The Takeover

 REUTERS/David Becker 

Our country is at a “tipping point.”

A very small group of wealthy people are attempting to take control of our government. The stars were aligned when they found the perfect pitchman, Donald J. Trump, to sell their agenda.

We know the story of Dark Money: Now we are watching the real movie play out. These wealthy people attracted Trump by giving him the opportunity to become the most powerful man in the world. Unfortunately, as a result, our country would no longer be the most powerful or respected.

Trump loves autocratic rulers. He is clearly more comfortable with Vladimir Putin than the duly-elected leaders of Europe and Asia. The Putin Oligarchy works just fine for Trump. He and his businesses have probably been playing with those Russian guys for years. While we have sketchy data, and only Trump’s denials, we know that Donald Trump, Jr. once said that “the Russian money was pouring in to the Trump business.”

We know that Trump has been buddies with people like his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, who has now been charged with conspiracy to launder money and many other charges. This isn’t just some freak occurrence where it’s just Donald Trump being “Donald Trump.” He loves the role he is playing. Satisfy his rich cronies and he is the “Big Guy”, like Putin. We need to start realizing that this is a plan; not Donald Trump’s plan, but the ultra-wealthy, “corporate oligarchy plan.

What better con man than Donald Trump to play the role? A narcissistic, perpetually lying, power-hungry, ego-maniac, misogynist with absolutely no feelings or empathy for anything or anybody, other than himself. On top of that, he is a well-trained realty show host. Most of these are qualities you will find in the leaders in Russia, North Korea, the Philippines, Iran, Syria, Turkey, and many other dictatorships around the world.

Part of this plan has been to make a deal with the Republicans to help drive their agenda now that they have full control of Congress and the Executive Branch and just ramrod things through. The reality is that Republicans made a “Faustian” deal with the Devil and now they are seeing the consequences play out.

The plan that Trump has been carrying out is to elevate the military and discredit the judicial system, the FBI, and all Intelligence agencies. And let us not forget that according to our President the press is our enemy and tells us “fake news.”

This plan goes much deeper than this, such as decimating most of our key federal agencies like the State Department and putting people in charge of other cabinet-level agencies who, in many cases, did not like the agency they now head. He wants to rip apart our government. We are now entering a new period where agencies like the CDC have been told by the Trump Administration that they cannot use certain words in their communications. This is just like the book 1984.

All of this is happening on the foundation of his supporters, which is now in the 35%-40% approval range. Trump’s base includes wealthy people and those who feel disenfranchised or disrespected, like the White Supremacists, KKK, and “America Firsters.” The sad part is that it’s the “80/20 Principle” taking control of our country; 20% control 80% of the country.

Also, a “state run news agencies” have emerged in Fox News and Breitbart. They are there to push the Trump agenda and discredit the “mainstream media.”

Those who disagree with this theory try to convince themselves that we have checks and balances in our system of government. They insist the Presidency only has limited power since we have Congress to thwart the rise of a dictator. They tell us we have laws that will protect us. The problem is that this old paradigm no longer works.

We have a President who is a master at taking advantage of other people. Just look at how he ran his businesses, and how he’s running this country: It’s a “Screw and Sue” strategy.

So, here we are, closer to a takeover than we think. The new GOP tax bill that was just passed will be a major shift in wealth. Our legal system and press have been delegitimized and the military has been emboldened. Monumental shifts like these cannot be seen while you’re in the middle of them and, when you finally realize what happening, it’s too late to do anything about it.

My plea to those of us in the 70%-80% group is this:
We need to immediately stand up and protest what is happening to us. We can’t let this insanity to go on much longer. While it may be too late to make a difference, the upcoming Women’s March scheduled for January 21, 2018 can be the perfect opportunity to make a stand. There was a great turnout for the Women’s March, right after Trump’s inauguration, and we have more reason than ever to get out and march this coming January.

Congress will not be able to ignore us if there are millions of people in every city in this country marching and demonstrating our disgust for what is happening to our country.

Now it’s time for us to say “Make America Care Again”… like our country was before Trump and his rich cronies started their takeover.