Ross Douthat | New York Times June 2025
President Ronald Reagan
The American people must face it: The U.S. Constitution is dead. The Bill of Rights is dead. The rule of law is dead. Federalism is dead. The American experiment of self-government is dead. The Monroe Doctrine has been replaced with the Donroe Doctrine—a gross perversion of James Monroe’s magnificent manifesto of peace, independence and national sovereignty.
(Liberty-Pac adds George H.W. Bush & Bill Clinton) George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and especially Donald Trump have turned our constitutional republic into a Banana Republic. Trump is not a president; he is a dictator—and a mad dictator at that. In many respects, he is not unlike the emperors of Rome. And our national Congress is almost identical to the Roman senate: utterly meaningless and worthless to the maintenance of law in the face of naked aggression by the chief executive.
Scottish pod-caster George Galloway recently referred to Trump as Caligula—and his historical analogy might not be far off.
The U.S. government has become a rogue state. It is a gangster state. It is run not by statesmen or even politicians. It is run by thugs. Pirates. Mafia dons. Criminals. Thieves. Extortioners. Plunderers. Murderers.
Any of Trump’s MAGA supporters who continue to support Trump in 2026 are proving themselves to be more the tyrants than those on the Left whom they have accused of being tyrants. Tyranny is tyranny whether it is shouted from under a flag, from inside the Oval Office or from behind a pulpit.
Those who supported Trump in 2024 because Trump promised to be a “peace president” are sycophantic hypocrites if they continue to support him now.
During 2025, Trump unilaterally, illegally, unconstitutionally and immorally declared war on seven sovereign states: That is, Trump—on his own authority (which he doesn’t have)—dropped bombs on seven countries. When Japan dropped bombs on our naval installations in Hawaii in 1941, the U.S. (rightly) considered those bombings an act of war. So, Trump declared war on seven countries in just the first year of his second term: Somalia, Yemen, Nigeria, Iran, Iraq, Syria and now Venezuela.
Now, after attacking and kidnapping Venezuela’s president, Donald Trump is threatening to attack Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil—basically all of South America. He is threatening to seize—with military force, if necessary—Greenland, which is the territory of Denmark. Trump has greenlit an all-out Israeli/U.S. attack on Iran. Seizing the oil of Venezuela is doubtless a prelude to the attack on Iran. Trump is attempting to mitigate the loss of oil from the Strait of Hormuz after Iran’s retaliation following the forthcoming U.S./Israel invasion.
Donald Trump’s campaign promises that he would be a “peace president” are now proven to be nothing but bald-faced lies. Let me remind MAGA of what Trump promised us.
April 2016: We're getting out of the nation building business.
July 2016: We must abandon the failed policy of nation building and regime change that Hillary Clinton pushed in Iraq, in Libya, in Egypt, and in Syria.
August 2016: Our current strategy of nation building and regime change is a proven absolute failure.
September 2016: We will break the cycle of regime change.
September 2016: We will pursue a new, steady foreign policy that seeks to advance the national security interests of the United States - not a reckless interventionist globalism.
August 2019: We’re not looking for regime change [in Iran]. You've seen how that works over the last 20 years. That hasn’t been too good.
Now, Trump is threatening to go to war all over the world.
And let’s not leave out Trump’s military aggression against Russia. Despite Trump’s rhetoric regarding peace with Russia, his actions have spoken much more loudly to the contrary.
In a recent interview, former British diplomat Alastair Crooke reminded us of Trump’s record of military aggression against Russia during 2025.
Now put this together with, first of all, the attack that was in May or June on the strategic bomber fleet of Russia, the attack by drones that were so much in the model that we later saw on the 12th of June by Israel in the surprise attack on Iran, the attack on its strategic bombers, which were out in the open as per the assault treaty.
Then we had, during further negotiations, four long-range attack missiles, American long-range attack missiles, were fired during a previous set of negotiations, and they were fired at Voronezh. Voronezh is where Russia has its early warning over-the-horizon radars. They are nothing; neither the strategic bomber fleet, nor the early warning radars, nor the bunker, the command bunker in the compound at Valdai, have anything to do with what's happening in Ukraine. These are all to do about a nuclear war. [Emphasis added]
In other words, Donald Trump is playing a nuclear game of “chicken” with Russia. Couple that with the crippling economic sanctions against Russia, China and India (all three are nuclear powers), and we can easily see how Trump is literally daring the world to resist him—even to the point of nuclear war.
That’s not politics; it’s not diplomacy; it’s not foreign relations. It’s gangsterism! Donald Trump is an international gangster. A mobster. A goon. A thug.
I know nothing about this pastor, but I totally agree with this segment of his recent sermon in which he called out Donald Trump for who and what he is: “the supreme thug.”
Y'all see the mess yesterday where a press conference was held in Mar-a-Lago, and they are bragging about how swift and sweet the kidnapping was of another nation's leader. Now, to be sure, he's a thug; he's a low life. But he's their thug and their low life. And we really can't talk about somebody else's leader being a thug and a lowlife when our own president got convicted on 34 counts. You talk about the supreme thug.
And, y'all, he's arrested, and they're talking about him [Maduro] because he allegedly is drug trafficking. Now, you gave a pardon and released someone [Honduran President Juan Hernández] who had been convicted of drug trafficking, but somehow this one is someone that you are going to have tried and convicted. I gotta park right there.
Amen, Brother! Preach it!
The presidency of Donald Trump is not America first; it’s not making America great; it’s not even patriotic. It’s sheer gangsterism. It is using position for personal power and greed. It’s international extortion and the worst kind of bullyism and banditry.
And it is very dangerous!
The verdict on Venezuela is still very much out. The potential for long term damage to not just the Western Hemisphere in general but to the United States in particular is very real. And if Trump thinks he has gotten away unscathed with the Venezuelan regime change, he will spread his brazen recklessness and bullying all over the world—something he has already been doing in degrees—but his malignant narcissism and increasing dementia could very easily escalate his madness to levels not seen in the modern age.
And the frightening part of it is that today’s military technology will be completely unforgiving. In the nuclear age, there is no such thing as winning a world war.
And for those evangelical Christians who are reading this column, let me hasten to alert you to this reality: A global nuclear war prompted by a mad U.S. president would NOT be the Second Coming of Christ. The fire of God at the Last Day will be of divine origin, NOT human.
And in the event of global nuclear war, there will be NO “rapture.”
(My upcoming message on Sunday, January 18, will address this topic in detail. The message is entitled: The Second Coming Of Christ – Satan’s Little Season And The Fire Of God. I invite readers to watch it here.)
If nuclear rain falls, it will fall on the just and on the unjust. (Matthew 5:45) Christians will NOT escape.
Under Donald Trump, we do not have constitutional government; we do not have good government; we do not have lawful government. We have a gangster government.
It’s time the American people face it—before it’s too late.
And the 2nd Amendment was not put into the Constitution by the Founders merely to allow us to intimidate burglars, or hunt rabbits to our hearts' content. This is not to say that hunting rabbits and turkeys for the family dinner, or defending against dangers, were not anticipated uses for firearms, particularly on the frontier -this is true.
But above all, the Founders added the 2nd Amendment so that when, after a long train of abuses, a government evinces a methodical design upon our natural rights, we will have the means to protect and recover our rights. That is why the right to keep and bear arms was included in the Bill of Rights.
In fact, if we make the judgment that our rights are being systematically violated, we have not merely the right, but the duty, to resist and overthrow the power responsible. That duty requires that we maintain the material capacity to resist tyranny, if necessary, something that it is very hard to do if the government has all the weapons. A strong case can be made, therefore, that it is a fundamental DUTY of the free citizen to keep and bear arms.
In our time there have been many folks who don't like to be reminded of all this. And they try, in their painful way, to pretend that the word "people" in the 2nd Amendment means something there that it doesn't mean in any one of the other nine amendments in the Bill of Rights. They say that, for some odd reason, the Founders had a lapse, and instead of putting in "states" they put in "people." And so it refers to a right inherent in the state government.
This position is incoherent, and has been disproved by every piece of legitimate historical research. For example, at one point in Jefferson's letters he is talking about the militia, and he writes "militia, every able-bodied man in the state . . . - (every man capable of carrying arms)." That was the militia. It had nothing to do with the state government. The words "well-regulated" had something to do with organizing that militia and drilling it in the style of the 19th century, but 'militia' itself referred to the able-bodied citizens of the state or commonwealth - not to the state government.
It would make no sense whatsoever to restrict the right to keep and bear arms to state governments, since the principle on which our policy is based, as stated in the Declaration, recognizes that any government, at any level, can become oppressive of our rights. And we must be prepared to defend ourselves against its abuses.
But the movement against 2nd Amendment rights is not just a threat to our capacity to defend ourselves physically against tyranny. It is also part of the much more general assault on the very notion that human beings are capable of moral responsibility. Consider, for example, the phony assertion that certain weapons should be banned because 'they have no purpose except to kill people.' This debate is not about certain kinds of weapons that kill people; all kinds of weapons can kill. It is people that kill people, and they can use countless kinds of weapons to do so, if killing is in their hearts.
So let's get down to the real issue: are we grownups, or are we children? If we are grownups, then we have the capacity to control our will even in the face of passion, and to be responsible for the exercise of our natural rights. If we are only children, then all the dangerous toys must be controlled by the government. But this 'solution' implies that we can trust government with a monopoly on guns, even though we cannot trust ourselves with them. This is not a 'solution' I trust.
Advocates of banning guns substitute things for people, but this approach won't wash. It is the human moral will that saves us from violence, not the presence or absence of weapons. We should reject utterly the absurd theory that weapons are the cause of violence.
Anyone who is serious about controlling violence must recognize that it can only be done by rooting violence out of the human heart. That's why I don't understand those who say 'save us from guns,' even while they cling to the coldly violent doctrine that human life has no worth except what they 'choose' to assign to it.
If we want to end violence in our land, we must warm the hearts of this people with a renewed dedication to the God-given equality of all human beings. We must recapture the noble view of man as capable of moral responsibility, and self-restraint. Purify the heart and we will not have to worry about the misuse of weapons.
It is the business of the citizen to preserve justice in his heart, and the material capacity, including arms, to resist tyranny. These things constitute our character as a free people, which it is our duty to maintain. If we want to hold on to our heritage of liberty, we must first and foremost strengthen our confidence in our own moral capacity, and encourage such confidence in our fellow citizens. Only a people confident that it can behave like grown-ups will be justified in asserting its right to keep and bear arms, because it will be a people responsible to use them only in defense of ourselves and our liberty.
But if we want that to be true, then we shall have to return, as a people, to that same humble subjection to the authority of true moral principle that characterized our Founders, and that characterized every generation of Americans, until now. We must regain control of ourselves.
Most deeply, then, the assertion of 2nd Amendment rights is the assertion that we intend to control ourselves, and submit to the moral order that God has decreed must govern our lives. And just as we have no right to shirk our duty to submit to that moral order, so we have no right to shirk our duty to preserve unto ourselves the material means to discipline our government, if necessary, so that it remains a fit instrument for the self-government of a free people.
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"A Dangerous Precedent
Today, we face a critical moment — one that tests not only our laws but our principles as a constitutional republic. When a President invokes the "Insurrection Act of 1807", it effectively suspends the "Posse Comitatus Act of 1878"........temporarily allowing the U.S. military to operate as a domestic police force, and make arrests under certain circumstances. Let that sink in: the military, designed to defend against foreign threats, turned inward — on American soil.
Once the military is used against civilians under the justification of “restoring order,” it sets a dangerous precedent.
And let’s not kid ourselves — this kind of power has been abused before.
Past administrations, both Republican and Democrat, have weaponized federal agencies — from the IRS targeting political opponents, to U.S. intelligence agencies conducting warrantless surveillance on American citizens, without proper oversight. To forced incarceration of law-abiding American citizens - of -Japanese decent during WWII. Now we’re talking about escalating that abuse from audits, investigations, warrantless surveillance, and ethnic incarcerations — to boots on the ground and guns in the streets.
"once the military is brought into the streets for one purpose, every succeeding administration will feel it has the precedent to do so for other purposes."
Make no mistake: what is done today by this (R) administration will absolutely, inevitably, be repeated — and expanded — by the next (D) administration. The precedent we set in fear or convenience today becomes the weapon of tyranny tomorrow.
So I ask you — to take action.
Contactyour U.S. Congressman now!
Contactyour U.S. Senators now!
P.S. check your cognitive bias at the door.
“Nothing Will Change Until You, the Citizen, Step Up to the Plate”
For too long, many of us have been led to believe that our State Governor or the President of the United States “makes the laws.” That is not how our system works. In our Constitutional Republic, neither the President nor the Governor creates law. Their primary role is to enforce the laws passed by the legislature, not to write them. They can propose ideas, advocate policies, or veto bills, but the actual power to make law rests with the Legislature.
So where does law come from? From the legislature — your state legislature and the United States Congress. These are the bodies elected by you to represent your voice.
Here’s how the process works:
A bill can be introduced by a member of the legislature — and that idea can originate with you, a group of citizens, or even a lobbyist. You meet with your representative, present your proposal, and if they agree, they draft and introduce a bill.
That bill is debated in committees, amended, and voted on. If it passes one chamber, it moves to the other (House to Senate or vice versa).
If both chambers pass it in identical form, it’s sent to the Governor or President. They can sign it into law or veto it. If vetoed, the legislature may override the veto with enough votes.
That is the legislative process. It is designed so that laws come from you, through your representatives.
But here’s the danger: when the people do not get involved — when you don’t show up, when you don’t pay attention, when you don’t call your legislators — a vacuum opens up. And that vacuum will be filled by those who are organized, funded, and motivated. Lobbyists and special interests will step in and draft the bills, whisper in the ears of your representatives, and shape laws to serve their goals instead of yours.
This is why your participation matters. Silence equals surrender.
Our Founders tried to prevent this by embedding the principle of separation of powers in our government. Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Powers are split among three distinct branches. The legislature makes laws, the executive enforces the law, and the judiciary interprets the law. This prevents any one branch — or one person — from controlling everything. It’s a safeguard against tyranny.
But even the best-designed system cannot protect liberty without an informed and active citizenry. That’s you. That’s us. Folks its time you figured out who your elected Representatives are and press them on the issues.
If you want laws that protect your rights and reflect your values, you cannot wait for a Governor or President. You cannot wait for someone else to fight for you. You must step up to the plate, organize, educate, and advocate. Because nothing will change until you, the citizen, step up to the plate.
Let’s step up — and take our Republic back.
By: Mr. Mong
#EpsteinFiles@cspanofficial Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) on Wednesday called on his Republican colleagues to support his and Rep. Ro Khanna’s (D-CA) effort to compel the Justice Department to release all records related to Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender. “I hope my colleagues are listening to this press conference,” he said alongside several victims of Mr. Epstein. “I want them to think, what if this was your sister, what if this was your daughter?” The Kentucky Republican filed a discharge petition on Tuesday to try to force a vote on the House floor to compel the Justice Department to make the records public. To circumvent GOP leadership and bring the resolution to the floor, the discharge petition will require 218 votes, which the congressman believes he’ll obtain by the end of the week. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has criticized Rep. Massie’s resolution, calling it “inartfully drafted” and arguing it didn’t do enough to protect victims. Instead, he is calling a vote on a measure that would offer symbolic support for the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into the Epstein matter. #thomasmassie #massie #epstein #epsteinfiles #cspan ♬ original sound - C-SPAN
