Are you better off now than you were four days ago? Or four months ago? What Ronald Reagan measured in years in his highly effective 1980 campaign message has dramatically sped up to match today’s social media-focused world.
August used to be a slow news month. But consider some of what’s taken place in just the last 28 days:
A convicted felon and accused war criminal met on American soil;
A push by that convicted felon to rig the 2026 midterm elections;
Two separate efforts to whitewash history by disappearing a museum exhibit noting that same convicted felon’s two impeachments and then complaining about efforts to document American shameful history of slavery.
In the last week, he expanded that effort by:
Ordering the raid at the home of a former top national security official;
Attempting to fire an independent Federal Reserve governor on unproven social media allegations;
Dismissing the medical doctor leading the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for refusing to sign-off on the anti-vaccination policies of the former heroin addict and dealer leading the Department of Health and Human Services;
Threatening to prosecute a liberal philanthropist and his son for their support of unnamed “Violent Protests and much more, all throughout the United States of America.”
There’s still a few days left in the month to exploit the literal Mass shooting at a Minneapolis church, an event that suggests “thoughts and prayers” may not be enough to stem the gun violence to which this nation is addicted.
And did I mention the ongoing coverup surrounding his potential involvement with the crimes of a pedophile who used to be a very good friend until he “stole” an underage girl from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago spa.
There’s been a Slow Motion Coup underway in America for decades, as conservatives chipped away at institutions, including the media, with the intent of imposing Project 2025 and its blueprint of religious and social viewpoints rejected by a majority of Americans.
A failed “Violent Protest” on January 6, 2021 that led to Donald Trump’s indictment for election obstruction had been the low watermark of that effort. But his pardons and commutations of nearly 1,600 insurrectionists gave renewed vigor to the effort that one Project 2025 author described as being:
“the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”
There has been a simultaneous assault on science and medicine, led by, among others, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a lawyer by training who now presumes to possess the one true way to “Make America Healthy Again.”
A way that grabs on to discredited theories about the role of vaccines — and some admittedly bad calls along the way — as the nation attempted to cope with a worldwide pandemic that killed more than one million people in the United States alone before they stopped counting.
The decision by Kennedy and Trump to fire CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez over her refusal to go along with Kennedy’s ignorant theories has thrown the nation’s already fractured public health system into deeper disarray. A statement from her attorneys charge her termination:
“[I]s about the systematic dismantling of public health institutions, the silencing of experts, and the dangerous politicization of science. The attack on Dr. Monarez is a warning to every American: Our evidence-based systems are being undermined from within.”
In fact, a major part of the public health crisis facing the nation is not evidence-based — because of a ban on using government funds to collect data on the impact of gun violence.
The Minneapolis shooter also took advantage of laws that have led to the reality that there are more guns than people in America — even as guns are the leading cause of death among children and teens.
In an unfortunately phrased clapback, lawyers for Monarez accused Kennedy of “weaponizing public health for political gain” and “putting millions of American lives at risk” by purging health officials from government.
No one should expect this cycle to slow down after Labor Day. There’s been much speculation that Trump’s destruction of democratic values is not just the “second American Revolution” envisioned by Project 2025 but also a massive distraction from the questions surrounding his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
The nation’s previous wannabe dictator, Richard Nixon, once declared:
“[P]eople have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I’m not a crook.”
It’s worth recalling that Trump, speaking about Epstein, told New York Magazine in 2002 that:
“He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
People have got to know whether or not their president took advantage of young women. As someone twice-impeached, four times-indicted, convicted on 34 criminal fraud charges and found civilly liable for fraud and sexual abuse he’s already made a pretty good case for being a crook.
There’s never been a U.S. president who has monetized public policies as Trump has. The crypto schemes alone are enough for former presidents to wonder how he gets away with it. It used to be a book deal was the golden handshake former presidents received. Now it’s a massive luxury airliner, use of his resorts and hotels. There’s a bar called “The Executive Branch” in D.C. filled with and operated by his cronies to draw those seeking influence.