Welcome to a discussion about the upcoming 5th Revolution in the US, which I’ve titled the “Revenge Revolution.” For more about the Revenge Revolution and the author, click “About the Author” tab.  Periodically I write a “sense check” to assess whether a revolution in the US is possible or whether the entire exercise is based on a statistical aberration — i.e., a roughly 50-year cycle between major upheavals in the US. The previous “sense check” was ENTRY #500.

BEGIN #506: Over  the past month or so, I have been ambivalent about writing entries for the blog. What else is there to say?  US Revolution V, aka the Revenge Revolution, seems to be playing out in front of us.

The most obvious story is the Manhattan DA’s criminal charges against Trump. What would normally be a straightforward procedure in the criminal justice system has been turned into a 3-ring circus.

The circus was not created by the prosecutors or the judge, all of whom have behaved professionally and as one would expect.  The 3-ring circus was created by the defendant – the 2-year-old disguised as a 77-year-old with orange hair.

While Trump‘s behavior is no surprise – he’s acted like a petulant 2-year-old since he was well, 2-years old. The surprise continues to be why his followers willingly support every act of his aimed at destroying the foundations of our democracy.

What motivates people to support someone who wants to take away an individual’s rights, someone who wants to be accountable to no one, and someone who wants to be in office for life?  The rationale is beyond me, even with a gift of gold tennis shoes and autographed bible, I cannot imagine why anyone would support such a politician. Show me one other country anywhere in the world where the populous buys in to such BS.

 The quote attributed to Lincoln is spot on, “You can fool some of the people all the time, and fool all the people some of the time,  but you can’t fool all the people all the time.“

Unfortunately, the biggest issue facing the US is not Trump but what will it take and how long will it take to repair the damage done by followers of Orangeman.  Think about this for a perspective on time to make change – some states are still fighting the Civil War 150+ years after it ended. And the effort to revert to the Civil War era seems to be increasing.

Arizona, for example, wants to reinstate an abortion ban that became effective in 1864 when Arizona was a territory.  The ban was implemented almost 50 years before it became a state. The Board of Regents of the North Carolina University system wants to eliminate all personnel positions and any program associated with making the student population more diverse, admission more equitable, and programs more inclusionary. Read that effort as the Regents want only white faculty and students at the premier universities, except, of course, black students who can play football and basketball. Other blacks should attend state HCBU’s. Numerous other examples of states taking away rights are available.

This coming week should be telling about how steep the challenge and the time required to begin repairing the country.  Key issues include the Trump trial in Manhattan, another civil procedure beginning against Trump,  SCOTUS hearing oral arguments about Trump‘s immunity from prosecution. Why SCOTUS is even entertaining such a discussion is beyond what I would consider reasonable.

Another high-profile issue will be likely efforts by right-wing Republicans to oust Speaker of the House Johnson. Why?  Because Johnson had the temerity to work with Democrats to pass legislation to protect US security and even worse, pass legislation to provide arms to Ukraine.

What’s wrong with helping Ukraine fight Russia, which is trying to occupy Ukraine? Simply that Trump is still upset with Zelenskyy who wouldn’t bend to Trump’s wishes as part of Trump’s payback to Putin for helping with the 2016 election.  No matter how illogical Trump’s behavior and no matter how the behavior endangers national security, if Trump doesn’t like it, Republicans don’t like it.

No new news that the US Congress has clearly become dysfunctional. Thanks in part to Trump, but only in part. Republicans have been willing enablers.  Broken organizations take a long time to repair, especially when the executives of the organization – the Executive and Legislative branches — are elected.

Enough depressing news for this entry. There is hope that we can begin to repair our dysfunctional democracy. But likely more chaos first. Let’s see what happens this week. END #506

Other Topics. Interested in more info about climate change, what’s required to electrify a fleet of cars/trucks, and an array of other topics, visit another page of this website, https://usrevolution5.com/jrd-thought-comments/