hide gargantuan amounts of misinformation on a semi-superficial level of veracity. Again, it is designed to look legitimate. Especially to target those who superficially think they have it all figured it out. There is plenty of room to add visceral responses in whatever falls through the cracks.
But for us who have been afforded a different vantage point, and have dedicated our lives to understanding these intricacies – the falsehoods stand up like a sore thumb. Once you see it, you cannot unsee it. It does not make us “better than anybody” – what it does, however, gives us a level of awareness that is otherwise hidden in plain sight. Again, that is why I wrote an entire book about authoritarian propaganda [AUTHORITARIANISM & PROPAGANDA The Puppet Master Tools}. And, it is also the reason why I keep writing these long-form articles. Riding just ahead is extremely important, and many people are oblivious to that fact.
The political discourse is full of misinformation, and when something important comes to light, it quickly loses the spotlight to another event – suddenly this previously important event becomes forgotten, and the facts for the argument become misconstrued. In other words, it is easy to help a person you don’t like win, just by misconstruing the facts -even if in your mind you think you’re attacking this person, or “just letting the system” run its course – without really understanding if the system perhaps has been compromised.
I keep saying it, and will keep repeating it. It is designed to be that way. It can be frustrating at times when I talk to some people in Twitter, or other social media outlets and they are clearly confused about something, but in their minds, they think they are spot on, or that they had a sick burn on me or whomever they are debating.
Let me make this entirely clear. First, I have a lot better things to do that debate somebody who clearly has not made their homework; and to build on that statement – they are just not ready to make the argument because their understanding has plot holes large enough to fly jumbo jets through it. But in their mind, they might think they have it all figured it out. Again, propaganda is designed to be that way. There is always a lot more than what meets the eye, and a semantic battle is often non-compelling to the actual merits of a situation.
The Muller report found Trump guilty, but won’t not say guilty. It found what it needed to find, which was conspiracy from a foreign country to interfere with our elections, and obstruction to investigate said obstruction. That begs the question. Why did Russia (in this case) wanted Trump to win over Clinton?
Think about it for a moment, and this will [hopefully] give you the “ah ha” realization about why the Muller report is so important. Why did Russia favored Trump over Clinton to the point they would interfere with our election process?
The answer is obvious, but it is complex. The obvious part is because Clinton would have been inconvenient to Russia. That’s the obvious part (yes, I said it twice). The complex part is the thousands of reasons for why this was the case. And no, it is not just because Clinton was better prepared (like her or dislike her) than Trump for president between both candidates. Learning the intricacies of government is not something that you can do in a short amount of time. To put it in context, even our turnover whenever we have one military member taking the EXACT job we are performing, despite the fact they arrive highly trained for whenever they come from one unit to the other is a very thoroughly complex process.
The less obvious part is Trump’s character, and the character of people in his orbit – and how this can erode the trust of our institutions and the divisiveness that was going to create in the USA for years to come. In that sense, it was a huge win for them (America’s adversaries). Not only did democrats and republicans further polarized, it also destroyed in the internal political parties inside their own ranks – and further radicalized people (from either side) who think they are the only ones holding the truth – so long it is dissenting with the other side.
By enabling Trump to essentially get away with a bunch of problematic issues as they were found in the Muller Report (and his many controversies), makes it extremely convenient for America’s adversaries to push all kinds of other divisive rhetoric – and find a fertile ground to keep dividing us. And yes, they are doing that even as we speak. You’ll be surprised how many “patriots” and other unwitting acolytes repost a lot of propaganda points that are against their own interests – and most definitely against the interests of the United States of America.
Fast forward to 2024, and some people still think that the Muller Report found Trump innocent. It didn’t, many people in his orbit went to prison because of it. Trump would have joined them in a pumpkin suit IF he was NOT a Sitting President. That is why, of course, it is worth mentioning why Trump will continue seeking the Presidency. Because if he is not a sitting president, he is liable to prosecution.
Just pay attention to some of his rhetoric [especially the days circa when this article was written] asking for unabashed immunity for potential crimes. Such as when his lawyer was asked if hypothetically Trump should be prosecuted if he directed Seal Team #6 to assassinate a political opponent – and he asserted that he would be ok, unless both he gets impeached and convicted by Congress… But keep in mind that even if that ever happens, then the political opponent is already dead in this case.
This is what the Muller Report found, that Trump has proclivity to do some certainly illegal actions – and use the limitations in the legal system to get away with it. And the startling thing is that the partisanship in the system has enabled him to get away with all of this. The Muller Report is only the dress rehearsal for a lot more than followed. And it is worth reminding that the entire US Government was Republican led at that time, so there was no way they would hold Trump accountable or impeach him, because for the GOP, that would be a win to the Democrats – when in reality it would be a win for America, because it would hold every person equal under the law, regardless of party loyalty. That course of action was convenient to adversarial nations too.
How can we solve this situation? It starts with each and every one of us. I cannot change your mind, I can only give you the facts, and spark that curiosity needed to continue researching the exceedingly deep levels of context affecting this situation. I’m doing my part by writing from an objective perspective. If it was a left-wing candidate doing the same stuff I would be writing about, and condemning them too. Each person owns their own life, but their actions can positively or adversely affect collective lives if they cling to propagandistic blind spots that cloud their judgement. HLC
HLC J6 2024 – www.halflifecrisis.com Today In America
Three years ago, today Capitol Hill was assaulted by thousands of MAGA supporters. Because of that I started my series “Today in America.” Let’s talk about it.
Three years later, the “big lie” continues.
I remember it like it was yesterday. The horrific images of a mob assaulting Capitol Hill, fighting Capitol Police, smashing the windows, the gallows along people chanting “hang Mike Pence” – who was Trump’s Vice President at the time. These images were broadcasted live on TV around the world, as they were also live streamed by many insurrectionists themselves.
As the events were unfolding, I was writing my first “Today in America” article as a chronicle of what I was witnessing in real time. I invite you to read the article at the following link if you haven’t seen it yet – before you continue with the current article. If you decide to read it later, that is fine also – but by reading it, it will give you more context as I update about what has been going on in these last three years in connection to that dark day in American History.
As I was reading back my words from that day – my sentiment has not changed at all. I was just as disappointed that day as I am today. In fact, perhaps I am even more disappointed today because there is a copious number of voters who: a) have no idea about what happened that day, and b) they know what happened, and think it is very much justified.
And that either one of those is not good news at all for our country. But it is very convenient to other regimes who do not want America to remain the number one nation on the world-stage.
The denial of the 2020 presidential election is commonly referred by the “Big Lie” – and that is likely the way it will be designated as in future history books. The 2020 election was not “stolen” and it was not “rigged” as Trump and his supporters would assert. And they have tried it in numerous ways to set forth that narrative. In every legal case the claims about the 2020 election from being stolen, and legitimizing Trump as the winner has failed. That includes cases were Trump-appointed judges around the country ruled against him.
Did Trump get the most votes of any sitting US President ever? Yes, he did. But there were millions more voters who voted him out of office. And that includes copious amounts of Republican voters. Despite all the legal cases, lawsuits, investigations, recounts, etc. Trump was never able to proof election fraud to be the cause for his defeat. However, there have been thousands of cases combined against him and his followers in connection to try to change the outcome of the 2020 election.
At some point, no matter how fervently we like a person (like Trump fans), the numbers are simply not on their favor. And think about this for a moment. Many MAGA Republicans (please note that not all MAGA are fully convinced of this lie, and not all Republicans are MAGA) were perfectly ok about not contesting electoral fraud on elections they won. But they were very much calling foul for elections and they were defeated. Conversely, all blue-contenders who were defeated in that election conceded. Keep this in mind as we continue this dialog.
The critical question we should arrive to is: “Who has the most to lose if Trump was not to be elected?” The country “survived” and even thrived under the Biden administration – regardless of whether you like the guy or not. It has even been good for business. It is not perfect – there is plenty left to do. But I for one am very happy not having to wake up to a twitter storm. And yes “mean tweets” against targeted private citizens is not acceptable coming from the highest office on the planet.
So, the question remains. Who had the most to lose if Trump lost the 2020 election? Well, that is actually an easy answer. Trump himself. And he knew it. There were plenty of legal cases pending against him before he was to leave office. Many of those cases were not prosecuted while he was a sitting president (such as the findings on the Mueller report) because that was a guideline set forth by the federal government. By the way, he was found guilty under the Mueller report – he was not convicted because of the guideline I mentioned, and the at-the-time Republican controlled House and Senate saved Trump from being kicked out of office.
After the House of Representatives flipped in favor of the Democrats, Trump was impeached – twice for two additional high crimes and misdemeanors; and saved by the at-the-time Republican controlled Senate – twice!
No stranger to controversy.
For many people who had been paying attention objectively, the Trump Presidency was bizarre at best, and extremely polemic at worst. And by polemic, I mean that there was never a day were a career-ending scandal did not dominate the headlines. It became so common place that people got oversaturated with negative information about Trump. Trump and his acolytes also used this as a catalyst to excite his base – the higher the polemic, the more he would double or triple down. This perceived “martyrdom” is a very powerful tool to exploit certain biases.
But objectively, if Biden or anybody else for that matter would have done 1/1,000,000th of what Trump was getting away with – the entire right-wing media ecosystem that favors Trump would have called Biden (or any other dissenter) out on that. But for the court of public opinion, redacting particular stories is simply the status quo nowadays. Many people don’t tune in to watch something that disagrees with their world-view. The loyal eyeballs are more interested in getting more of what they come to accept as true – regardless of if it is factual or not.
And this is why it is important to understand the MAGA mentality at this point in history. Trump is NOT who is leading the MAGA movement, contrary to what many would think. There are a lot of other interested parties who are using Trump as the figure head who will spout all kinds of things that excites the base. THAT base, THAT is what they are after. The MAGA Republicans are divided in two main segments. And from those there are a lot more subtleties. But that would take me days to go through. So, this is a good starting point. Let’s explore:
JAN 6 2021 gallows capitol hill
Types of MAGA Republicans:
If you have read my articles for a while, then you have likely seen that I am not a fan of treating anybody with disrespect. That includes MAGA Republicans. I’ve met a bunch of them, and they do have their heart in the right place. We can disagree on policy, but we can generally agree on what is good for the country. Others are just very unsavory people, and have more of a “debate me bro” attitude than actually trying to find a solution that is good for the country.
What they have in common is that for some reason they find Trump appealing. With that context let’s delve into what we are seeing here. This is my own analysis, and I illustrate it in a manner that is intended to make better sense to the reader.
MAGA Type 1 – Honest to goodness Patriotic good people who actually want the best for the country.
We all have biases. It is part of being human. However, if those biases are exploited, then somebody can take advantage of our otherwise good intentions. If that ever happens to you, don’t feel bad – it is designed to be that way. And those perpetrators are very good at what they do. And what they do is turn good values into a narrative that is actually self-destructive.
Before I continue, let me emphasize that this variety of MAGA is less likely to remain loyal to Trump. Why? Because at some point they realize that some of the narratives sent their way are not as accurate as they were led to believe. In other words, they feel betrayed and their devotion turns on its head and suddenly they become very vocal dissenters from Trump. What causes them to turn against Trump? Depends on the person. But the common denominator is that they will be as vocal against MAGA as they were vocal in support of MAGA once they decided they are out of that club.
Being MAGA does not mean that a person is unintelligent, but they do have a proclivity to choose one side a lot more fervently. For example, very unlikely you will see a person being draped head to toe with Biden merch. Sure, you might see a few, but never at the scale and scope as you see MAGA regalia all over the place. And that MAGA merch tends to be expensive.
I have to emphasize that many ex-MAGA started their journey out of that movement once they stopped listening to what Trump or his acolytes were saying – and pragmatically started “challenging” what the non-MAGAS (including other Republicans) were advising. Which as simply “hey, there is a lot of official information posted in the public domain, read it and find out what they are saying.”
Many who (albeit reluctantly) actually read through the paperwork realized the obvious. A lot of important details were [perhaps] conveniently left off on any of their outlets or choices. Being TV, pundits, influencers, podcasters, whatever. And as they attempted to refute that information objectively, they realized that there was so much more data that was contradicting a lot of the narratives fed to them for years.
This is not an easy process for anybody to accept. Actually, it can be very traumatic. That is why whenever a person “hits a nerve” on during a conversation with a MAGA republican, they tend to more from the defensive into the offensive very quickly. Often using name calling, condescending epithets (such as cupcake, honey, sweetie, etc.), and suddenly shift towards a non sequitur to state “what about this or the other” – often unrelated to the topic at hand – and coincidentally, a repetition of a buzz phrase that they were fed before as an argument point.
However, when those arguments cannot be held to scrutiny, this will be very traumatic to them. It is meant and designed to be that way when the information was implanted on their minds in the first place. People hate to be told they are wrong, and will immediately gravitate towards their echo-chamber to regain that “sanity check” they desperately need as part of a confirmation bias, they might not see it as such, but that is exactly what is happening. “Somebody said something I agree with, I’ll use this as a narrative counterpoint” – I’ve seen it thousands of times.
I’m not intending to change their minds, but when the conversations happen in a public forum such as social media – other people do pay attention to the narrative, and they can see by proxy how valid or flawed an argument really is. Most people will just look, but rather not comment, or even react with a heart, or like or whatever. But the crux of the argument resonates with them. Even if it takes a while for the argument to settle in their minds. Especially if this argument is now rocking their world. People need time to process.
This segment of MAGA has and will likely flip against Trump if they are afforded the opportunity to make decisions based on the merits, and not just limited to the strategically cherrypicked talking points deemed convenient by those in the second group as described below.
MAGA Type 2 – Opportunistic people who are actively pushing a nefarious agenda that is actually eroding the country from the inside out.
Some of those who belong to this group do so wittingly, others unwittingly. I would argue that the second group is more dangerous, because they have convinced themselves that any dissenting option should be discarded outright, regardless of factual merits. These become the perfect vehicle to become the muscle and loyal soldiers to run with a narrative. What they have not realized (yet) is that this devotion is indeed disposable.
The witting group definitely know that what they are doing or advocating for can be clearly divorced from the truth and in many cases illegal. There is a reason why Trump has 90+ criminal charges against him. And no, it is not because of the mean tweets. Although that type of sophomoric behavior is also well below the prestige of the Office of the Presidency of the United Sates of America.
Surprisingly or unsurprisingly to some, Trump himself is likely not part of the higher echelons of his own MAGA movement. Some people would say that is nonsensical – but as I mentioned before, Trump is the figure head – but strategy is not his strong suit, but he is surrounded by people who can directly or indirectly take a full advantage of his clout. Despite what anybody might have perceived in the MAGA universe, Trump is not a one-man show. There is a gigantic team who help him drive the MAGA narrative. Trump himself is disposable.
What Trump was able to forge is a movement that is way bigger than him. For better or worse, it has not been without controversy. Why do you think that is? Well, if all the indictments, the impeachments, and the many controversies tell you something – it is obvious that he is not going to play by the rules (to include the rule of law). And that is [sadly] very enticing for a big segment of his base.
People on this group might end up being disloyal to Trump at some point – but they will be very loyal to the ideology behind MAGA. Trump himself has set that standard. He had disavowed hundreds of supporters whenever they became inconvenient. We have seen that on live television, on his “mean tweets” and many other platforms – such as the rallies.
Do you think he is able to orchestrate all those events by himself? Obviously not, he has teams to put that together. So, there is a vested interest in getting MAGA as a strong brand. There is plenty of money to be made for each and every one of those appearances. And the crazy amounts of merch are only a small fraction of everything else.
Just do yourself a favor. Google “MAGA Merch” and see how much all that cost. Then do a “Biden Merch” – and you will see plenty of MAGA merch being disparaging to Biden. Who do you think buys all that stuff? Obviously, a Biden supporter is not going to spend the 40 bucks on a sweatshirt that is depicting him in a disparaging manner. Also, by the way – a lot of that merch is actually made overseas. Even though some might have a “Made in USA” label.
I’ve never attended his rallies, but from people who attended – I’ve been told they are not free. And can range somewhere around $50 to $4,000 depending on what access you can afford to get. Add these costs, and it gets to be pretty penny to support him. If you attended a Trump rally, can you confirm this?
Perhaps some people think, how is it all relevant to January 6, 2021? Well, it is very much related because what I’ve described is the context that helped bring rhetoric into action. And despite what many would say to the contrary, January 6, 2021 was the date that marked an extremely violent insurrection. Some would call it a “guided tour” – and I realize it is very hard to listen to that type of narrative without wanting to understand how much misinformation and spin was needed in order to help them reach that [extremely erroneous] conclusion.
Bringing it full circle to January 6, 2021.
As much as it pains me to say this, January 6, 2021 was a day of insurrection against the United States of America. And it pains me, because it did get worse after that, despite all the accountability that was embarked via law enforcement and other legal resources to bring those who desecrated Capitol, and committed acts of violence to justice.
Over 730 people pleaded guilty, with about 170 convicted, and two acquitted (the latter only by a judge, but not by jury trial) in connection with the January 6 insurrection. That alone negates the “guided tour” narrative some have floated around. Trump himself is facing criminal charges due to his involvement in January 6, and of course is the reason why he got impeached for the second time – just days before he was supposed to leave office. Ever since, a lot of his allies have turned their backs on him. Afterall, for the first time ever in our lifetimes, we did not have a peaceful transfer of power in America.
But Trump did not act alone, he had huge teams working towards this particular goal – months in advance. For anybody paying attention, during his rallies, tweets, and other events, Trump would assert that the 2020 election was going to be rigged. Of course, there was no proof of that, but he did say that he would only accept the results if he was declared the winner.
Then it makes perfect sense why before the assault to Capitol he hosted the “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington DC. What do you think a name like that would prompt into attendees who travelled from all corners of the United States to see him speak?
Trump finally addressed the crowd at noon, but before that time his loyal supporters were listening to a bunch of speakers who were revving their discontent – and validating “the importance” that brought them to the capital that day – after traveling from all corners of the United States – largely at their own expense. Yet there were some Trump campaign donors, and even Alex Jones pledged $50,000 to the cause. But it is obvious that 50 grand is not near enough to make a dent on the gigantic amount of resources January 6 took collectively.
Some quick math considerations: -Lodging in D.C. (generally three figures a night) -Transportation to DC either driving or getting there (flights, caravan, whatever). Parking is not free most everywhere in D.C. -Transportation Inside D.C. from wherever their hotel or lodging was arranged -All the Trump regalia they draped themselves with (flags, shirts, hats, hoodies, etc.) -Meals -Time Off from work (vacation time / sick days / etc.) -Childcare (back home) for whomever that is commuting from out of area. And even if they brought their kids – they still need a place to stay while they attended the event.
I can go on, but hope this makes the point. So, even thinking about the logistical nightmare that would be for loyal Trump MAGA supporters – imagine what it would be if those storming the capitol were “posing as MAGA” as some conspiracy theorist seem to assert. I can tell you that it is hard enough for Democrats to go out and vote, unless they feel it is very-very important to do so. They would not go out of their way to invest all that time in effort just to discredit Trump.
You can see more about the timeline of events for January 6, 2021 at the following link. Credit to NPR for that report.
But again, bringing this full circle. Democrats and many other Republicans simply did not want to give Trump another chance to sit in the Oval Office. The country was not better off when he was President – it might have seen like it was from the outside in like it was good, but working for the U.S. Government when he was in Office, I can tell you that we had to do a lot of damage control every time he would go on a Twitter rampage. Although the current administration has plenty of room for improvement, at least I am not worried about what the next scandal will be.
And about scandals – there were so many under Trump, that even before we got a chance to process one, the next two were already making headlines. I’ve mentioned it before, and it is worth repeating. This creates a media oversaturation that hides in plain sight important indicators to a larger issue. Some of us who like to pay attention to that, then can identify when these “hidden issues” percolate and appear. That is one reason why I am not surprised about the geopolitical events that occur. That includes our domestic policy.
Fast forward three years, and Trump has won absolutely zero cases regarding his narrative of the election been stolen. 60+ cases spearheaded by Rudy Guiliani as his former lawyer. Guiliani not only lost every case – he had to file for bankruptcy due to a lost case for defamation. And to add insult to injury Trump never paid Guiliani for all his legal services on Trump’s behalf. Also, his legal team flipped on Trump, and will be witnesses against him in criminal court in the next few months.
Fox News had to pay a 787 million dollars settlement for reporting that the election was stolen, and blaming Dominion for this alleged irregularity. Whenever Fox News had to prove in court that what they were reporting was factual. They could not, because it was not true. Other far right news outlets were also required to fact-check themselves on air in order to avoid the lawsuit. Why did they concede to Dominion if they (these far-right news outlets) had actual proof?
The answer is obvious, there was no proof that the election was stolen. It has been recounted a bunch of times, and researched to exhaustion. The only thing proven was that this was in fact the most secure election thus far. And that would actually give credit to Trump, because was technically under his watch. Therefore, talking about the election been rigged is actually a hit on his own record, because that would mean he did not do his due diligence to have a secure election. In other words, he is searching for a lose-lose solution. But fortunately, the facts are what they are. This was a fair election – and Biden defeated Trump.
It is worth repeating what I said three years ago. Republicans are perfectly fine showing up to rallies and buying tons of merch. Democrats generally do not do that type of stuff. They will show support by reading what’s available and showing up to vote in any convenient way available to them. Sometimes it’s in person – but during the pandemic the mail-in-ballot option was a lot more attractive to them. Hence, they voted in troves by mail. Trump could have taken advantage of mail-in-ballots, but he preferred to ask his followers to go out and vote in person. And that is exactly what they did.
They showed up to the polls in person – at least the ones who were not either dead or sick with COVID during election day. The Biden campaign probably already realized that advertising on any right-wing outlet – especially those MAGA consume was just going to be a waste of money. So instead, they advertised in outlets that would target democrats and undecided voters. It worked, the popular vote for Biden superseded Trump’s tally by more than seven million votes.
However, these optics make it counterintuitive for a lot of right-wing voters to ascertain that Biden had a following. Because obviously he did not appear on their television screens. Why should he? Was he going to be able to change any MAGA Republican Minds to vote for him in 2020? There was a better chance for a cargo ship to navigate on top of a bunch body-builder squirrels marching in unison on a residential street than for a Trump voter to vote for Biden. Hence, Biden chose places where he would be better received. It is a commonsensical strategy when you think about it.
Trump has never won the popular vote, but was able to win the Electoral College in 2016. Democrats learned their lesson, because they were losing seats in the previous elections. And many could [rightfully] argue those were self-inflicted wounds. In either case MAGA Republicans endorsed by Trump did not perform very well in the polls in subsequent elections. That is of course a harsh reality many MAGA Republicans would prefer was not true. Sure, that is normal, nobody likes to be defeated. And as I said earlier, some of them really thought the country was going to be destroyed – yet, here we are – there have been some records of how well it has been going – although there is plenty of room for improvement.
For many people in the United States of America, sadly today is not a very significant date for them. For some of us who are paying attention to what is going on (sometimes on their behalf), we’ve realized already what many who got turned off by Trump eventually realized. The difference is that we did not have to either go behind bars, or lose a lot of time and money to become aware of it.
Food for thought, and cult of personality advisory.
This applies to Trump followers, but it could very well apply to any person to whom we develop a cult of personality. Trump can be charming and even funny to some. He might sound like he is “authentic” and even caring about others. But is he though? The same can be said about any person with whom you had a relationship of any kind that enjoyed your attention and devotion.
There is no shortage of people who have disavowed Trump, and I’m not talking about “Liberals” or “Progressives” or “Never-Trumpers” – I’m talking about hard-core MAGA Republicans. If you are a MAGA Republican reading my words right now, YOU might not be feeling that way towards Trump right NOW (and maybe even resent me for the time being). But it could very well be sooner or later that you will change your mind about him. Why?
Let’s do a quick parallel example to illustrate. Remember a time whenever you were hanging out with a person who had a lot of baggage and your loved ones were warning you against hanging out with this person? What happen in the end if this person was indeed full of crazy baggage? Hopefully you realized what your loved ones warned you about time and time again. Yet, if you are a living-breathing human being, there is a non-zero chance you blew off all your loved ones and decided to hang out with this person who was clearly not good for you. It could have taken days, months, even years sometimes. But eventually, you got to see for yourself what everyone warned you about.
At some point, the indicators are just too many to ignore. No matter how much you truly adore and admire a person – the facts are what they are regardless of their love and devotion to them. For an extreme example, if your child goes and murders somebody in cold blood – you might still love your child, but you will have to come to terms with the fact that your child did something that cannot be condoned, no matter how much you want to justify it.
To a much larger extent, because blood has been shed by people who want to protect Trump’s rhetoric – yes, there are people with proclivity to violence who are just waiting for marching orders. That should be very disturbing to any person. The only group who wins if we descend into a civil war are adversarial regimes who want to defeat America.
Sure, that there is a lot of emotional baggage every time indictments, lawsuits, impeachment inquiries, criticism, and so much more is being directed at Trump. But that is not YOUR baggage, that is Trump’s baggage. Bluntly put, it is cause and effect. The difference is that it is put in black and white, and he is getting a level of accountability that did not occur in the entire time of his Presidency. Fast forward to today, and there is a huge number of people who understand the dangers of putting him back in the office. And I am not talking about Democrats saying this – this is coming from Republicans.
There is no shortage of Republicans who have a lot of following all over social media disavowing Trump, and encouraging others to do exactly that. In fact, there are some who are even rooting for Biden on this election, because they feel that is the best course of action at this point in our history, and for our country. You’re welcome to agree or disagree with them about this. But the question should be “why are they going through such lengths?” If [on first impression] handing the steering wheel to the Democrats is not “on their best interest.”
Well, this is the truth, party loyalty is not everything. The best interests of the country are nonpartisan. Sadly, there is a very real threat of a non-insignificant number of MAGA Republicans who have a proclivity for violence. Most of the countries prefer not to give power to those few people who could do great amounts of damage to the rest of the country should they get unlimited power.
January 6, 2024 is a wakeup call that has been snoozed for three years. It is a call for people to understand what is truly affecting our political discourse, and if whomever is enjoying our loyalty, devotion and affection is the right fit for ALL Americans. Some might think that only “certain” Americans are to be in a privileged position – then that is not America – America is a land of equal opportunity and accountability for everybody based on their merits and their character.
I will finish by saying that the rhetoric of a 2024 stolen election by the Democrats is already floating around in the national discourse – mainly promulgated by Trump himself. Much like he did for 2020. That is propaganda, it is not true. The voters will decide in the end if Trump is given a second chance. That is if he can pass the Supreme Court case that is reviewing the Colorado decision to get him off the ballot. The case is going to be heard in the near future. And yes, Trump was removed from the Ballots in those states because of the January 6, 2021 insurrection.
I don’t want to think too hard on what the future will hold, but what I can tell you is that nothing that is happening has surprised me. I have my suspicion of what the US Supreme Court will rule – We’ll see if I am still right. My hunch is that it will be voted by party lines letting Trump stay in the ballot, thanks to the Conservative SCOTUS majority. If that is not the case, I would be very surprised. But if he is disqualified, I can only begin to imagine how divisive the next several months will be. HLC
HLC Today in America 22DEC – www.halflifecrisis.com – Today in America
America’s polarization is accelerating, the early drumming of a potential civil war is being played – and I don’t like it. This is what we can do about it!
Politics are still irrelevant – yes really…
It has been a while since the last time I got a chance to write a “Today in America” article – my favorite series on this blog-site. But that has not stopped my predictions from becoming true. What I find most disturbing of all right now is that the early drumming marching set-up for a potential Civil War – these indicators are ongoing. Is that parabolic? I wish it was, but the reality is a lot more complex and dynamic.
Politics are not as relevant as some people might think, because this visceral response is not about actual policy or doctrine. Those attributes are incidental at best. They only serve as a way to pick a “team” to “root for” or to “feel” part of. Never mind that the actual platform policies have been already conflicting with their own narratives for years. It is important to highlight that not everybody feeling compelled to “fight” this civil war is actually a “bad person” – many are just confused. Especially some who are aggressors who think they are in fact defenders.
And in this confusion, they can feel vindication for their nefarious actions – THAT is why I find this situation most disturbing in these early states of the potentially-looming horrific divide. I’ve written before – several times, that for example, it is futile to label so called “MAGA” Republicans in any derogatory epithet and expect that is enough to reach a solution. Communication breakdown is a key component of division. It is intended to be that way. In simpler words it’s a trap. I interact with people who have become victims of propaganda pretty much every day.
Many of them are honest-to-goodness good people, or at the very least their heart is in the right place. However, their decisions are factored with faulty data. Then the correct answer to them becomes counterintuitive, and arguing with them tends to becomes frustrating or even futile. Especially if they realized they are wrong. Some of them then just really want to piss you off. For others it actually becomes a traumatic event. Facts, and rationally be damned at that point.
But it is this lack of rationality that is so enticing to those demagogs who want to push a divisive narrative into an action. Whatever this action might be, so long it is self-serving. If does not matter if you are for or against it. It only matters if the conversation breaks down to the point that we stop listening to each other, and forgo any actual substance in the argument’s merit. Especially if we happen to agree on key points. Again, this is by design, and I’ve been talking about it for years, and I am quite frankly starting to get desperate, because we’re quickly approaching the point of no return.
What IS happening to America?
The latest incendiary issue to affect us all spans from the verdict ruled by the Supreme Court in the State of Colorado. On December, 19 2023 – the Colorado Supreme Court voted to remove Donald J. Trump from the primary ballot. Sure, there are a bunch of other things going on, but this is a catalyst for a lot more than what meets the eye.
The grounds for the removal were put in effect because of a provision on the 14th Amendment of the United Sates Constitution that prohibits a person involved in an insurrection to run for office. This a provision that dates back to the times after the Civil War. In essence politicians who were pro-Confederacy were (and former Confederate themselves) sent to Congress by those same states who wanted to separate themselves from America.
Unsurprisingly, they were not very cordial to anybody who was not pro-Confederacy – yes even after the American Civil War. Fast forward to December 2023, love or hate Trump is not the issue here. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY would have been able to run for office with his legal rap in a realistic Presidential-race. In fact, with all his 90+ criminal charges and other civil charges he would most likely not been able to apply for even a low-level government job anywhere. Not as a civilian, not as a military… he would have not been accepted. I know that for a fact, because I am quite familiar with the process, having been working with the government for over 20 years.
And of course, it was recently broadcasted that more criminal charges might be added in connection with election interference. This time in the State of Michigan. So even if this pattern of misbehavior was a coincidence, at some point we have to face the reality that the probably for coincidences have long been exhausted. It behooves to see the facts very pragmatically – especially for MAGA supporters. Because if he is actually guilty, they are defending the indefensible. And it also becomes their legacy. Not unlike knowing that you’ve gotten swindled by somebody and giving them your sustained undeterred devotion.
To put this in context, every U.S. Government worker – being civilian or military must have at a minimum impeccable trustworthiness, loyalty, and character. If any of those are impacted negatively in any way, then the person would not be selected for that job, and other candidates who do meet that minimal threshold would be considered for that (or any position) available. Hence it is only logical that for the most exulted office in the land, this minimum threshold should not be an exception. In fact, a lot more is needed of the incumbent or aspirant for that job. Sure, that Trump is innocent until proven guilty, but likewise when there are open cases (especially criminal cases) people applying for a government job do not get hired until it gets sorted out. Why should a candidate be different? Because he’s popular? There are other candidates who could represent the ticket who do not have the same list of charges.
Let’s do a quick case study example. Let’s say that a person who is seeking a job in a junior position which requires a security clearance has gotten into some legal trouble. The case is still pending. For example, let us say that the job deals with the maintenance of a particular weapons system. The person might or might not be innocent of the charges, but how do we know for sure? So, the question is: Should this person be hired regardless? Spoiler alert, the answer is NO.
And that is exactly what does happen in government – and it has for years. Even contractors have a lot of limitations based on placement and access. That being the case, what should we expect for the highest office on the land, the office with the greatest placement and access of all? The answer is obvious. And we would have to be very naïve to think that accruing 90+ criminal charges, being twice impeached, and a plethora of other civil cases (which he has not won, or is losing) it is actually a very hard list of trouble to amass for any person.
Are ALL those charges frivolous? Are they? Are the prosecutors going to risk their career risking a mistrial? Also, worth mentioning, why are most of Trump’s lawyers and co-defendants jumping ship and testifying against him? At some point, the “benefit of the doubt” becomes more dubious than simple apathy for this man. However, his base will happily listen and believe anything that comes out of his mouth, and his acolytes. However, they will disavow and even go on the offensive against those very acolytes, should they start speaking out of turn against Trump.
Some of those acolytes were themselves on the offensive of others beforehand – until it was their turn to be under the Trump train wheels. For many of us, we are not surprised to see this happening. Being Trump or anybody else, the actions are more important than who is enacting them. If Biden was doing the same things, I would be writing about him too. But I digress. However, there is no shortage of GOP members, to include presidential-hopefuls who are galvanizing in favor of Trump. I was actually surprised that many of them would actually take themselves off the ballot in Colorado to support him. And that of course might have been naïve of me to think that they had some principles on the actual merits.
The promoter for that was Presidential Hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy. He essentially dared the other candidates to do so. I let Ramaswamy know every now and the of them via twitter my opinion when he pops on my feed and his words are dangerous to national security– not that I will ever get a response. But I want to do my part, even if he does not understand why. I always ask him to have his staff contact me for him to understand the unintended consequences for his often-misguided policies. In either case I was hoping deep inside that the GOP hopefuls would take the hint that this is not a battle they want to fight. Maybe a tactical advantage -because of Trump’s base, but the pages of history will state the truth – they are right now advocating for supporting a person who has been guilty of several crimes, insurrection in particular – and punishing their own campaigns in the process.
I was specially disappointed at Chris Christie who tends to be a very vocal dissenter of Trump – nowadays. He has of course been humiliated by Trump before multiple times, and despite this Christie was also one of his most fervent supporters. I don’t know if he realizes that cameras do record what he was saying. But his flip flopping and excuses for his actions might be bought by a few people, but most people don’t trust him. Hence the polls show it on the numbers for support among the GOP themselves. The blue side would be goose eggs.
But I realize that to an extent that is irrelevant. Just now I’ve been speaking with somebody on social media who is very much convinced of narratives that have been fed to him for years – and parrots propaganda points with a lot of confidence. Even though his arguments have the water integrity of a hair net. Facts be damned. But the problem is a lot deeper than what we are seeing now, this propagandistic narrative has been building up for years, and it is accelerating. And it needs to stop. The only way to do so is by educating people who are perhaps blissfully unaware of all this chaos happening around them – to wake up!
The drumming of a Neo-American Civil War needs to be stopped.
Yes, it might seem like my articles turn into a shameless plug for my books, but I wrote them because of what is happening right now. Everybody is “talking” about the symptoms of authoritarianism and some of the rhetoric, but missing the point by a factor of galactic proportions. This goes for mainstream media, pundits, and a bunch of other – perhaps well intentioned locutors. They are falling into the trap too. My books, just like my writing pertaining to these articles, are not a vanity affair. I am very disturbed by the events in the world, and I will use my platform, however (relatively) small at this time to do my part.
J. Marcelo Baqueroalvarez Authoritarianism & Propaganda The Puppet Master Tools.
We have to understand that propaganda is designed to be subtle in execution – even if the reactions it incites are very much on the nose. I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but I is not. You see, a propagandist plants some seeds, and these ideas are churning on people’s minds. They become repeated from different angles, validated by other people repeating them, and suddenly they become normalized. It does not matter if you are in the favoring or dissenting side of the [chosen] issue. That is not important as much as how willing are you to be divisive against “the others.”
If you are on the side that is divisive – but on rooting for the home team, good news! They got you – or you will become a token figure to be made an illustrious example to the larger audience. A picture-perfect speaker.
If you’re rooting for the visitors’ team, stand by. They will either discredit you or try to quiet you down any way possible. This is what I realize more and more is happening to the rest of the world who has an important message to share. It won’t be surprising for you to see that some of the people with the most short-sighted and off-the-wall ideas are getting a lot of attention – AND followers! And so are those who are distracting people from the real situation that is affecting their very lives. Meanwhile, trying to get your foot through the door to speak your voice will feel like screaming into a void. I know I’ve felt that way more often than I wish, though things are turning the tide – but perhaps not fast enough, given the urgency of the situation.
I’ve been pondering on that instance – though I am grateful that we have reached readers in 79+ countries, and there is a grass-roots audience who is receptive to the message we are conveying. But there are millions out there who will prefer to be disengaged, but who will affect all our lives, like it or not. I’ll continue doing my part to help the “algorithms” (which is the larger audience) find my content and spread my message.
I do get offers from many people who claim to be able to do so, but they haven’t read a word I’ve written. I prefer not to give them my business if they haven’t taken that crucial first step.
But in the meantime, this “junior clout” makes it very difficult to get across to others who need to hear this message. Because of the inheriting emergency for this topic. For that reason, I’ve decided not to be subtle at all, and I am going to be engaging with people who have large platforms until they get sick of me. Or finally re-engage. I am not rude, but I am going to be appearing more and more on their feeds until those who review the” engagement” finally get the epiphany I’m trying to transmit.
The truth is that I cannot keep waiting until maybe one day those with a larger platform figure out who I am and what I was trying to say. I do this project (Half Life Crisis) on my own (my daughter is my team mate, but she is only 12) while trying to retire from Active Duty Navy – so this is incumbent on me to put this together in the most effective manner. That is why I keep asking for help to spread my message. This is no different, but the reason why I say that is because I see a neo-American Civil War approaching, and by the time I finally reach some clout it might be a moot point.
Nothing that has happened in the last several years has surprised me, and so far, I’ve been spot on in every prediction. The only way to stop it is if people understand what is REALLY at stake and how to reverse these bad trends. It is disturbing to me that most people I speak to have no idea about the insurrection on January 6, 2021. Some are even in denial that for the first time in our lifetimes the former and current Presidents of the United States were not present together for the peaceful transfer of power.
Those controversial moments are wonderful news for other nations who are suppressing their people under authoritarian regimes. “If it happens in the United States, then it is very easy to let it happen in any other country around the world.” This new trend should be a very disturbing situation to anybody. It most definitely is very disturbing to me. That is why I keep writing about it.
I realize that the tenor of my article is a bit darker. I don’t wish it to be that way. But the fact is that we have to adapt to the environment, and the environment is dangerously chaotic. There have been a lot of instances where violence and dehumanizing rhetoric continues to normalize. In fact, some people even seem to welcome it. When people such as Trump call their opposition “vermin” or “poisoning the blood” of our country. Those were words used by Hitler himself.
When Trump says point blank that he would be a dictator “only on day one” – that should not be tongue in cheek. Most disturbing is the fact that his base actually cheers and applauds, yet they don’t realize that this divisive rhetoric is eerily similar to what others have communicated before some of the worst chapters in our history.
The solution is ensuring that people go out and vote understanding what they are really voting for. Understand the policies, and understand the urgency of the situation. There is a much larger world than the United States alone. And some of those authoritarians have already galvanized their power over there. It is going to happen here sooner than we know – but we still have time to work together.
If you haven’t yet, please read and share my books with everyone you know, so we can continue this important conversation. Time is running out, and anything else we try to do will become a moot point. I’m doing my part, the best I can – but I am only one man. Thank you for being part of this solution! HLC
HLC Today in America 22NOV2023 – www.halflifecrisis.com – Today in America
Visiting Washington D.C. is always a treat; even though there are a lot of people moving and shaking “stuff” around – not all of them are great people, though.
It has been a while since I’ve written one of my favorite article series, “Today in America.” A lot has happened since my last update from November 29, 2023. If you are new to this series, these are meant to be a chronological snapshot of what is going on in the country. My analysis is not partisan, I don’t lean left nor right. I will hold either side accountable. Facts do not care about political leanings anyway.
Why haven’t I written a “Today in America” in such a long time?
Well, there are several reasons why. Primarily because there is simply so much going on, and quite honestly it was very hard to keep up with all the developments. Also, because a lot of what it is going on in America does pertain directly with what my debut book “Authoritarianism & Propaganda | The Puppet Master Tools” speaks about. In other words, even though I wrote this book several months ago, the premise of what I described is happening in real time.
Misinformation is rampant. Half-truths, faux outrages, and other misdirection’s are taking place far and wide. I am actually very concerned about that, because that was yet another prediction that I had assessed could happen. So, what it is happening? The polarization of our people. There is a growing number of people who are at each other’s throats, but they actually agree on key points. But since they are in “opposing teams” – they stopped listening to the facts. And of course, stopped listening to each other for quite a while.
To bring clearer context onto this issue, let’s start by defining a “fact.” A fact is something that is irrefutable. In order to be irrefutable, it must be logical, measurable, and demonstrable. If it cannot meet this criterion, it becomes conjecture. Conjecture is muck like saying “it’s like your opinion.” Opinions and facts are not synonymous, though some opinions could be valid if based on fact. The problem is that opinions can also be based on conjecture or incomplete context. That latter point is what we are observing here for the purpose of this article.
The political division.
For the purposes of this article I will not be leaning in favor of any right or left leaning figures. I will let you make that decision on your own. However, I will be citing examples, and these examples are largely coming from the very same political party. So that way you don’t have to be angry at me, I am quoting people in their own political party. If fact a quick [google] search, using any browser of choice will give you a lot of videos (from their own mouth) stating countless examples for this.
As we are getting closer to another presidential cycle, there has been no shortage of unprecedented events. Although the incumbent U.S. President Joe Biden does not enjoy stellar ratings at this point in time, there are also several contenders for the Democrat ticket. Biden, Williamson, Uygur, and Phillips. Runing as independents we have Kennedy, West, and Stein. And for the Republican ticket there are a bunch – Trump, Haley, Ramaswamy, Hutchinson, Binkey, DeSantis, Christie, and Burgun. And a few others who already dropped from the presidential race are Suarez, Hurd, Johnson, Elder, Pence (yes, former Trump’s Vice-President), and Scott.
Every last one of these candidates are running for the highest office in the land, and arguably the most influential office in the world. Pop quiz, how many of these candidates faces would you be able to pick out on a line? Further, what is their political platform, doctrine, and policies they are running on – For EACH and EVERY one of these? Afterall, any person seeking the presidency needs to have a reason to run – a reason other than a vanity project. For a voter, not knowing the answer to this last basic question is embarrassing at best, and highly problematic at worst because the fate of possibly of millions of lives rely on whether voters electing the next leader of the free world understands this simple premise.
If you are an American citizen who is allowed to vote, and you do not know the answer to this question – and you feel bad about it. It is ok, fortunately you still have plenty of time to figure the answers out before you show up and vote. And yes, I mean understand what your favorite guy or gal’s platform, doctrine and policies are all about… AND what are their Opposition’s policies and doctrines. Yes, for voting it is important to understand what the other person is actually running on. And by knowing I don’t mean hearing it from just your favorite talking head on whatever medium you consume. Chances are that some of that key information is not making its way to you if it is politically convenient to whomever has vested interested in a political figure.
This is what we call an echo-chamber. This can be up to a point acceptable, but often it can also be very-very bad. But even if a person love being in their echo chamber, it is best to also peek out from this bubble objectively and hear what the other side has to say. That does not mean you will agree with those outside your bubble (not necessarily at least) and with what they are saying. But if you are objective, you might be surprised how much you might have in common with the actual people outside your bubble – not necessarily with the talking points spewed by either politician.
I am personally very tired of hearing this “left against right,” and “right against left.” Sure, that either side could be wrong about something or the other, and one side even more erroneous than the other… but what we are not taking in consideration is that a lot of people who are making decisions about who they will support (politically) might or might not be deciding based on facts. Demagogs have a proclivity to hide a lot of important facts and data points, and then their loyal base only gets to hear the more incendiary and visceral narratives. Of course, that fires-up the bases, and can even make that sweet cookie-baking grandma to get off her cozy home to “fight like hell.” Yes, that does happen – especially in America, somebody not too far from you is packing a firearm with a round in the chamber. Yes, even some sweet cookie-baking grandmas.
And no, gun-loving American people are not only limited to red-meat-eating Republicans, but there is also no shortage of Democrats who love their guns. So, thinking that only one side is holding all the firepower is misinformed at best, and delusional at worst. Instances of violence among our people are on the rise, and I am not just talking about mass shootings, even though as of the time I write this article there has been 617 mass shootings in the USA. Just a couple days ago another person got killed and one other got injured in Meridian, Mississippi.
But just for some context, here are some quick stats as of the moment I am typing this:
38,671 Total number of Gun Violence deaths.
From that big number above, we derive the numbers below (these do not include all gun violence)
17,023 Homicides/Murder/Unintentional deaths
21,648 Suicides
33,239 Injuries
617 Mass shootings
33 Mass Murders
Why is this important? Because what we are going to do (or not do) about gun violence is also on the ballot. It has been part of many political platforms by the way – and for a long time. Maybe not so on the nose with some politicians, but it is definitely in a politician’s agenda, donors, and potential special interests’ groups. That is why I ask if you understand every running candidate’s policy. Sadly, huge swaths of people vote solely based on party lines, and some others cast their vote on whether they “like” the person, rather than really understanding their policies. I know that for a fact. Even anecdotally whenever I’ve asked around – 9 times out of 10 it boils down to the fact they like the guy (or sometimes gal). You can try it yourself, especially with people with a dissenting political leaning. Although you might also be surprised with people in your own political party. Surprise!
During my last “Today in America” article I spoke a lot about the new Speaker of the House and his very strong biblical devotion. I went on to say that although that his faith his prerogative, his particular religious views are not consistent with the majority of Americans – including Christians. There are several thousand denominations, so that on itself gives quite some room for dissenting views on religious doctrinal practices. Why am I bringing that topic up? Because it is significant – although the majority of people do not want to impose their version of theocracy. Some others might say “good – let’s impose our theocracy;” until they realize that that version of theocracy does not jive with a lot of the doctrines they actually profess or worship. That is in the ballot too – by virtue of the religious leanings of the different candidates.
It is interesting [and disturbing] to see the level of polarization in our country based on religion and politics – and for anybody who was not aware, these two factors (because they are multipliers) tend to be very intertwined. Add to these factors the special interests’ groups with power and money, and the return of investment from some non-elected entities can very well (and very much do) affect our political system. Especially when it comes to money into politics, a regular good American would have an exponentially hard time even making it to the ballot. Yet the fact remains that most people sitting in an elected position – either at a local or state level; and of course, even at the federal level are somebody their constituents have no idea who they are.
Another quick pop quiz. Who are your city council members? Who is your district’s House Representative at the federal level? Or even who is your state senator at your state level (not the federal level – that’s a different set of two people). All these and more elected leaders affect our present and future. And if you ever wondered how that is sometimes, we get stuck with candidates for the presidential ticket that you don’t particularly fancy – well, the race started way before any of them started their presidential bid.
I know, politics can be so boring – and literally anything else could seem more appealing. And in a way it is kind of designed to be that way. It is easier to pay attention to anything else than what might seems like a very boring legislature, debates on bills, and a bunch of other things that seemed to be “the politicians problem.” Well, their abilities or lack thereof to work together affects the entire country. And unfortunately, any buzz about politics tends to be clinging on the sensationalism. Chances is that you only know some politician’s faces at the national level when somebody does something “newsworthy.” And by newsworthy, it is often linked to a scandal.
Capitol Building in Washington D.C.
We Americans are actually more similar than we think.
I can tell you the surefire way to shut down a civilized dialog among dissenting parties. Call them some demeaning epithet or insult their intelligence (especially if they are wrong), and whatever is it that they are for or against in that moment will not be a matter of “lets open some dialog,” but rather an “I must win this battle, no matter what” type scenario. It happens, and yes, people on the right or the left have been very many participants in this division. And it has been ramping up lately. With this I am not saying that they will automatically “agree” with one another, but at the very least they will truly understand what they are disagreeing about.
Take for example the incumbent President Joe Biden. There is a lot of people – even on the left who are not fully supportive of him. In fact, I’ve mentioned before President Biden is pretty much to the right of the left side of the political spectrum. Then again being left or right on its own it is not a bad thing. There have been solid governments leaning either side. The key is on the leaning and not imposing. That is how we can work together – even if we disagree. It provides balance.
However, there is a non-insignificant number of people who are denying the legitimacy of the election that placed Biden in office. This aside from being wrong, demonstrably wrong – there have been dozens of cases challenging the election and none – as in zero – were able to prove that the election was rigged. Biden simply had more votes both in the popular vote and the electoral college than Trump. Even though it is a fact that Trump got the most votes from any sitting President in history. Good for him, but Biden (love or hate the man) simply got more.
The 2020 election was very contentious. Yet there were simply more people who would rather vote for a three-ring-circus monkey than to allow Trump another term. In other words, not voting for Biden, but voting against Trump. And even among former and current Trump voters who go (and went) to his rallies, they do concede that they are not fully onboard with his antics, although they still consider Trump the best choice for their party. I am not here to demonize Trump; some would argue he can do that very well on his own. And to be honest, for some reason a lot of his base very much loves that type of personality trait. However, that very same personality trait very much turns-off a wide swath of Americans – and these also include republicans. Many of which have been very vocal against Trump. Look it up, there is plenty of public-record video about it.
For anybody who was not aware Trump has been facing a lot of legal circumstances. There are four federal criminal cases, a major civil case, and a bunch of other legal woes with his name on the other side of “vs.” Yes, it is unprecedented that a former American President have been charged with just shy of 100 criminal convictions.
Additionally, quite recently (July 2023) Trump was also guilty of sexual abuse and rape. This last case was under trial in a civil court of law in NY. You can look it up, it is in the public record. Some of Trump’s still ardent supporters will deny the validity of these and all other claims and charges. Unfortunately to Trump, there is very strong evidence against him in all of these cases. And prosecutors who are indicting Trump at that level are not going to risk setting a case forward (and risk losing their bar license) unless they have irrefutable evidence. And it is worth mentioning that many of Trumps former attorneys have also flipped on him. I’ll let you decide for yourself as why does that jumping ship from former loyal followers keep happening to Trump.
You’re welcome to read the full copies of all the criminal indictments in this very site. I posted these articles not because I particularly like or dislike Trump. I would have written a similar article if ANY former U.S. President was indicted under those circumstances. The indictment documents are long, but they are well written – so it is worth the time you invest reading them. You don’t have to agree with the prosecutor – that is why there is a trial to reach the truth. But at least you will know what it is about. Another interesting fact linked to these cases is that also most of his co-defendants have jumped ship and are testifying against him on these criminal charges.
And we are not talking about never-Trumpers, these guys worshiped the very floor he walked upon. Not anymore though. How can this happen?
Well, I’ve mentioned before in this site and in other writings I’ve set forth. This is what I call the “ex-significant other effect.” Have you ever been in love? I mean like head over heels, writing letters past midnight until sunrise, butterflies in your stomach, and losing all rationality over somebody?” Many of us have. If you are still together with that person and you share a happy life, good on you! So do I, I love my wife. But there were some exes-and they probably had a similar level of devotion. Some relationships ended in amicable terms, some perhaps not so much. Let’s see what happens with the latter.
For example, when a person for whom you would have given your life before, for some reason falls out of favor… you fall out of love. Then suddenly you realize that what a lot of people were “warning you” against this person, or some of those premonitions that made you irk – but kept hidden will haunt you. This is traumatic to any person. Especially if you have devoted your trust, loyalty, devotion and even love to this individual. In our own minds we will do all kinds of mental gymnastics to justify any shortcomings they have – when they are still the object for our devotion. Until at some point you cannot longer justify this – and you move on.
In politics something similar happens. Those same very ardent supporters can swing the pendulum 180 degrees and the same energy and devotion becomes the antithesis that was previously favoring that person. Especially if people felt they were manipulated or cheated upon. Have you ever been cheated upon? How did that feel? Have you at some point a person who you loved more than anything is somebody you prefer not to associate with anymore? Again, something similar happens in politics.
This might sound anecdotal, but I have met a lot of fervent former-Trump supporters. This analogy came out of their mouths unprompted. That does not always mean they swung to the left-leaning politics side. A lot of them remained fervent republicans – just no-longer-Trumpers. We have seen this effect a lot in the last several elections. That is why in 2020 Trump was not elected, but a lot of Republicans chose to keep their Senators in power on that election.
Then the Republicans themselves started distancing themselves from Trump as the 90 percentiles of his endorsed candidates did not win their political races. But of course, despite this there is no shortage of people who would wrap themselves in Trump regalia and camp-out at a rally venue hours before the main event, or even overnight prior to the event.
Seeing it from an objective manner, we would have to admit that it is quite a visceral response to go through such lengths to see somebody speak. His followers really-really like this man. Conversely, democrats do not really do that kind of thing for a candidate of their choice. Generally speaking, if they support somebody, they will cast their vote, but not really make much of an event about it. That is why support for a Democrats will seems non-existent to anybody who prefers to show support in a similar manner like MAGA Republicans do for their candidates.
But despite the overt devotion towards their candidate of choice, both Democrats and Republicans generally want what is best for their country. Sure, that in either crowd you could find some awful people from any walk of life, but I’m referring in this case that the majority of Americans are very good people. And I can tell you firsthand how amazingly caring American people are. When people are speaking of American exceptionalism, it refers to the actual candor of their people. ALL people who come from all walks of life. Yes, that includes Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. And yes, American Citizens do come from every country in the world.
Which begs the question, why would be anybody else be interested in dividing our people with petty differences? Well, I am glad you asked. I wrote entire books about it. “Authoritarianisms & Propaganda | The Puppet Master Tools,” and “Woke & Proud | The Charlatans’ Inconvenience.” And aside from the obvious plug – well, I did write those books for a valid reason. And that is to bring us together as people. There are plenty of opportunists out there who want to destroy the United States from the inside out. Eroding it away from what makes it truly great – their people.
Visiting Washington D.C. with my girls.
My wife Alicia was in the other side of the country visiting her family for the last week and change. Sammy and I drove up to Washington D.C. to meet her plane and have the closest thing we have had to a family vacation. Last time we had a chance to do something similar was in New York City after a long underway. It is wonderful being together in our nation’s capital.
This is also Sammy’s first time visiting the District of Columbia. It is actually interesting that some people don’t realize that Washington D.C. is not in any actual state in the United States of America. It is actually under the exclusive jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress. So, it is not a state either – although it is [however] surrounded by Virginia, and Maryland.
By the way this is a pretty expensive city (or rather a district), but it is worth visiting. This is a wonderful town full of history, awe-inspiring sites, museums (which most are actually free), and so much more. Are there also a bunch of terrible people roaming around this town? – Well, yes there are. But for the most part I’ve always had a wonderful time when I’ve stopped by to visit. We spent Saturday night to enjoy Sunday in D.C. and drive back thereafter. This won’t be the last time we’ll be here, but it was enough for Sammy’s first visit. She was very happy to be back home.
As you walk through the nation’s capital it hits you… people in this town are entrusted with the decisions that will affect not only every Americans’ future – but pretty much the rest of the world. Agree or disagree with what I am about to say – well… not everybody is fond of the great U.S.A. There are several adversaries and even some other countries not-so-aligned with the U.S.A. that would be very happy to see the country lose its influence in the world stage. How would they achieve that goal? By dividing the people. This is not an easy process, but if you’ve been paying attention in the last several years – this internal division is taking a lot of traction.
To be honest, I wanted this to be a feelgood iteration of my series “Today in America.” I will be writing in a separate article about some of the insane amount of political circus going on in Washington D.C. – and there is plenty to speak about. But for a moment I rather focus on us – we the people. The actual constituents. Especially those voters who end up electing some of the people who are happy to do everything except actually governing in support of ALL U.S. Persons.
And seriously, that is an unfortunate situation. We have politicians who have introduced ZERO legislation – but they have been happy to pursue all kinds of political attacks with ZERO viable policies attached to that political theater. And that is why I mentioned that it is up to us – the people to understand what is actually affecting our lives. It takes very little digging to uncover the gaslighting that does take place. There is no shortage of politicians who will lie in front of the entire country with a straight face.
Further there is no shortage of politicians who repeat adversarial nations talking points and propaganda VERBATIM! Now, you would hope that a politician would not be as F-ing stupid as to do that. Yet that does happen… too often in fact. Do they realize it? Sometimes I wonder. Are these politicians that dense or are they actually cognizant to the fact that this rhetoric and misguided policy goes actually against the United States.
I’ve mentioned in my books that most good people who for whatever reason make a wrong decision – are often victims of the circumstances. In other words, an adversary (and this could be also a propagandist, and authoritarian, a charlatan, or any other grifter) will give an unsuspecting victim a very redacted version of the full context. The result is that otherwise good people make wrong decisions because they factored their criterium on flawed data points.
People wanting safe communities, living wages, reasonable taxes, national security, prosperity, rights to be happy, freedom of (and from) religion, freedom of speech, right to defend themselves, right to express themselves in a way they are considered people, among so many other values – those are not uniquely Republican, Democrat, or third-party policy points. Those are American values. And yes, you can argue those are human values, no matter what country they are originally from.
When things start getting awry is when there is an overreach over people’s rights and freedoms. In other words, what does make this country great – and it is already great… it is that if you dissent with the federal government, the government is not going to chase you from your house and put a couple of bullets on your head and kill you and everything you ever loved.
There are countries in the world as we speak that will severely punish a person if they dare speaking against their leadership. We – the USA are not there – yet. It is up to us to keep us at bay from that nefarious reality. No, we are not there – yet… but this division is getting a lot closer each day. That is why I keep writing this stuff. I want to do my part to avoid it. But I cannot do this alone. And even if my words do not resonate right away, at least it will be recorded with a time stamp in history that I did what I could, using whatever platform I could find to broadcast my message.
I’ve studied authoritarianism & propaganda for several decades – I’ve lived through it before coming to USA. I know what it looks like. Propaganda is here in America also – alive and well. But it does not have to remain as such. In another manuscript that I wrote which will be released next year I speak about conflict management. And I say something to the effect of this: “If you want to win an argument, don’t look at the adversary unless you’ve objectively looked at yourself first.”
If you are very patriotic and want the best for America, you owe it to yourself to truly understand the policies and doctrines of your politician of choice AND their opposition. You’re welcome to take with a grain of salt any dissenting evidence. But you must also review it objectively as though it would be affecting another person who is not the politician who currently enjoys your devotion.
For example, if you’re a Trump supporter and you are not happy about all the indictments; well, you don’t have to be happy about it, but you can know the details about them (as in plural). These documents are publicly available, you can read them yourself. As I said, I’ve even spoken about that in this very website. And if the question is “what about Biden?” Well, what about him? You can bet your bottom dollar that if he gets indicted, I’ll be writing about him too.
By the way, out of his own mouth (Biden), he said that he wants nothing to do with Trump’s legal issues. Hence, he has not publicly commented about it. If you find a clip of him doing so (commenting on Trump’s legal issues in detail) from his own mouth, please share it with the group. President Biden himself is also under investigation for some classified documents found in his property. The difference is that he was cooperating with law enforcement. Thus far I have not been able to find anything in the public record accusing Biden of any criminal offenses. And trust me, if there was a three-there, his political opposition would have been implacable in posting that evidence far and wide. If you have seen it, please feel free to share it with all of us.
And by that I don’t mean some talking head who already dislike Biden. I am talking about actual court documents such as the ones I have posted in my site about Trumps criminal cases. I am not asking you to like or dislike Trump or Biden, that decision is all yours. If the indictments had a “vs. Biden” rather than a “vs. Trump,” you would see me speaking about it in exuberant detail. In either case, Trump is still leading the Republican primary by a long shot. Although there have been court cases that are challenging him if he can even be in the ballot due to the third amendment.
My assessment, based on current events I would not be surprised if we will have another Trump vs. Biden for the U.S. Presidency in 2024. But it is worth mentioning that both candidates will have a lot of other voters in the race that will be syphoning votes away from them. Also, there are a lot of new voters this time around because they have come of age. This includes a bunch of new younger 18–22-year-olds. Whomever they decide to follow could very well decide this next election. What are the current candidates doing for this new generation? That’s probably something worth looking into – for any politician. Just saying.
I’ll close by saying that we are the UNITED States of America. And United is the operative word here. That means we the people, we decide – together. HLC
HLC Racketeering – www.halflifecrisis.com – Today in America
The President of the United States of America must hold the highest standards of conduct. This RICO criminal case is a huge deal in our American History.
I’ve been wanting to write this article for a while now.
Yes, this is about Former U.S. President Trump 4th Indictment. This time 13 out the 41 criminal charges related to election interreference in Fulton County, Georgia. This is yet another part of what is known as “The Big Lie” where Trump asserted that he won the presidency in 2020. He did not, and this gigantic indictment goes into painstaking detail. Former President Trump has been arrested [yet again] along with many co-conspirators. Him and all others are currently out on bail with many conditions for their release before their court dates. Violations to these agreements could result in Trump incarceration until trial.
Before we move any further, please check the link below to read the indictment. It is quite long. If you decide to read this article before reading the indictment that is fine too. But reading it first will give more context to what I’m speaking of in this article.
This court document, like the others Jack Smith’s team has prepared before, is very easy to read even if you’re not an attorney, except that it is super long. But, then again, there is plenty to digest for this high-profile case. As a reminder, Former U.S. President Trump and all the co-conspirators indicted are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. At the moment of this article, they all pleaded not guilty and they are pending trial. Some of them requested speedy trial dates, and the court accepted this proposal.
Not everybody, but mainly Trump is happy about speeding up the trial date.
Where to start?
There’s so much to talk about in this case that, literally as I type this, more information is coming out to light from co-defendants and a bunch of twists and turns that add to the story. Note that I said “add” and not “change.” Instead of citing everything point by point- otherwise this article would be a book with many volumes- I will instead do my best to put some context.
It’s sort of like a chronical on what is going on in America around this time in our history and why this is important.
First, a few key dates. Trump’s fourth indictment occurred on filing and is dated August 14, 2023 He was arrested in Fulton County, Georgia on August 24, 2023. Trump’s infamous mug shot has already been used as a political football, and even more [unsurprisingly] as a fundraising tool for Trump himself.
If you have read any of my previous articles then you know that I am neither a fan nor a foe when it comes to Trump. If I was writing the facts I am writing today, and you insert any other name that was not Trump I would give them the same courtesy. I just happen to mention Trump because it is Trump who is in the main defendant in all these criminal cases brought against his conduct. Because this is such an unprecedented situation, I have no choice but to talk about this situation as a functional adult living in this era.
The reason why I started the series Today in America in my blog is because of the important historical value when Trump, as a U.S. President, was facing accountability for his actions based on the impeachment. This, of course, was also part of the timeline when it came to the insurrection on January 6, and all the many criminal charges against him. This series is an important distinction from other topics I cover because it will affect us for generations to come.
Yes, Trump love him or hate him, will affect the United States of America and the world at large for generations to come. Some might feel elated about it, some will be terrified about it. I want you to be informed to the point it sparks your curiosity and you can do more research on your own.
As with my other articles, this will help us put some context in the timeline. Trust me, it might not be tomorrow when we reach the end of this saga– but all that is documented here will help us remember the pages of history. Yes, I know that some of Today in America does not only cover Trump, but also some additional American and often Right-Wing circumstances. All of those articles are related. And yes, if this was a Left-Wing situation, I would be more than happy to document that as well. But like it or not, unfortunately Right-Wing politics are in the spotlight because of some situations that are long-term and not beneficial to our country. The saddest part is that, perhaps unintentionally, Right-Wing fans are supporting rhetoric that is actually beneficial to regimes that do not have the United Sates of America’s best interests in mind.
Don’t get mad at me for that assertion. Read the talking points that are being sent from more extreme sides of the Right-Wing aisle and compare those with adversarial nations’ talking points. Don’t take my word for it, do it. Look what are their views on gun control, on climate, on economy, on immigration, on who they prefer as a political candidate, on what is more beneficial to them. It points out the obvious, yes, that some of the good hearts from the right have been high-jacked by some adversarial nations and actors, and they are prostituting those patriotic feelings and fervor against their own best interests. That is why these judgements against Trump and his co-defendants are so important to the Geo-Political stability of our entire world.
Criminal conduct allegations are backed up with evidence.
You don’t need to like the any prosecutor such as Jack Smith in order to understand what are his duties and responsibilities in an unbiased manner. Trump sure as hell does not like him, but why? And I am not talking about the obvious, which is that he is prosecuting Trump and the co-defendants. But the question should be, why is Trump being prosecuted in the first place? The answer is easy, because there are copious amounts of evidence for criminal offenses that bear his name. Sure that it is unusual and unprecedented that a former U.S. President has been arrested and indicted several times. Trump is also the first president to be twice impeached and that has led a group of people to storm Capitol Hill. And has a rap sheet that is longer than most other people charged with criminal offenses. That is significant.
How do we know that? Well, for example, because there have been hundreds of prosecutions and convictions that stemmed from January 6, 2021 that pointed Trump as the catalyst for the insurrection. Trump might be able to express to his own social media platform “Truth Social”, as well as friendly-talking heads, a narrative that will paint a particular picture in the court of public opinion. But it is a much different situation when it comes to painting the same picture in a court of law. Trump, until now, and throughout his presidency was able to get away with a lot more than any other President has been able to get away with in U.S. History.
And that is saying a lot, because not every previous U.S. President was a super cool dude. We had some crazy dudes in office in American History.
What is happening right now is not surprising to anybody who has been paying attention with an objective point of view. And by objective, I mean that I don’t take left nor right talking points from talking heads at face value, but rather by seeing and analyzing the evidence. And it is not hard to find plenty of evidence, no matter how desperately his acolytes try to conceal it. For example, on January 6th, there are literally thousands of independent video footage feeds showing the violence that Trump regalia-bearers enacted against Congress. And yes, some of those videos were filmed by these very same Trump regalia-bearers. A lot of them got prosecuted and many ended up, or are currently serving time, in Federal prison.
So, it is not a matter of asking “IF” it happened because there is plenty of empirical evidence, to include real-time photographical and high-resolution video evidence that it very much did happen, whatever the indictments claim to have happened. The question is how are they going to be able to prove it in court, as there are many twists and turns when it comes to navigating the legal statutes. In other words, it comes to the skill of the attorneys and the technicalities that could derail an entire case.
And if you have been following this saga for a while, then you are sure to identify the many problematic double-edge situations attorneys had to face on either side. There seems to be a common denominator and that is that Trump tends to not pay their attorneys, especially if they do not win a case.
Case in point, Rudy Guiliani, who is also a co-defendant in Trump’s last case and who also was arrested in connection to many counts. He was reportedly begging Trump to help him cover his mounting legal fees. Guiliani also lost his D.C. Bar (law) license because of his involvement with Trump and for the fact that he brought more than 60 cases in connection with the election alleging voter fraud- and won zero cases. The cases were considered frivolous. And, of course, not winning even one case does not help his credibility on this case.
Guiliani claims that he is proud to have served under Trump, and that might very well be the case. I have a suspicion that Trump might have a lot more leverage on Guiliani if he decides to flip. We know that Guiliani tends to put his foot in his mouth a lot. There are plenty of examples of that on national television to attest to that claim.
So, it will be a very interesting case to see how it evolves. Of course, the situation is not as straight forward because Trump is running for reelection to the Presidency of the United States. And, because of the 14th Amendment in the U.S. Constitution, many States are now challenging the premise to have Trump’s name in their respective state’s ballot. In other words, they won’t be able to certify that he is eligible to run for the presidency because of the insurrection for which he has been prosecuted.
Can Trump even run for the U.S. Presidency again?
This is what the 14th Amendment states in section 1-5, the provision in question pertains to section 3 under the 14th Amendment:
Section 1 All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Section 2 Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
Section 3 No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Section 4 The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
Section 5 The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Many constitutional scholars are pointing to the fact that Trump’s own actions rendered him ineligible to run for office. Any office, let alone the highest office in the land. And of course for the presidency of the United States of America, you would think that you need some very high credentials to command the most influential nation in the planet, right? Well, not so much…
This is what you need:
You need to be a natural born citizen. So, for example, I personally cannot run for President of the United States because I was born in the Republic of Ecuador, even though I am an American citizen.
You need to be at least 35 years old and reside in the U.S. for at least 14 years.
You cannot be charged with treason or insurrection against the U.S. of A. Yeah, that one, that is all Trump. If he would have let the transition of power pass peacefully as it has always been passed since the U.S. became a nation, then it would have been all good. But he didn’t so here we are having this conversation.
Is this case, is it just as easy as I stated? Absolutely not, that’s why we are still dealing with this situation. For example, there are literally days, if not weeks worth of real-time footage of Trump inciting his followers to march to the Capitol and condone violence. There are videos, photographs, transcripts, phone calls, video calls, receipts, and literally thousands of eye witnesses, among a bunch more evidence. So where is the disconnect?
If it was not obvious, we have partisans on every issue. And those partisan supporters, if fervent enough, will fight any potential avenue to argue their point of view even if the argument is futile. But that is where it gets scarier. The argument does not matter at all if a person is already convinced of a lie and want to believe it regardless of any evidence. In fact, the reality of the situation will become counter-intuitive because what they are experiencing was specifically designed to mess with their perception of reality. In other words, it is not even their target audience’s fault that they are seeing something that might seem sensible to them. But that is why propaganda is such a wicked art form. It uses the good values of a person and turns it upside down in order to convince them from a false reality. And yes, it works very well as it is designed.
The more cynical these followers are in their misperception, the better. Because that will make them feel more and more endowed with what they consider “the truth.” But the fact is that if they would be afforded the ACTUAL truth from the outlets and talking heads they trust, then they would not support them. That is why the outlets they consume will present a very edited version of the facts and some half-baked explanation to something of importance, but in a way that makes no sense if held to close scrutiny- even if the end resultant message for the audience is incoherent. Hence, they will attack anybody who tries to subject these claims to a coherent level of scrutiny.
Instead, talking points and buzz words are inserted throughout the day and throughout the same networks and communication mediums their target audience consumes. And, of course, these platitudes will be parroted as though they were an analysis that happened in the mind of the unsuspecting supporter of this false narrative. Sometimes it is very subtle, but lately it has been pretty on the nose. For many people who have bought into that narrative, it is pretty much what is needed in order to make these crazy platitudes remain effective.
The problem is that when a narrative is false it is not sustainable, period. A lot of this narrative has been losing traction- if not with the actual hard-liner Trump Republicans, but with the more moderate Republicans and most definitely with the swing voters and Democrats. So, why is it important as the election comes near for the Republican party in particular? Two important reasons:
Reason #1. Because they will destroy their own party under party differences. In other words, the worst critical enemies of Republicans are Republicans, themselves. For example, throwing epithets against less-than-radical Republicans such as RINOs, which is an acronym that means “Republicans In Name Only”. In other words, the Grand Old Party, or GOP, is heavily fragmented between the so called MAGA (Make America Great Again) Republicans and pretty much everybody else.
Reason #2. The Republican party has been losing tons of seats in the last three elections. The candidates that are in the Republican Primary seeking the Nomination for President of the United States are largely not viable candidates in the eyes of most swing and democratic voters. And since the Republican party is fragmented inside, that alone will destroy a lot of their voting base and force them to choose the “lesser evil” which could very well come in the form of a Democrat. And no, vilifying Biden might not work either because Biden is very much to the left of the right in the political spectrum. That is just one [of many] reasons why other Democrats were attacking Biden when he was seeking the nomination as the nominee for the left, yet he won by a pretty larger margin.
The bid for Republican Vice-President.
I watched as much as I could from the first Republican Primary Debate that was hosted by Fox News on August 23, 2023. Unsurprisingly, Trump did not participate in the debate even though he is running again for President of the United States. Just think about that for a second- how, and why, would a person seeking a job interview for the highest office in the land not want to show up to said interview? That is essentially what these debates are all about. Sure, those who want to vote for Trump already made up their minds well before the debate was even planned. But that is not everybody who is voting in the next Presidential election.
However, as counter-intuitive as this might sound it was a clever move for Trump not to show up to this debate. Why? Because now he can cloak on possible deniability and even his opponents running for the nomination cannot attack him directly on live television. With Trump embroiled in so many legal cases, he would have been a target by at least some of the candidates to say something that would compromise his conditional release out of jail until trial. With that being said, although not all, there are many on that stage who seemed to be running for Vice President, and not President based on their answers and tenor towards Trump. That was evident when there was a question to stop the legal proceedings Trump is undergoing. Most of the candidates essentially condoned Trump’s actions, even if they have spoken against the actual crimes he has allegedly committed. It was clear to me that they were also trying to pander to the MAGA Republicans.
But it was even more complex than simple pandering; it was actually a bit horrifying watching this debate because a lot of the candidates did not have a clear grasp of actual Geo-Political sensitivities, and other important national security issues- such as climate change, or the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Yes, climate change is very real, and it is a national security issue that is being monitored by the U.S. Government. A lot of other countries who push propaganda asserting that climate change is not a problem is because climate change benefits them directly. And no, these are not countries that have the United States of America’s best interest at heart. In other words, we had plenty of Republican candidates for the presidential ticket nomination that are, in fact, parroting adversarial propaganda talking points!
As these topics have become politicized, the actual crux of the argument goes missing in their constituent’s radar. Why do you think we get a lot of very terrible candidates gaining traction and running for office? If you realized that it is because adversarial forces are pushing propaganda and shoring some people who don’t know their ass from their head, trying to dumb the rest of us down with rhetoric that is contrary to our best interests, then you would be correct.
The saddest part is that this rhetoric will be so well crafted that for those unsuspecting victims (which, to be honest, can be any of us whenever targeted by a propagandist) would find it counter-intuitive to fight that realization of being fed bullshit. It is designed to be that way, and it is working as designed. For the U.S. at this time in our history they are targeting a certain segment of the Republican Party, and to a lesser extent some segments of the Democratic Party. Why? Because, at this point, the Democratic party has doctrines that are inconvenient to other adversarial forces that don’t want the U.S. to be number one on the world stage anymore.
If you go to a different country today, the left side of the political spectrum is targeted by the propagandists because- in that particular country- that would be inconvenient to the adversarial nations. Go to other countries and the right will also be targeted, much like in the U.S. In other words, if you did not realize it, the adversary does not give a crap about what your political doctrines mean to you- not at all. They see who is more avid about spewing talking points and platitudes and move rhetoric into action in a way that is convenient to them. In fact, adversarial nations that do not want the U.S. to remain number one are Extreme Right and Extreme Left, respectively. It is not a matter of if you have party loyalty towards your political animal logo of choice in the U.S. (the elephant or the donkey), but rather howwilling you are to disconnect yourself from reality in order to succumb to partisan voting despite your actual best interests.
I realize that what I am saying in this article might seem very abstract to many readers. It is meant to be that way. It is in the abstract where the adversarial forces thrive. They want us to see the world in a black and white manner when in reality it is a dynamic gradient. It is easier to hide a nefarious agenda if you put in some close-ended talking points. That is exactly what is happening in our political discourse right now, and it has been brewing for years. If you have been realizing that candidates are getting weirder and weirder, that is a consequence of this situation going into overdrive. We have not seen it to this degree so much in the U.S., but this has a very robust proven track record in other nations. In other words, what we are seeing is nothing new in the world, only new to the U.S., relatively speaking.
Case in point, adversarial nations back in 2020 and in 2016 were very happy about Trump being elected President of the United States of America. Why do you think that is? In 2020, adversarial nations were touting that the “Big Lie” was amplifying misinformation that the U.S. 2020 election was stolen. Why do you think adversarial nations which do not want the U.S. to be number one in the world were so happy to see Trump back in office? If Trump was indeed a force to reckon with, they would have not wanted him in office because that would be contrary to their anti-American agenda.
I can tell you that they were not happy about Biden getting elected, and they sure as hell were against Hillary Clinton. It is easier to spark some animosity among the very vocal constituents while they are engaged with heart and soul towards whatever or whomever they feel that speaks for them. That is propaganda. It is designed to speak to you in a way that will create a visceral response even though these messages have been implanted very gradually, and in some instances over a number of years. Most importantly, via sources you implicitly trust and respect. For example, church congregations, family circles, relatives, teachers, friends, co-workers, parents, etc. They can’t all be wrong, right? Yes, they can. It is designed to be like that. Propaganda is not a small operation, it is a gigantic monster whose tentacles reach so far that you would not realize it until it is too late. That is why I say we can all be vulnerable to that if we are not careful.
I wrote an entire book about authoritarianism and propaganda. I will advertise it whenever it is ready to release. I just need time to get the publishing process completed. My goal is to release it sometime before this year [2023] ends. It would make a good Christmas or Black Friday gift (wink, wink)! I’ll put a link over here as well when the book is finally released.
But, back on the topic, the “Big Lie” is CONVENIENT to America’s adversaries! Simply put, saying that the most influential country in the world is flawed when it comes to democracy and the integrity of our elections, as well as the checks and balances, gives card blanche to other nations to point the finger against the U.S. in their own propaganda broadcasting this banner:
“The USA is not as good as they claim they are.” – adversarial nation of choice.
That gives the adversarial nation a chance to justify to other nations and their own people that whatever authoritarian system they have, that is what should be the norm for the rest of the world.
In other words, the “Big Lie” (Trump’s claim that the election he lost was stolen) has gigantic Geo-Political ramifications. The sad fact is that a lot of people in the U.S. do not give a $#!^$ about other countries, or can even point out other countries on a map, or even name a country on a blank map. Wanna bet? Here, below, I added a blank map of the world. How many countries can you identify and name? Be honest. Not with me, but with yourself.
Blank World Map
If any person has a problem doing this simple task, that is a vulnerability that allows adversarial nations to thrive. Because this lack of interest on world events or anything else outside our borders creates a perception to the rest of the world that we are not interested in their well being, let alone their security. Yet, these countries are looking up to the U.S. as the leader in the world. Then the question for the propagandist to propagate is easy:
“Why should the rest of the world care about the U.S. if the U.S. does not care about the rest of the world? – adversarial nation of choice.”
And, for countries that are on the fence about the U.S. being number one, they would still like to know if Americans know they exist.
Using the blank map of the world in this article, let’s throw a few softball questions. Some of these countries are of pivotal importance to the U.S. and, while some might be considered adversarial, some might be considered allies. Can you identify which one is which? I won’t give the answers in this article because I don’t want to be targeted by an authoritarian regime, but let’s see how well you do. The answers are intended to gain introspection. This pop quiz is what the rest of the world that is looking up to the U.S. is hoping we, as a nation, understand in order to retain their support.
Please point each listed country in the map and say (to yourself) if they are allied or adversary (and why):
Ukraine
Belarus
Russia
Argentina
Honduras
El Salvador
Yemen
China
North Korea
South Korea
Japan
Vietnam
Germany
Finland
Lithuania
Poland
Romania
Iran
Kuwait
Bahrain
Colombia
Venezuela
Australia
New Zealand
Great Britain
Mexico
Brazil
Canada
How well did you do? The answer on this pop quiz is for you only to know the score. If you had some trouble with that, then you, My Dear Reader, could be potentially vulnerable to propaganda by adversarial nations. Propagandistic efforts only get more complicated from here. The United States of America is still the most influential country in the world, but that also implies that whomever is alive today must remain in vanguard, understanding the intricacies of the world in order to remain the leader world-wide.
Sure, some might assert, “Why the hell should I care about the rest of the world. I only care about America.” And, for anybody who states “America First.”- sure, let’s test that hypothesis. Let’s start with another pop quiz that includes a question that many immigrants need to answer in order to become a U.S. citizen.
Using this blank map of the Continental U.S. please point and name the 13 original colonies.
Blank USA Map
How well did you do? If your answer was, “This is a trick question because some of the states looked a bit different during colonial times,” then, congratulations, you are onto something as far as American history goes. But, speaking of the 13 colonies, that is a question we expect immigrants to know and answer in an oral test to become American citizens.
Let’s see how well we do, first with the 13 colonies and then with some additional questions we expect our immigrants to learn in order to join the fabric of American Society. And, yes, naturalized U.S. citizens like me know the answers to these questions. I’ll put all answers in my Patreon page.
Question #1. Name all 48 contiguous states in the Continental U.S. in the blank map provided in this article. No peeking away from the article!
Question #2. Name the 49th and 50th state in the U.S. and point those in the blank world map provided in this article.
Question #3. Name all the territories around the world that belong to the United States. I’ll give you one example- Guam. Can you identify all the other 15 U.S. territories? Yes, the U.S. has 16 territories.
Question #4. Name all the territories in the Continental U.S. that were part of the Confederacy during the American Civil War.
Question #5. Why do you think I am asking all these questions? I’ll answer this last one for you.
Because understanding our history matters, and understanding our situational awareness matters. That’s because the adversary is getting smarter every day and they are pushing talking points to us in order to make us fight against one another. For any person who is very vocal about all kinds of stuff they think they understand about the political discourse, then these basic questions should be very easy to answer. If these questions are not easy to answer by this person, then this same person is likely to believe some “pseudo patriotic” information that is pure bullshit. The propagandist efforts are designed to be that way. Bullshit is presented in a way that is very palatable, but it is destroying us from the inside. That is unfortunately happening at this point in our history. But we can change that grim reality.
That is why I said that these questions are not meant to be answered for me, they are meant to be answered for yourself. And please be honest with your answers- not to me, but to yourself. In the end, I know the answers to all those questions. By knowing historical context, I can also identify propaganda miles away. My intent is not to put any reader on the spot. For all I know, my readers likely found these questions very easy to answer. Yes, they are actually very easy questions.
But, adversaries would want you to believe that these softball questions are very hard, and you should feel offended for someone even asking such questions (or even put you “on the spot” for daring to ask). That faux outrage is all part of propaganda. We, as Americans, can only remain the best country in the world by uniting. That is in our name- the UNITED States of America. We don’t let the adversary divide us, even if the division is propagated by the majority of Americans.
So, how does this tie to Trump’s indictments?
If we miss the train on this legal reality at this time in our history, then we are going to lose a lot more than just a legal case in the courts. What is at stake in these proceedings account for a Geo-Political nightmare at a global scale, as I mentioned before. Trump, or anybody else for that matter, is required to be held to the same standards under the law as any other person in the United States.
Right now, there are states contesting under the 14th Amendment to take Trump’s name off the ballot. That will likely be fought in court. Then, other states will go the other way and put Trump’s name on the ballot despite the language on the 14th Amendment of The Constitution of the United States of America. In this case, it is likely going to be resolved by the Supreme Court of the United States of America (SCOTUS) and SCOTUS is also divided six to three when it comes to the number of Justices, with the majority being conservative judges.
So that begs the question, thus far, the last high-profile SCOTUS cases were decided on a 6-3 party line ratio. What will be their verdict for this case if it reaches that high? Will SCOTUS allow Trump to run despite the constitutional conundrum as stated in the 14th Amendment? We have never had a U.S. President being accused of a crime, let alone 91 criminal charges all together. This indictment, in particular, are crimes linked to the insurrection with more than 41 combined with other defendants charges, alone.
It is being reported that Trump’s legal team is trying to delay the trials as much as possible. This would allow Trump to potentially gain the Republican ticket nomination and become a Presidential Candidate against the Democratic nominee- which, as of now, seems to be the incumbent U.S. President Joe Biden. That means that if Trump is the Republican nominee, then he would be facing Biden again. But let’s not forget that Trump did not win against Biden in 2020. In fact, he lost by a pretty wide margin, despite the fact that Trump got the most votes as a sitting President. He just did not get as many as Biden did.
In 2016, Trump won via the Electoral College, but lost to Clinton in the popular vote. Clinton had about a 2.3 million votes lead over Trump. When Trump faced Biden, Trump lost both the popular vote and the Electoral College vote. In the following elections, candidates endorsed by Trump underperformed significantly during the next elections at all levels, which included losing the Senate. That means that there are plenty of people all over the country who are not onboard voting for Trump or Trump-like candidates.
Sure, he has a very vocal loyal base, however dwindling, of hard-core supporters. But remember that Trump already threw a bunch of them under the bus after the January 6 insurrection by disavowing them when, or if, they became inconvenient. In fact, Trump called his supporters Antifa, or other groups that were not right-wing at all. So, people went to prison for Trump and he let them deal with that alone. Many of them have flipped on Trump. There are no shortages of criminal prosecutions where the defendants said something along the lines that “Trump told me to do it” as part of their defense for the insurrection. Trump also has not been very kind to his co-defendants. And, I would not be surprised if at least a few of them flip on him as the legal bills start to mount.
Again, I don’t want you to be fixated on the fact that I am mentioning Trump. I am mentioning a person who committed many criminal acts as stipulated in the many documents provided on public record. In other words, the indictments. You can read them all of them on my website. I am not asking you to take my word for it. I am just affording my readers an opportunity to read the indictments on their own and understand what is at stake behind my commentary.
As you read through the indictments, just realize that a prosecutor cannot make stuff up. That would result in a mis-trial and it would defeat the entire premise for the case. If there is an indictment by the Department of Justice (DOJ), it is because there is plenty of evidence to support those allegations. These allegations point to prosecutorial statutes that affect the entire country, not only Trump and his co-defendants.
Why does it affect the entire country? Because Trump was the 45th U.S. President and he sets a precedent that the rest of the civilized world finds problematic. Even if some Americans don’t give a damn about the rest of the world, the United States of America is part of this planet- therefore part of this world and consequently we have vested interests in ensuring that the planet where the United States exists (and that includes the territories all over the world) are safe. There is a reason why the United States of America is the most influential country in the world, right now.
Who will be the next number one country in this world is up for grabs, and the closest competitors do not hold a warm spot in their hearts for the U.S. It is obvious to me that a lot of the GOP presidential candidates have missed that memo, but I know my readers are a lot more cultured than most of those candidates. I don’t know how far my words will travel, but I have a feeling that my readers are the kind of people who will make a positive difference by distinguishing reality from the propagandistic bullshit being fed far and wide inside our great nation. HLC
HLC Equal under the law – www.halflifecrisis.com – Today in America
Former US President, Donald J. Trump was indicted on FOUR criminal counts by the United States District court for the District of Columbia in August.
Twice Impeached, three times indicted former U.S. President.
On August 1, 2023, the United States of America versus Donald J. Trump (defendant) prepared by U.S. Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith was released to the public. This time Former U.S. President Trump was indicted in four criminal counts. All of which are in connection to the 2020 Election and subsequent insurrection in Capitol hill which took place on January 6, 2020.
Before you continue with this article, I recommend you to read the entire indictment in the following link. The document is 45 pages long, but it is very well written and bring context to the issue; regardless if you are a Trump fan or not. The way that is written will help you decide on your own, as you will be able to indecently verify all these allegations.
And as I imply in the spirit for this article, I am not trying to persuade you towards or against the former President. Some people love this dude, others hate his guts… and a smaller percentage is indifferent towards him. What we can agree is that some people who fall under the second category (who hate his guts) is that they consider Trump one of the most polarizing political figures in modern history.
And even those who do not agree with that statement, well – if they love Trump do they love everyone who does not like Trump? Or do they hate Trump-hater guts too? Spoiler alert, that is also – by definition – polarizing.
But the most important thing to understand for this article is what legal statutes are the basis for Trump indictment. So let’s summarize (in case you did not read the entire indictment yet – for whatever reason.
Count #1 – Conspiracy to Defraud the United States
18 U.S.C. § 371
Count #2 – Conspiracy to Obstruct an Official Proceeding
18 U.S.C. § 1512(k)
Count #3 – Obstruction of and Attempt to Obstruct an Official Proceeding
18 U.S.C. §§ 1512(c)(2), 2
Count #4 – Conspiracy Against Rights
18 U.S.C. § 241
Like or dislike Trump, these are very serious charges. And although Trump is called by name in the indictment, the document also mentions several Co-conspirators. As of the time I am typing this article, the Co-conspirator names have not been released. But if you have been paying attention to this entire saga you can pretty much tell who is involved. And no, you might not be surprised at all once the names are officially released.
Until then I will not disclose who I am 99.999999% sure they are referring to. But as this is an ongoing process, it is only fair to let the legal system do its thing. Afterall, a person is presumed innocent until proved guilty in a court of law. And although the indictment is very damning, it is up to the courts to run the process. With that said, if an indictment of this nature is issued – it is likely because there is very substantial evidence for it. Otherwise this document would not exist. Simple enough.
In other words, we have to realize that it is not easy to compile such a lengthy document unless there is a lot of actual merit to these allegations. A seasoned prosecutor such as Jack smith will not be letting such an important case be dismissed by a technicality. Also, the manner of how it is written is very succinct, and is using very evocative language that is easily understood by the reader. Even if the reader does not have a law-attorney-type background. And that is very considerate of him, given the gargantuan significance of this case. Afterall, legalize language can be quite confusing – by design.
What we do know is that if you do any search engine research on the topics covered, you will not be hard pressed to find copious amounts of information to validate the allegations in the indictment. Nowadays, everything is recorded, and what we say or do will have lasting impacts. Does that mean that we have to live in fear? No, it does not. What it means is that we should strive for being good people and not do intentional harm onto others. However, accountability is still a thing, even if the person is ignorant to the reality they are doing something wrong.
For example, if a person kills another human being because rhetoric became a visceral response to some impressionable person – the person who actually carried out the physical attack. What do I mean by that? It means that some people could unintentionally be catalysts to rally another human being into doing something terrible – if this impressionable human being is convinced that what he/she is doing is the “right thing” under these artificial circumstances. Charlatans have existed through history. And they were always very persuasive. But they have one thing in common, they will conceal the entire picture from their victims. And although the faces had been different throughout history, we still see people become victims of a divisive rhetoric today.
Whatever the reason a person or a group of people perpetrate a premeditated crime, we have to remember that there is normally a motive. Even if the actual person committing the crime is convinced that their actions were dully sanctioned and authorized by the “authority figure” of their choice and devotion. This is exactly what this indictment is all about. Defrauding people and pushing a false narrative that resulted in several high-level crimes to include the violence in Capitol Hill.
This indictment is not just about Trump being Trump… loving or hating his vociferous and often pedantic antics. Some people love that shit. Can’t say in good conscience that I share that sentiment, because to me the Presidency of the United States, regardless of who’s sitting in the Oval Office should be respected by their position. However, respect for who they are as a person must be earned every day. We say in the U.S. Navy that our rank must be earned every day. This is especially true if you are holding any senior position.
Therefore the highest office in the land should be expected to have a much higher degree of decorum. For example, you would not expect to see an Admiral in the U.S. Navy send a tirade of Tweets past midnight mentioning somebody (for example a private citizen) they for whatever reason dislike – or saying something unflattering about that person. And in case you were wondering; no, U.S. Navy Admiral has been Tweeting insults to any person in that fashion. Why? Because that would be a behavior beneath the office of the Admiralty. How should not a higher office be held a higher standard? Or if you disagree, how can it not be held at least to the same standard?
I can go even lower in the food chain to illustrate this point. A Third-Class Petty Officer – who is the most junior Non-Commissioned Officer Rank in the U.S. Navy; would get in a lot of trouble if he or she would have a midnight Twitter tirade against one of his shipmates for a disagreement in a way that embarrasses the U.S. Navy. Especially if this tirade resulted in any sort of violence towards their shipmate. Hope this makes sense when I talk about the decorum expected in a high office.
The Presidency of the United States of America is the most influential position in the world. Like of dislike Trump, he has been no stranger to controversy, and quite a lot of legal action against him. And not only against himself personally, but also a lot of legal action against many of his closer allies when working for him. And yes, many of those closest allies parted ways with Trump… often in very bad terms. So, just think about the trending of these unusual events. Does that make sense to you?
Critical thinking and intellectual honesty.
It is ok to like or even love somebody and disagree with their actions. Each person is free to choose heir own path. It is our choice if we follow somebody who is going astray toward the wrong path. Sadly, sometimes those who we admire the most are the ones who are a bad influence in our lives. And even sadder is the fact that we might be reluctant to see that reality because of our blind devotion towards them. And yes, it is traumatic to come to grips with that reality, if that applies to you.
It is not unlikely the time that we have been infatuated with an ex-lover. You know what I am talking about, that person who you wrote love poems until sunrise, and for whom we were head-over-heels for one reason or another. Yet, this person who was the object of your affection, at some point unfortunately ended becoming an “ex” for the very reasons everybody warned about. It possibly took some time until you about finally reached the obvious conclusion of why this person was meant to be an “ex” – for very valid reasons you probably discarded outright when you were under the spell of infatuation. It happens to us all, it is human nature, and it is ok to learn from that experience.
Something very similar happens in politics, or whenever we have any potential bias. I am not even asking you to stop liking Trump, all I am saying is that if there are people who are raising some alarms about him, it is worth looking at what they mean by that in a pragmatic manner. Is it possible that some of those are false alarms? Sure, that is a possibility. However, if you are intellectually honest to realize that you might have been misplacing your devotion, then you will be more likely to understand what somebody is trying to warn you about.
And the same goes for anything in your life. For example, I’ve never rolled down the ladder-wells in the ship. But I have heard and seen people falling, and it looked super unpleasant. Does that mean that I want to fall down the ladder-well to confirm that it is unpleasant? Not at all… but I can understand the experience from those who suffered that unpleasant accident. Hence, I would recommend also other people to be cautious when going up or down those ladder-wells.
Of course that when it comes to politics the situation will be a lot more complex. But there will be tell-tale signs. And identifying those is actually our responsibility as the adults in the room at this point in our lives.
If you are a Trump fan, just read this document (the indictment) very pragmatically. But instead of thinking this case is talking about Trump change the name to anybody whom you don’t particularly like, or even better, someone you very much dislike. If you could unequivocally condone those actions in the indictment even if the person is somebody you do not like, then congratulations – you’re intellectually honest. Though, critical thinking might be skewed because those are very serious criminal allegations. Just saying.
By the time I am able to post this article, I am sure that there is going to be a lot more stuff all over the news about this story. And I will do my best to do a through follow up. In the meantime, just like any “Today in America” series in my site, I want to put a time-stamp in our contemporary American History. If you’re new to this series, check it out in this site. It will give you a lot of contexts about what we are talking about today. And this indictment for better or for worse has been a very important event in the history of our country. HLC
JAN 6 2021 gallows capitol hill
