Building Autocracy, Trampling the Constitution

It turns out that handing the executive branch over to sycophants and special interests hasn’t gone well for either the would-be Autocrat, the United States, and even the world. LCI will be posting articles dissecting what’s going on.

1. Trump’s Foreign Policy is Creating Chaos Around the World

2. The Fossil Fuel Industry with Trump’s Support is Ravaging the World: historical heat waves and wildfires, destruction of US preserved land, threatening all species on the planet including humans.

3. Freeing the Executive from the Legislative Branch is Fueling Unprecedented Corruption (Thank you SCOTUS) .

4. The Federal Level is Failing to Stop Trump. We Should Start Pushing Blue States to Act.

5. Funny Thing: Voters Don’t Like What Trump’s Doing. American voters are rejecting Trump’s actions with historically low poll numbers (That’s Why Autocrats Try to Control Elections). It’s all – we hope – setting the stage for a massive Blue Wave in 2026.

Quick Background: At the end of WWII the US helped craft and maintain a world order that “aimed to stop major global wars and economic collapse. This system featured the United Nations, open global trade, and security alliances like NATO.”(1) The Trump II administration came into office determined to supplant that order with its own. It’s producing chaos.

A blueprint for the new order was published by the Heritage Foundation: Project 2025. It proposed that the US back away from its longstanding focus on Europe/NATO/threats from Russia to counter the growing threat of China. It should pivot from “promoting democracy and protecting American security...and make protecting life...a core objective” of foreign aid (260), to eliminate “gender equity” and spread religious freedom. This agenda would be accomplished by “install[ing] loyalists and ideologues at high levels of our diplomatic, military, and intelligence agencies.”(2)

Twenty months into the Trump II administration Project 2025’s plan alone would engender chaos. But implementation had to come from Trump the egoist who alone knows what is right and those loyalists and ideologues, many of whom had agendas of their own. Trump has always preferred unilateral relationships (vs. alliances) so he could wield his deal-making prowess, and regarded tariffs as leverage he could yield unilaterally. By law and the Constitution, the levying of tariffs is the prerogative of the legislative branch, as the Supreme Court has affirmed. The Trump factor has created a “self-inflicted disaster” for the US economy, disrupting integrated global supply chains, infuriating allies, and promoting international esteem for China—the opposite of what Project 2025 wanted.(3)

Add to the mix one of those ideologues with their own agendas: Pete Hegseth, reportedly chosen by Trump for his TV presence. Hegseth’s primary achievements, in addition to being the first Secretary to add a secure cosmetics room to the Pentagon, have been to reorient the military away from “woke” by getting rid of Black and female military leaders and instead promoting the power of manly muscles and beefed-up testosterone.

The Comeuppance is Coming The war against Iran that Trump/Netanyahu started without consulting Congress, in which the Constitution vests the power to make war, has empowered Iran while jacking up domestic gas prices and trapping the US in diplomatic quicksand (where are those allies when you need them?). Iran’s leaders, radicalized by the US’s devastating sneak attack, know they’ve got the upper hand: control of the Strait of Hormuz, and are letting Trump twist in the wind as the midterms approach. Hegseth’s disastrous military “leadership” has failed strategically, depleted supplies of key armaments, and – breaking news – so seriously mismanaged the naval blockade of Hormuz that sailors and their families are furiously complaining of food shortages so severe that one sailor told his mother his meal was “half a cup of rice and two tortillas.” Not to mention moldy showers, broken toilets, inoperable laundry facilities, and weeks without hot water. (4)

Finally, some well-deserved schadenfreude. In one of two stories in Slate, JD Vance, a vehement critic of Ukraine while doing his best to infuriate allies who aren’t Christian nationalists, has had to beg (yes, beg) Zelenskyy to cease his effective bombing campaign against Russian sea vessels because it’s hurting MAGA’s reelection chances. Oh my. In the other, the Pentagon where Pete Hegseth has sent experts packing, has had to email analysts and officers, pleading: “We are looking for new creative and unconventional ways to pressure and punish Iran.” Whoops, turns out injecting testosterone doesn’t create military expertise. The comeuppance is coming.(5)

Click Here for Reference # 1

Click Here for Reference # 2

Click Here for Reference # 3

Click Here for Reference # 4

Click Here for Reference # 5

Click Here for Reference # 6

Just as it seemed that the damage Trump and his sycophants could inflict on the U.S.’s international standing, news started hitting the street of a new onslaught. The Guardian reports: “Trump cuts US-South Korea military drills citing ‘good relationship with Kim Jong-un’....Trump explained: the drills were costly and “send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a country that, as long as Donald J Trump has been president, has been unthreatening and respectful”.(1) There goes a linchpin of America’s role defending the Pacific against the hostile regimes of China and North Korea, not to mention Russia.

Today’s newsletter from Paul Krugman fleshes out the story, weighing in on “the incredible rash of stories about how Trump and company are eviscerating the military....the immature, insecure guys [who] think that war is about acting tough and looking cool.” Krugman weaves together the stories about disastrous conditions on the US’s ships; our military’s exposure in the Pacific and depleted store of munitions due to losing effort against Iran; and Trump’s orders to spend billions to construct a whole new class of ships that look like those in World War II movies to ask “why is this happening?” He identifies several strands: Trump’s physical and mental deterioration, the collapse of the Republican party, and Pete Hegseth’s incompetence to conclude with Hannah Arendt’s observations on authoritarianism.

First: “If you elevate one person to a position of untouchable authority, and if that person loses it...there is no recourse.”

Second: Totalitarian regimes “actively dislike competence. Because someone who is competent, someone who knows what they’re doing, might stand on their dignity, might refuse to follow instructions from above. You need third-raters or worse.”(2)

This is where we are.

(1)https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/17/first-thing-trump-cuts-us-south-korea-military-drills-relationship-kim-jong-un

(2)https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-misery-will-continue-until-morale

We’re all aware of the worsening climate crisis, but this summer’s wildfires, searing heat, droughts, toxic smoke, and widespread deaths of humans and other species seemed to represent an explosive escalation.

"Far beyond the fires raging across Europe and North America, the smoke, dangerous to breathe, hangs in the air, dimming the view, changing the very color of sunlight into something grimly unsettling.... Summer was the sweet season celebrated in poetry and song, often pictured as a gentle goddess; now it is too often a threat and a misery.” -- Rebecca Solnit’s lament for summer, and she was in New Mexico.(1)

Europe was worse. The New Yorker’s “Taking the Heat” chronicles the grim story of this summer in Europe, which is warming at more than twice the rate of the global average. 117 in Gascony, a nuclear plant closed because the river that was supposed to cool it was too warm.... “And this summer is only a preview of the treacherous weather that lies ahead.”(2)

Unsurprisingly, the Trump Administration seems not to have noticed. “Unsurprising” because Trump and the Heritage Foundation took office with an express commitment to overturning the environmentalist movement and turning America back to coal and oil. Global warming “is a hoax!”(3) The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 laid out a detailed plan for executing this pivot: “dismantling federal climate change research, rolling back the Environmental Protection Agency's regulatory powers, expanding fossil fuel leasing on public lands, and repealing major clean energy and conservation laws....”(4)

It’s working surprisingly well, unlike Trump’s plan to dominate the world. The secretive and savvy Russell Vought (unlike Pete Hegseth) works from behind the scenes directing the OMB, where all the executive offices intersect. The reason he’s so effective is the powerful autocratic Presidency that Trump’s ego and Project 2025’s planning have forged, abetted by a supine Congress and a supportive Supreme Court.

One example of Trump’s success: “The Trump administration has moved to remove or reduce protections from more than 86 million acres of federal public lands and national forests. Major actions include proposing to repeal the 25-year-old Roadless Rule across 45 million acres of national forests and slashing Utah's Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments to a fraction of their original size.”(5)

It will only get worse as global warming proceeds apace.

• The ever-grifting Trump, his family, and his cronies have an incentive to keep it going. They are making millions as tax-payer money is transferred from Congressionally funded preservation & environmental programs to fossil fuel barons. A recent example: The Trump Administration is transferring the funds from cancelled offshore wind projects – estimated to be around a billion dollars – to a billionaire who lives near Mar-a-Lago and who has donated a million dollars to Trump campaigns. “Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee estimated this week that the president’s holdings in oil and gas companies have jumped in value from a range of $13-$46 million at the start of this year, to $17-$61 million by mid-Aug.”(6)

• This year the Tech Oligarchs entered the fray with their billions of dollars and insatiable demand for Data Centers to support their quest to move us all into an AI-dominated world. Data Centers consume unimaginable amounts of water and energy. A post dedicated to this topic will appear soon.

To avoid ending on a depressing note, here’s a quote from Paul Krugman:

“Yet here’s the irony: Donald Trump’s disastrous Iran war has delivered a huge boost for renewable energy around the world — except in the U.S. Trump has so far done more to shift the global economy away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy than any other single individual in history.”(7)

Citations to Follow

1. https://www.meditationsinanemergency.com/the-right-word-is-wrongness/?ref=meditations-in-an-emergency-newsletter

2. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/08/24/the-end-of-the-european-summer

3. https://www.google.com/search?q=Trump+thinks+climate+crisis+is+hoax&oq=Trump+thinks+climate+crisis+is+hoax&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRiPAjIHCAIQIRiPAtIBCjM2ODQ0ajBqMTWoAgCwAgA&sourceid=chrome&source=chrome.rb&ie=UTF-8

4. https://www.google.com/search?q=project+2025+environmental+policy&oq=project+2025&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBggBECMYJzIGCAAQRRg5MgYIARAjGCcyBggCECMYJzITCAMQABiDARixAxjHAxiABBiKBTIHCAQQABiABDIHCAUQABiABDIHCAYQABiABDIHCAcQABiABDITCAgQABiDARixAxjHAxiABBiKBTIHCAkQABiPAtIBCDU2ODRqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&source=chrome.ob&ie=UTF-5.

5. https://www.google.com/search?q=Trump+loss+of+federal+protected+land&oq=Trump+loss+of+federal+protected+land&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCTIwODAyajBqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&source=chrome.ob&ie=UTF-8

6. https://www.meidasplus.com/p/today-in-politics-bulletin-449-82726

7. https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/donald-trump-champion-of-renewable

Tim Weiner, an esteemed, prize-winning journalist and author of two books on the CIA, recently discussed the impact of Trump’s administration on the CIA.

“Under the present administration there has been an ideological purge at the CIA, as well as at the FBI and at State. You cannot be promoted, you cannot rise to power, unless you answer three questions correctly in the view of the Trump administration. Who won the 2020 election? What did you think of the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol? And who did you vote for in 2024?” Weiner continues, “[Trump cannot be briefed. His mind is made up and he does not want to be confused with facts.”

Weiner concludes with this warning:

“.....{T]he cumulative effects of these purges leave the United States in a state of danger that approaches the months leading up to the 9/11 attacks 25 years ago. Trump has...destroyed the cybersecurity offices and architectures that were set up after the Russians attacked our election and our democracy to help elect him in 2016....The next attack will not look like the last one. It may be silent. It may be unseen. But it is coming.”

https://www.spytalk.co/p/straight-talk-on-the-cias-mixed-past

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Weiner#:~:text=Tim%20Weiner%20(born%20June%2020%2C,%5B1%5D%20and%20National%20Book%20Award.

Donald J. Trump

@realDonald Trump

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believe the Radical Left's Fake Poll numbers.

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4 ReTruths 16 Likes 8/3/26, 8:31 AM

If you’ve been wondering why Trump’s recent moves seem like they won’t help Republicans in November, Joyce Vance has a good answer. In her recent newsletter, “The Ever Expanding, Power Hungry Trump Presidency” she wrote:

“Trump isn’t worried about the presidency. Let’s get that straight from the start. He is not an institutionalist. This is about his personal power and how much of government authority and resources he can concentrate in his own hands. We see it with his ongoing assertion of control over elections, tariffs, immigration, the Justice Department and its conduct of his revenge agenda, going to and staying at war.”

The impact of Trump’s ego on the upcoming midterm elections is worth thinking about, especially if it helps his opponents. See below for an example.

Republicans are very worried about the November elections. Donald Trump’s approval ratings on the economy have dropped to historic lows as voters express deep frustration over the cost of living. Recent polling shows roughly 33% to 34% approval for his handling of the economy, driven by backlash over high prices, tariffs, and his recent dismissal of "affordability" as a political hoax. It’s imperative that Republican candidates have something credible to campaign on that shows their commitment to what’s become known as the “affordability issue.” That’s what the 21st Century Road to Housing Act was supposed to be. But Trump refused to sign it to protest the failure of the Republican controlled Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, an unconstitutional bill that would restrict voter rolls to people likely to vote for Trump/Republicans.

What aspiring autocrat wouldn’t want to control who gets to vote (and not coincidentally validate in Trump’s eyes his belief he won the 2020 election)? Here’s how Robert Hubbell framed it: “Trump’s refusal to sign the one piece of legislation that addresses the most significant issue heading into the midterms (affordability) is a self-inflicted wound that Democrats should seize upon at every opportunity....[In a] tantrum unworthy of a toddler, Trump refused to sign the bipartisan bill designed to make housing more affordable for Americans.” Hubbell cautions that we can’t count on the Trump Administration to lose the November elections for us, but he’s tracking a number of stories that will help.

Click Here For Hubbell Article

Click Here For Vance Article

When we think about what will happen in post-Trump America, it’s important to remember that Trump II’s objectives and successes are the consequence of a fortuitous combination two factors, only one of which will go away in 2028: Trump’s ego and the MAGA movement (including think tanks like the Heritage Foundation, a phalanx of online influencers, and cult voters). Trump’s boundless desire to dominate everything, including our political system, aligns him with MAGA’s plan to create a powerful

executive that can impose its vision of the good society on us. In the swirl of current news – Trump’s cave to Iran, the triumph of green algae over Trump’s redo of the reflecting pool, Giorgia Meloni’s battle over Trump’s claim she submissively begged him for a photo...it’s hard to see the forest for the trees.

Here’s a potentially terrifying example of Trump/MAGA’s drive toward autocracy happening right before our eyes: the attempt to impose federal control of our elections, a power the Constitution reserves to the states.

The American system of elections has been in Trump’s crosshairs since the 2020 election. Because he, Trump, couldn’t have lost an election, the fault must lie with an electorate that includes a lot of the wrong people. How do we know they’re the wrong people? Because they didn’t vote for Trump and

therefore aren’t real Americans. They must be culled from the voter rolls so Trump can win.

Trump/MAGA are taking a multi-pronged approach. Inspired by the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025’s proposal to make use of a century-old civil rights law to “to investigate and prosecute those who help others exercise their right to vote — namely, election officials and voter registration groups,” more than 100 FBI agents executed a massive law enforcement effort on June 11 in Ohio involving simultaneous search warrants, door knocks, and surprise interrogations. Its target — a nonprofit running successful voter registration programs aimed at racial minorities, the formerly incarcerated, and college students (See the Brennan Center and Democracy Docket).

And, as Joyce Vance reports, Trump has been issuing Executive Orders to (1) to compile a federal list of eligible voters, which is clearly unconstitutional, and (2) command the US Post Office, which is not under his control, to usurp state-run election systems by requiring states to send mail-in ballots only to people on the federal list. Luckily for him, Trump’s personal lawyer is running the Department of Justice.

(Note: the LCI website’s Ways to Fight Back section will be tracking efforts to stop Trump/MAGA’s efforts to control elections.)

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/17/opinion/trump-pratt-voter-fraud republicans.html?smid=em-share

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/whats-next-elections-under-project-2025-agenda

https://www.democracydocket.com/opinion/the-fbis-raid-on-free-and-fair-elections/

https://joycevance.substack.com/p/the-executive-order-to-restrict-vote

https://joycevance.substack.com/p/trumps-new-attempt-to-keep-you-from

* $510 million - Grants for farmers and agricultural research

* $82 million - Loans for rural small businesses (Fully eliminated)

* $61 million - Support for farmers and food markets (Fully eliminated)

* $240 million - School meals and food education for children abroad (Fully

eliminated)

* $659 million - Community building grants

* $47 million - Support for minority-owned businesses (Fully eliminated)

* $449 million - Economic development grants for communities

* $1.6 billion - Weather forecasting, fisheries, and coastal protection (NOAA)

* $993 million - Scientific research and technology standards

* $150 million - Support for American exports and trade

* $2.2 billion - Broadband and internet access programs

* $8.5 billion - Funding for public schools

* $1.5 billion - Vocational training and adult education (Fully eliminated)

* $2.7 billion - College access and higher education support

* $15.2 billion - Roads, bridges, and infrastructure projects

* $1.1 billion - Home energy efficiency and clean energy programs (Fully

eliminated)

* $1.1 billion - Scientific research funding

* $386 million - Environmental cleanup programs

* $150 million - Cutting-edge clean energy research

* $4 billion - Help paying home heating and cooling bills for low-income

families (Fully eliminated)

* $768 million - Refugee resettlement assistance

* $819 million - Care and shelter for migrant children

* $775 million - Local anti-poverty programs (Fully eliminated)

* $5 billion - Public health programs, mental health services, and disease

prevention

* $5 billion - Medical research (NIH)

* $129 million - Healthcare quality and safety research

* $356 million - Emergency preparedness and disaster response

* $1.3 billion - FEMA community disaster preparedness grants

* $707 million - Cybersecurity protection for critical infrastructure

* $52 million - Airport and transportation security

* $40 million - Protection against chemical and biological weapons threats

* $53 million - Funding for homeland security operations

* $3.3 billion - Community development block grants for local neighborhoods

(Fully eliminated)

* $1.3 billion - Affordable housing construction grants (Fully eliminated)

* $393 million - Programs to reduce homelessness

* $529 million - Housing assistance for people living with HIV/AIDS (Fully

eliminated)

* $489 million - Housing and services for Native American communities

* $50 million - Grants to help communities build more housing (Fully

eliminated)

* $60 million - Enforcement of fair housing and anti-discrimination laws

* $58 million - Homebuyer and renter counseling services (Fully eliminated)

* $45 million - Renewable energy development programs (Fully eliminated)

* $1.7 billion - Grants for local law enforcement and public safety

* $20 million - Civil rights mediation and legal access programs (Fully

eliminated)

* $1.6 billion - Job training for at-risk youth (Fully eliminated)

* $395 million - Jobs program for low-income seniors (Fully eliminated)

* $234 million - Worker safety and labor protection programs

* $101 million - Enforcement of equal pay and workplace anti-discrimination

laws

* $46 million - Programs to combat child labor and forced labor abroad

* $2 billion - International humanitarian aid

* $1.2 billion - Food aid for hungry families abroad (Fully eliminated)

* $4.3 billion - Global health and disease prevention programs

* $2.7 billion - Funding for the United Nations and international partnerships

* $642 million - International economic and treasury programs

* $315 million - Democracy and anti-corruption programs abroad

https://substack.com/home/post/p-193091758

* $486 million - Grants for public transit projects

* $4.2 billion - Electric vehicle charging infrastructure

* $372 million - Airline service for rural and small communities

* $145 million - Grants for sustainable and equitable infrastructure

* $204 million - Loans and investment for underserved communities

* $1.4 billion - IRS taxpayer services and enforcement

* $100 million - Air pollution monitoring and reduction programs (Fully

eliminated)

* $1 billion - EPA grants to states for environmental protection

* $2.5 billion - Clean drinking water and wastewater infrastructure funds

* $90 million - Grants to reduce diesel pollution (Fully eliminated)

* $3.4 billion - NASA space and earth science research

* $297 million - NASA technology innovation programs

* $1.1 billion - International Space Station operations

* $143 million - STEM education programs

* $309 million - Small business development and entrepreneurship programs

* $170 million - Small Business Administration operations

* $158 million - Loans for small businesses

https://substack.com/home/post/p-193091758

(CONTINUE READING BELOW)

If you need a boost these days, follow the link below to read Jessica Craven's uplifting Substack piece.

Click Here For Good News

Per Noem: “Our forefathers built this nation on blood, sweat, and the unyielding love of freedom – not for foreign invaders to slaughter our heroes, suck dry our hard-earned tax dollars....”

Let’s Check the Facts:

• Our European forefathers stole the land on which they built this nation from the indigenous people, slaughtered them, and pillaged their villages.

• Immigrants in the U.S. have a beneficial effect on our economy and their expulsion will hurt us all.

According to the conservative Cato Institute:

• For each year from 1994 to 2023, the US immigrant population generated more in taxes than they received in benefits from all levels of government.

• Over that period, immigrants created a cumulative fiscal surplus of $14.5 trillion in real 2024 US dollars, including $3.9 trillion in savings on interest on the debt.

• Without immigrants, US government public debt at all levels would be at least 205 percent of gross domestic product (GDP)—nearly twice its 2023 level.

• These results, which do not account for any of immigration’s indirect, tax-revenue-boosting effects

on economic growth, represent the lower bound of the positive fiscal effects. Even by this conservative analysis, immigrants may have already prevented a fiscal crisis.

Click Here for Immigrants’ Recent Effects on Government Budgets

Bruce's new Anti ICE song.

Click Here To Listen

Musk’s Wealth 2012: $2 billion

2025: $493.8 billion

Bezos’ Wealth 2012: $18.4 billion

2025: $240.9 billion

Zuckerberg’s Wealth 2012: $17.5 billion

2025: $226.9 billion

Federal Minimum Wage

2012: $7.25

2025: $7.25