Stephen Altschuler

thoughts on environment, politics, health, life issues

Donald Trump

The First American coup d’etat Attempt

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I’m afraid, yes, it’s coming. America has never had a coup attempt. We’ve always had peaceful transfers of power after an election. The people’s vote was sacrosanct. Some who were voted out of power didn’t like it, but they accepted it. Now there is Trump, a kind of caustic rust who is continually wearing away our Democracy in the torrent of his lies. But Trump is a madman. That is obvious to many of us. To him, it’s all about himself. He cares little for anyone else. He would throw his wife under the bus if she uttered one word he deemed oppositional to him.

But the real impetus of a coup lies with the senators and representatives who want to reverse a legal, true, fair, and accurate election–one of the most observed and accurate in American history. They and possibly Pence think they can defy the Constitution and reverse the vote in battleground states that went for Trump. They think they have the power to do that despite the fact that just about all the courts, including the Supreme Court, ruled against Republican challenges to election results. So they are bypassing the judicial branch of our government to get their way. And they are opposing our Constitution that is the glue that holds the three branches of our government together. That is [Read more…] about The First American coup d’etat Attempt

Beware the Ides of January 6th

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In what should be a ceremony that the press always ignores, the certification of the Electoral College vote on January 6th is morphing into another Trumpian spectacle of Sturm und Drang. It seems some Republican senators, with the support of Trump, will mount a challenge to the Electoral College vote, trying to reverse its outcome in several battleground states that went for Biden, giving him the victory. Trump has exhausted all legal paths to change the outcome. All failures. He still denies Biden won. He is, indeed, in denial, as we mental health counselors say. Big time. Why won’t Trump concede his loss?

Is it that he is afraid that once he is out of power, his wrongdoings will catch up to him and he will wind up in prison? Perhaps. You and I would assume that, but Trump has evaded so many attempts to cripple him through the courts that I think he thinks he is invincible. Just hire enough lawyers who issue enough legal roadblocks and his accusers get tired of the time and money it costs to continue accusing. Even tax evasion, that misstep that finally caught Al Capone, won’t catch him, he surmises. Never has and never will.

So now, he has one more ploy. Actually a series of ploys. First, he has his traitor Representatives and Senators vote to deny certifying the Electoral College tally in certain states. When that fails he has Pence fail to certify the final tally (Pence has no constitutional authority whatsoever to do so). When that fails he instigates his radical, armed supporters, such as various white supremacist groups who he has dogwhistled to “Stand by,” to take to the streets and perform enough acts of violence and chaos to allow him to declare martial law (He has already called for such violent rallies on the 6th!). Police, many of whom are either members or sympathizers of these White Supremacist groups do nothing to restrain the violence, effectively being complicit in a violent takeover of the government. His cult followers also take to the streets screaming and creating havoc. The final ploy in this string of ploys? Trump remains in power, declaring himself President for at least another four years.

Impossible? Improbable, perhaps, but not impossible. Trump is desperate enough to try this. He has nothing really to lose since he’s already lost the prize he thought he had all along: remaining in power. His ego cannot and will not tolerate a loss. You must not be a loser, his father drummed into his skull. Of course all of the above must succeed for the final Trumpian outcome to come true. If it doesn’t work, Trump will leave office but declare himself the victim of a fraudulent election, making himself a martyr, still beloved by his cult followers. This might encourage him to run again in 2024 to continue his onslaught against our government and way of life.

Is there anything you and I can do to stop this insanity? I’m doing what I can do by writing this post. We are past the point of “calling our representatives.” We are past the point of voting or sending in our donations. Our democracy has voted Trump down hard, but our democracy still teeters on the brink of [Read more…] about Beware the Ides of January 6th

2020 canceled! Breakable News Breaks it First…

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We tracked down President Trump in a bathroom at his Mar a Lago resort in Florida, after he returned from yet another critical golf outing where some 17 Secret Service golf carts dutifully followed him. Trump started our interview, with our Mar a Lago correspondent Izzy “Goodtimes” Smyth, by first lamenting that the fake news fashion mags declined to put his wife, a former model, on the cover of any of their “Democrat-run rags.” Our reporter, who has never won any awards, took it from there.

IS: So, Mr. President, how’s it going? (Ed. note: How about that start? Izzy is one our best!)

DJT: Great. Great. Never better. Sydney Powell, one of my most trusted advisors, gave me the best advice ever. She told me I have the power to cancel 2020, which is what I intend to do after I get another round in tomorrow, which is Saturday. I never miss golf on Saturdays.

IS: Whoa. You’re telling me you’re going to cancel the entire year as if it never happened. How in the world will you do that?

DJT: No problem. Rudy, Sydney, Pompeo, and my new AJ tell me to just keep saying it’s true over and over and, like magic, people will eventually believe it. It’s like herd immunity, except I call it herd lunacy. See, it’s genius. It’s really not much different than what I’ve done my whole life. And look where it’s gotten me!

IS: I see. So, like, none of 2020 ever happened, kind of, I mean, like…

DJT: Exactly, Izzy. You got it. Put it down in your paper just like that. My enemies will say, conspiracy theory. Well I’ll give them a conspiracy all right: one that says Covid, the election, the blown economy, unemployment, 325K dead, my lousy rounds of golf, masks, the fly on Pence’s head, social distancing, empty sports stadiums, even the slights to my hot wife never happened. I already got 74 million voters who will swallow that hook, line, and stinker.

IS: That’s sinker, Sir.

DJT: Listen, Izzard. Never correct me. Understand? Never correct the President of the United State.

IS: That’s States, Sir.

DJT: OK, that’s it. Outta here. I got lunch to get to, and I never miss lunch. I think it’s lobster and steak today, same as yesterday.

IS: But if the year is canceled, has our meeting ever really happened, Sir?

DJT: Ah… well. Check that with Rudy and Sydney and Sydney’s ace consultant Tore. They’re handling all the details. Don’t confuse me, Izzy. I like to stay focused, you know. They’ve prepared a revised calendar for me to sign as an Executive Order, and I’ve arranged for the Ball at Times Square to say 2020 when it drops. Like I said, genius. Don’t you agree?

IS: Well…I was just thinking…there might some problems…around… that approach… to the problems… the country…is feeling right now.

DJT: Don’t think, IM. Just do as I say. This’ll work. Just listen to those people outside cheering for me. Stop the Steal. Love it. Gotta run. Don’t worry. It’ll be like a miracle. Just like Groundhog Day. A do-over. Ha Ha. Genius.

Oh, Izzy, flush that toilet for me, would you. I’m very cautious about germs, you know.

 

So we’ll see you tomorrow, gentle readers. Or today, or yesterday, or whenever. When we figure it out, we’ll be sure to let you know. In the meantime, keep those donations pouring in, but just please leave off the date until we get this rather shocking new paradigm sorted out.

A Trump Coup Attempt?

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Donald Trump seems to have a form of coup on his mind. A coup, though, often involves a military takeover. In the post Cold War world, such coups have occurred in Asia, Africa, and South and Central America. According to Wikipedia, about half have been successful and half unsuccessful. None have occurred in Europe or North America. The U.S. has never experienced a coup.

Yet a coup is mostly plotted by a group that is out of power against at the group that is in power. Trump’s coup would be a first: a coup of a person currently in power against a person duly elected but not yet in power. Trump has tried every legal means even, up to the Supreme Court, to reverse the outcome of the election, without success. His next scheme is to convince Mike Pence to vote against confirmation of the Electoral College tally in Congress and reverse the outcome of the election. But Pence and his advisers have advised Trump that this is [Read more…] about A Trump Coup Attempt?

I awake this morning with a deep anger…

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…toward Donald Trump and these inhumane and immoral pardons he feels justified to impart like a fake monarch surveying his realm. His pardon of four thugs from Blackwater who murdered 14 completely innocent Iraqis, including men, women and children, during the invasion was particularly deplorable. One was in jail for first degree murder and life, the other three were serving 30 year sentences. Trump released them with one swirl of his sloppy signature, slapping the face of an entire nation who still mourns.

Beyond anger, I feel a deep embarrassment at the actions of this immoral so-called human being, Donald Trump. I am embarrassed to be connected with him as an American, embarrassed that I’ve lived here under his rule during these last four years, embarrassed to be connected, even remotely, with those that voted for him and those in Congress who enabled his reign of his attempt to dismantle our democracy. I am embarrassed that some 74 million people voted for this charlatan. I am embarrassed that a significant number of those voters still think he was not legally elected. I am embarrassed that though Trump lost, Republicans gained seats in the House, and held their majority, so far, in the Senate.

A better word still, is distraught. I am distraught that over 315,000 people have died due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and there are still a significant number of Republicans who [Read more…] about I awake this morning with a deep anger…

A Breakable News Special Report!! We do realize you’re tired of these quixotic reports but this was a just hanging out there like an overripe peach

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The Trump Administration, spearheaded by Donald himself, set aside action on the pandemic, and a dangerously sinking economy to approve limiting restrictions on water pressure regulations on showerheads. Not long ago Trump railed that he didn’t have enough water pressure in the shower to fully wash his hair, which he wanted to “be perfect.” Well, Trump increased the pressure, all right, on his agency in charge of such things. In response to his victory, Trump reportedly tweeted, “FINALLY, TRICKLE DOWN SHOWER ECONOMICS ARE OVER. MY PERFECT HAIR WILL BE THE GREATEST OF ALL PAST PRESIDENTS!”

In other news, while Trump was showering as ordered:

  • Covid deaths have now passed the 300,000 mark in the U.S.
  • The unemployment rate is the highest since Labor Day.
  • Trump and his enablers in Congress continue to label the election a fraud despite the supreme court decision against that accusation.
  • Barr quits, or more likely, was fired.
  • McConnell finally congratulates Biden for his victory.
  • Trump slam-tweets Barr and McConnell for disloyalty.
  • Canceling shower head restrictions will now probably extend to toilets as well. A focused Trump was heard to announce to a rapt nation, “People will now only have to flush once, instead of the 10 to 15 times they probably had to flush before.”
  • In 33 days, Trump will be out of office, looking for a place to live since Palm Springs does not want him living at Mar a-Lago, his dilapidated Atlantic City Hotel will soon be torn down, and New York’s Attorney General is working hard to find Trump a private suite at the state prison.
  • Breakable News has also heard that Trump is considering asylum offers from his buds Vlad Putin and/or Kimmie Un. This is a continuing and very breakable story…

That’s it, faithful BNers. Again, so sorry to disturb your time where you probably weren’t doing much anyway. Oh, and our consumer affairs correspondent advises to go easy on that time under an increasingly gushing shower. For human beings and other living things, water rules.

 

 

The White House White Elephant Rose Garden Christmas Sale

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Breakable News, the news you wished you’d unsubscribed to before this report hit your screens, has stumbled upon a story that not only has legs but liver. Our White House Rose Garden correspondent Rosie Flowers (yes, we do have a reporter specifically assigned to the Rose Garden!) emerged from a pod of lilies in a backwater pool during what one guest called a Rose Garden White Elephant Christmas Sale, hosted by none other than Donald and Melania themselves, assisted by all their children, and designated maskless and socially close, of course. Here’s the transcript of Flower’s report.

RF: Excuse me, Mr. President, what’s going on?

DJT: Now Rosie, I’m tired of your meddling. This was supposed to be a top secret, National Security event, you know. But if you must know, we’re having a sale of our possessions tremendously acquired over the past four years, completely, I might add, with taxpayers’ money, to make some extra dough for our Election Reversal Fund and to cut down on boxes we’ll need to pick up from the UHaul It store.

RF: But I thought that Fund was well funded by your loyal base supporters, Mr. President. Money was rolling in. Last I heard, some 20 million.

DJT: It was rolling in, nicely, I might add—more than any other Election Reversal Fund in the history of this country—until that stupid AJ Barr of mine opened his big pie hole to say Biden won, which he hasn’t, you know. And then that traitor McConnell follows suit. And even my Supreme Court. Well, and you can print this, I won, by a lot. Congress is currently working on that. Would you be interested, by the way, in this imitation gold plated demitasse tea service?

RF: How much?

DJT: Let me check with Melania. Melania, dear. Melania. How much for the tea set? What? Really?  OK. (back to RF)  Ten million.

RF: Would you take three?

DJT: Million?

RF: No, three dollars.

DJT: Look, this isn’t any crap stuff out here.  There‘s never been anything like it at this dump. And by the way, not a word of this sale in your fake news rag. Clear?

RF: Sure, sure. How much have you taken people for so far?

DJT: Oh big time. They’re swarming through here like murder hornets in a beehive. McConnell bought the mask I ripped off at the press conference the other day for two mil. And Pompeo and his wife bought seven gold plated toilets for five.

RF: Dollars?

DJT: Million, smart aleck. I signed each one with my sharpie, then shrewdly sold the sharpie to one of my Scotus appointees—I won’t say who—for a mil. We are raking it in. And I haven’t even started with the GoFundMe fund yet.  Ask Melania. She organized this whole thing. Brilliant. You know, the Rose Garden was her pet project. Great girl. I revised the pre-nup and increased her allowance to 20 mil a week.

RF: But what about the Covid pandemic, sir? It’s raging out of control.  What are you doing about that?

DJT: That’s a fraud. Total fraud. Fauci and the Democrats made the whole thing up. I just wrote an Executive Order banning the mention of it among all Federal agencies and U.S citizens. Wanna buy the sharpie I used?

RF: How much?

DJT:  Never mind. If you have to ask, you can’t afford it, I always say. But business is a little slow. Lunch time, you know. I’ll give it to you for three bucks, but don’t tell Melania. How’d you get in here, anyway?

RF: What? You never noticed? I live here. In a tent behind the alligator pond.

DJT: Oh. Roger that. Hey, I’m busy, Flowers. I’ve got to get to my resort for a tee time with Mnuchin. He’s buying my supercharged golf cart.

RF: How much?

DJT: Don’t ask. But he checked with Bannon and was able to transfer some wall construction money into my personal account. Half a billion, I think. Wait, I’ll check with Ivanka. She handles stuff like this.

RF: That’s OK. I think we’re done here.

DJT: Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. That’s my line!

 

And there you have it, faithful Breakable readers. You heard it right from the ass’s mouth. And remember, repeat this to no one or the Wizard of Oz will cast vicious tweets upon you and yours.

 

 

 

Here’s the Deal–My Take

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I finally figured out what the hell is happening vis a vis Trump, his minions, and this crazed country. First, Trump’s main motive is to keep the money rolling in, which he is doing by continuing to refuse to accept Biden as winner of the election. Even after the Supreme Court decision against him, he’ll continue to yell it as fraud and rigged and that he ‘won by a lot.” Not only won’t that change but will continue even after Biden’s inauguration. For Trump will attempt to establish a shadow presidency, complete with his own new agencies that remain loyal to him like Newsmax. You see, Trump will never admit he is a loser. He was raised in a cultish home with a sociopathic, authoritarian father who’s toxic voice hammered home the constant message to never admit to being a loser. And his supporters will continue to protest, dutifully send him their hard earned money, and increasingly threaten his detractors. That means more intimidation including death threats via email, mail, phone, social media. and directly in front of private homes at night with bullhorns on their lips and guns on their hips.

Secondly, Republicans who have been supporting Trump in Congress and in Red states will continue to [Read more…] about Here’s the Deal–My Take