October 13, 2026

This will be my last chance to opine before the mid-term elections. You would probably expect me to ramble on about what a sick and depraved President we have, and what a non-agenda the Republicans have. However, I have already made up my mind about who I am going to vote for, and, I am guessing, so have you. I suppose there are independent voters out there who are still trying to decide, but, like the Yeti, I have never met one. So I am going to turn my attention to what we will all have in common after the mid-terms, each other.

As a society, we have gotten to the point where we go out of our way to avoid human contact. Long lines of cars snake around fast food restaurants. Consumers would rather use kiosks and takeout apps than deal with a real person. There are times at Big Y that I am happy to have more than fifteen items so I can talk with someone. Texts have replaced phone calls. If you get a phone call today, your first thought is “What’s wrong?” Phone trees and AI assistants have replaced receptionists. Teleworking from home is seen as an asset, and not a liability. Zoom is now a default.

Over the years, I have had the opportunity to interview high school students from Brooklyn to Deerfield for college. As a result, I was invited to be a “chaperone” for a Freshman convocation, which is essentially the mirror image of graduation. Newly admitted freshman are addressed by alumni, fellow students, faculty, and administrators. At one such event, the outgoing President made an urgent plea that went something like this.

You are only going to be here for four years. It will go by quickly. You will be surrounded by some of the brightest, most creative, and engaging people you may ever have the chance to meet. For goodness sakes, put down your phones, close your laptops, and talk to each other. At graduation and beyond, you will not remember the stupid meme, troll or posting that you could look at right now. However, you will remember a great conversation you had with a fellow student one night in the dining hall as you ate your mystery meat. Also, there is a good chance that fellow student could become a lifelong friend.

John Kay, from his book “The Corporation in the Twenty First- Century writes, “Humans are social animals. Like other animals, humans compete – for material possessions, for sex, for primacy – but we are distinguished from other mammals by the extent of our capacity to communicate and cooperate. The scale of this combination of communication and cooperation gives humans capabilities unrivaled by any other species.”

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, wrote in an e-mail to employees in 2021, “I know I’m not alone in missing the hum of activity, the energy, creativity and collaboration of our in-person meetings and the sense of community we’ve all built … For all that we’ve been able to achieve while many of us have been separated, the truth is that there has been something essential missing from this past year: each other.”

A recent survey of over 600 employers had some surprising results. Employers emphasized “soft skills” over technical training when evaluating candidates. They emphasized ability to communicate, professionalism, and other workplace skills where students tended to focus on building technical skills. Employers do value technical skills, but, apparently, they are just the ante. In addition, they are looking for interpersonal skills, dependability, and the ability and willingness to learn.

Today’s successful candidates still need to be able to communicate face-to-face and on telephone calls. Commerce is still a contact sport. It’s a game played by people, and not by bots. Employers are asking if the candidate will be successful in their organization. The personal interview is very important in assessing whether the candidate has effective communication skills. An interview may reveal how someone listens and responds to something unfamiliar and unrehearsed.

There certainly have been many articles about AI’s effect on human cognition. A recent piece in the Springfield Republican was titled, “How to stop ChatGPT from rotting your brain.” AI is not a substitute for human interaction. AI can be a powerful tool to assist you in accomplishing very complicated tasks, but it is not going to close the deal for you. That you have to do on your own, and that will require interpersonal skills of the highest order. In making a presentation to a group, you need to ask yourself about how good are your platform skills? Can you read a room? AI is not going to bail you out. These are skills that come from a lifetime of human interactions.

According to Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, people have basic physiological needs for food and shelter, and then for security; once these requirements are satisfied, they seek belonging and affirmation, which comes with human interactions. Only then can they pursue the ultimate goal of self-actualization.

September 30, 2026

It is always one of life’s great pleasures to connect with a fellow classmate fifty-five years after graduating from college. It is also wonderful to discover that you have both been living in the Pioneer Valley for decades. However, what makes this a truly unique and memorable experience is that one of us, not me, helped found and continues in the leadership of two organizations that have won a Nobel Peace Prize. The person I am referring to is Dr. Ira Helfand of Leeds, MA., a person some people have referred to as a “rock star.”

Ira grew up in Milford, MA, attended Philips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, and graduated from Harvard in 1971. He was a student activist in college. Some might even call him a radical. He was a member of SDS, Students for a Democratic Society. After “wandering in the wilderness” for a few years, he graduated from medical school. He spent most of his adult life working as an Emergency Room doctor in Northampton, and then as a Primary Care Physician in Springfield.

Dr. Helfand is a member of the steering committee of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the recipient of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize, and Past President of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW,) which started ICAN, and, is itself, the recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize. He is the Co-Founder and Past President of Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Dr. Helfand maintains that, despite the threat of nuclear annihilation being relegated to the back pages of the newspapers or being totally ignored altogether because of the emergence of AI, the problem has not gone away. In the last five years, five of the nine nuclear armed states have been engaged in active warfare.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict threatens the parties involved and their neighbors. What would a desperate Putin do if cornered by Ukraine or his own people? Would he fall back on the discredited concept of tactical nuclear weapons? Nuclear fallout does not recognize national borders. Putin has “reminded” Ukraine that it has nukes.

U.S.-China relations are currently on a knife’s edge. There are tensions concerning tariff wars, artificial intelligence, Taiwan, Korea, and the South China Sea. One bad miscalculation by an ill-informed and ill-prepared leader could lead to disaster. Donald Trump has threatened Iran with total annihilation. Whether the message is literal or performance theater is just the point. Mixed messages can lead to disastrous consequences. We haven’t even gotten to the ongoing antagonism between India and Pakistan, not to mention non-state actors who one day might get their hands on a nuclear weapon.

Territorial disputes are not the only possible flash points leading to nuclear war. The climate crisis is making life inhabitable for millions of people around the globe. As the world heats up, it puts stress on local governments to provide food, water and other basic necessities. This can lead to mass migrations, and fights over scarce resources.

Lastly, artificial intelligence creates dangers that we are just barely getting our arms around. We don’t know what AI will do in a crisis. Even so, AI is being integrated into military command and control systems around the world. And this is happening rapidly. AI is a “clear and present danger.”

On a recent, nationwide Zoom call, Dr. Helfand described in detail what nuclear war could mean. Without going into detail, it doesn’t end well. It could lead to mass destruction, and the end of civilization as we know it. Many people will say that the fact that we haven’t had any incidents since WW II means that the world’s leaders are being constrained by the principle of “mutual self-destruction.” However, there have been many close calls. There have been many incidents where antagonists have gone right up to the edge of nuclear war, but pulled back just before it was too late. Former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara said years ago, “We have lucked out.”

Unfortunately, the leaders of the nuclear nations believe that nuclear arms keep them safe, and give them more power. Ronald Reagan dismissed himself of this idea when he and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) in 1987. By 1991, the two countries had eliminated 2,692 missiles. Donald Trump withdrew from the treaty in 2018.

Nuclear disarmament is not a technical issue. We know who has them, where they are, and how to dismantle them. It is a political issue. At one time in our not too distant past, we had the political will and leadership to make major inroads towards nuclear disarmament. Sadly, this has been pretty much forgotten. If you ask the average high school or college student how many nuclear warheads there are in the world, the typical answer is 200 to 300. The answer is 12,000.

Dr. Helfand is currently promoting “The Back from the Brink” campaign, which is dedicated to reversing the arms race and bringing about fundamental change in nuclear policy. The website is PreventNuclearWar.org.

September 17, 2026

Can We Outsmart AI?

My first column in the Springfield Republican appeared three years ago on September 24, 2023. It was titled “AI Tornado Will Shake Us To Our Foundation.” The gist of the column was that AI was going to reshape almost every aspect of our lives including medicine, law, education, shopping, finance and more. With the benefit of hindsight and given today’s news, I didn’t go nearly far enough. I didn’t know, and apparently many people a lot smarter than me didn’t know either, that AI in less than a generation could be responsible for the extinction of the human race. AI is now mentioned in the same sentences as nuclear weapons. Who knew?

Jill Lepore recently gave a presentation at the Springfield Public Forum as part of her tour promoting her new book “The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State.” Some people have referred to her as a “national treasure.” She is an American historian and journalist. She is the David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History at Harvard University, and a staff writer at The New Yorker, where she has contributed since 2005. She writes about American history, law, literature, and politics. She grew up in West Boylston, a small town outside of Worcester, Massachusetts. In 2026, her book, “We the People,” which is about our Constitution, won the Pulitzer Prize for history.

She says that the impact that AI will have on society is a major problem that our leaders seem to be totally unable or unwilling to deal with. David Sanger reports in The New York Times that “The mismatch is striking. On one side, warnings of existential risk, maybe a 10% chance of the end of civilization. On the other, government paralysis.” Several tech executives have issued warnings, but nothing appears to be happening. Jason Coxon of Anthropic resigned, and issued what was essentially a whistleblower report. Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, called for a global slowdown. Elon Musk said that Dario was correct. In fact, in September 2014, Elon Musk, in a forum at MIT, described a rogue AI as the “biggest existential threat” to humanity. “Increasingly scientists think there should be some regulatory oversight, maybe at the national and international level, just to make sure that we don’t do something very foolish,” he said.” Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, chimed in as well.

Lepore goes on to say in her book that “by the middle of the 2020s, vastly consequential decisions about the future of Earth and everyone and everything on it were being made by a handful of men based on their colossal accumulation of wealth, their catastrophic misreading of history, literature, and philosophy, and their breathtaking contempt for ordinary people, living and dead.” When OpenAI launched ChatGPT, the AI race began. Earlier Silicon Valley concerns about climate change and pledges to lowering carbon emissions were left behind. The tech oligarchs found a sympathetic ear in Donald Trump and contributed heavily to his campaign focused on laissez-faire capitalism and minimal regulation. Trump said he alone would be a sufficient guardrail against rogue artificial intelligence just as he said in 2016 that he alone could fix the U.S. economy. Trump posted, “The only control or “guardrails” that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the USA has that in spades.” Trump for his part is focused on winning AI, whatever that means, and beating the Chinese. Estimates put our lead over China at six months. This will surely evaporate. Critics are asking if this “arms race” is worth it if it means the end of humanity. Voters are asking if this is worth it if it means the end to their communities, higher utility bills, the destruction of the natural environment, and the end of the world.

We have a framework for controlling nuclear weapons if we choose to take advantage of it. We know where they are, how many there are, and how to dismantle them. It’s a political problem, not a technical problem. We don’t have a similar framework for AI. The control of artificial intelligence is both a technical problem and political problem. It can be weaponized by both state and non-state actors. It may be beyond our human intelligence to grasp. According to Lepore, the many young people who come out to see her as she travels the college circuit tell her that social media stole their childhoods, and AI now threatens to steal the rest of their lives. Who knew?

September 9, 2026

“War, huh, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Say it again.” We have been at war with Iran since March. I know it’s not a real war because the President calls it an excursion, but, when bombs fly and people die, that’s a war. Now we have a war with Canada. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney stated regarding the escalating trade conflict, “You’re at war when you get attacked. We got attacked.” Not since World War II have we had to fight a war on two fronts. However, there is another war going on that is just as evil and wrong-headed as these two wars. It is the war against children. Lyndon Johnson declared a War Against Poverty. Donald Trump is now making poverty great again. The real Department of War is the Department of Health and Human Services.

According to the Springfield Republican, about 160,000 fewer Massachusetts residents, including 60,000 children, are receiving benefits from a federal food assistance program (SNAP) since the Trump administration enacted new rules and restrictions last fall under the cynically-titled One Big Beautiful Bill. That’s down 15%. Once known as food stamps, the bill requires people to work more hours (three out of four recipients already have a job), and complete additional, burdensome paperwork. These actions are straining local food pantries. The state’s SNAP caseload increased during COVID, and has continued to rise as inflation has pushed grocery prices higher.

Hunger in children dramatically affects children’s ability to learn. It leads to lower concentration, impaired memory, behavioral disruptions, lower academic scores, higher absenteeism, and increased risk of grade retention. According to Dr. Leslye Heilig in a Letter to the Editor, SNAP does far more than keep hunger at bay. It reduces childhood poverty, lowers hospital visits, and supports farmers and local retailers.

Trump’s next front on his War Against Children is the Head Start program. Head Start promotes school readiness of children under the age of five through comprehensive education, health, and social services. It is a federal program that offers early education programs for low-income families. Nicole Blaise, CEO of the local Head Start program, told The Republican that “Everyone is trying to read the tea leaves…about the future of the program.” In a Letter to the Editor, Theresa DeLuca of Melrose, my hometown, says that “RFK, Jr. is attacking Head Start, the nation’s most important social and educational program for children, families and communities by proposing to eliminate most of the program’s standards and rolling back critical regulatory rules.” Over the past 60 years, Head Start delivered child care and comprehensive services to over 40 million children.

And, in case you have forgotten, Trump signed an executive order on March 20, 2025, to begin dismantling the U.S. Department of Education and shifting its responsibilities to state governments and other federal agencies.

Finally, if you can’t starve them or keep them uneducated through affirmative actions, you can always make sure they are unhealthy. So far this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recorded 2,777 cases of measles nationwide. When faced with this inconvenient truth, RFK, Jr. claimed that one of the scientists who contributed to the development of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine had admitted to “butchering” aborted fetuses during his studies. Trump called the MMR shot “quite lethal,” and ordered that the shot be separated into three, individual shots. The number of parents seeking exemptions from school vaccinations has risen sharply. According to a Guest Viewpoint, “Since 1994, the United States’ robust vaccination program has precluded an estimated 508 million cases of disease, kept 32 million out of the hospital, and prevented 1,129,000 deaths. Moreover, the nation’s erstwhile commitment to vaccinations has saved $540 billion in direct costs and $2.7 trillion in lost wages and missed work.

Despite no new scientific evidence, Trump began pulling back on some longstanding recommendations for fall virus protection, and routine children’s vaccinations. The medical society agrees that just about everybody starting at age six months needs flu vaccinations. The last two flu seasons were especially harsh, with an unusually high number of child deaths, the vast majority of them in unvaccinated children.

Trump likes to portray himself as a tough guy as long as he doesn’t have to get his hands dirty. “Fight, fight, fight.” He embraces fake wrestling, and puts it on the White House lawn. He avoided military duty. He picks on women, especially women of color, and calls them low IQ. Now he has started a War Against Children on many fronts. To him, I would say, “Pick on someone your own size.”

September 4, 2026

As students return to the classroom, they are often faced with the unenviable task of writing one to two pages about what they did last summer…without the use of AI. Through the Freedom of Information Act, I was able to retrieve Trump’s essay.

June 14 – I hosted a massive UFC fight card on the White House lawn.

June 15 – I reached a deal to end the excursion into Iran just like I said I would. Mission accomplished.

June 23 – Alan Greenspan passed away today. Overrated.

June 24 – I refused to sign a historic, bipartisan housing bill because Congress would not pass my SAVE Act.

July 1 – I tried to do away with birthright citizenship, but the Supreme Court said no.

July 2 – Fake news outlet Associated Press, which I banned for refusing to acknowledge the Gulf of America, reconstructed the Iran raid that killed over 100 children.

July 3 – “Heat Dome Sizzles Across the East.” Drill, baby, drill

July 5 – I pardoned 11 people guilty of violating the Clean Air Act.

July 6 – I got FIFA President Gianni Infantino to lift Falorin Balogun’s red card suspension.

July 9 – A federal judge ordered me to pay E. Jean Carrol $5.8 million.

July 10 – I ordered fresh strikes on Iran

July 11 – Today, I gutted the Endangered Species Act. And, for good measure, I ousted federal election officials.

July 14 – My ICE agents killed a man in Biddeford, ME. And, for good measure, I will charge ships for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

July 16 – I reversed course, and ordered ICE to keep pulling over vehicles.

July 17 – Tonight I addressed the nation in prime time about the rigged 2020 election, and election fraud.

July 18 – I ordered the military to attack Iranian infrastructure, which the Democratic bed wetters call a war crime.

July 21 – Today I am looking for the people, who leaked information to journalists about my Qatari-gifted Air Force One. I had to sneak out of Turkey in a food catering truck, which is totally classified.

July 24 – I rolled out double-digit tariffs. The hell with the Supreme Court decision.

July 25 – Measles cases hit a new record. I had my shots.

July 26 – I decided to give the war on Iran a rest. People tell me we are running out of bullets.

July 30 – I decided to repurpose federal lands for AI data centers.

August 1 – I reached a peace deal with Hamas. I can taste the Nobel Peace Prize.

August 2 – Dammit. The Israelis launched attacks on Hamas.

August 6 – I got sued today for not releasing the Epstein files.

August 7 – Today I announced an overhaul of Head Start. I will rename it “Dead Start.”

August 8 – I had fun today listening to reports about blackouts and food shortages in Cuba.

August 11 – I had the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine remove a climate science section from a manual used by judges.

August 14 – Another federal judge dismissed my lawsuits against Harvard. It’s never over ‘til it’s over.

August 16 – I instructed my DOJ to go after food truck fraud.

August 22 – I have approved a plan for importing beef tariff-free. As it turns out, our beef farmers don’t like the idea. Who knew?

August 23 – Today, I announced a 50% tariff on Canadian imports. It’s war.

August 26 – Dolly Parton died today. Very overrated.

August 28 – Some pinko in the Department of War said our missile stocks are “beyond critical.” Who are you going to believe?

September 2 – The Supreme Court, except for that loser John Roberts, gave me the go ahead on my ballroom. My takeover of D.C.’s public golf course continues. The Arch is coming soon.

September 3 – I started my blitz today to find elusive voter fraud.

September 4 – Gloria Steinem died today. Overrated.

All in all, despite my awesome responsibilities, I managed to get in a couple of rounds a golf per week. What a summer to remember. I guess it is almost time to move back to the war room at Mar-a-Lago.

August 21, 2026

With the mid-term elections rapidly approaching in less than three months, Donald Trump is aggressively trying to get the SAVE Act passed. The act will limit access to the ballot box for millions of Americans. He actually held an historic housing bill hostage in his fever dream of rigging the next election. He talks nonstop about rigged elections, which got me to thinking. How could a 78 year old man, who had been impeached twice, convicted on 34 counts of fraud in his business dealings, be credibly accused of courting Russian interference in the 2016 election, be convicted of sexual harassment in the E. Jean Carrol case, be accused of paying off a porn star to cover up an affair and to influence the 2016 election, be credibly charged with stealing classified documents, be accused of election interference in Georgia, and be found guilty of misusing his eponymous foundation and university, be elected President of the United States in 2024 by a majority of the voters? And he was running against a straight, multicultural woman and mother, who was known for prosecuting criminals, and not being one. Would it be unreasonable for me to think that the 2024 Presidential election was rigged? I have no evidence that proves that the election was rigged, but I have a gut feeling that something was wrong. I guess that puts me in the same conspiracy league as Donald Trump.

In the upcoming elections, we have to be very careful that Trump doesn’t monkey around with the ballots. He keeps saying crazy stuff. He said that the ballots in 2020 were obviously a big scam. He has said that he wants to make sure that elections are honest, but he is not sure they can be. “I don’t know that it can be with this whole situation of unsolicited ballots. The ballots are a disaster. The ballots are out of control. You know it. And you know who knows it better than anyone else. The Democrats. I think this was a scam that the Democrats pulled, and it needs to go before the Supreme Court.” “The Democrats rigged the 2020 election because that was the only way they were going to win. The only way they could have taken this election away from us is if this was a rigged election. There is no way you can go through a mail-in vote without massive cheating.The only way they could have won was this way. We can’t let that happen again.”

Trump has said that, with universal mail-in voting, the 2020 Presidential election was the most inaccurate and fraudulent election in history. “It was a great embarrassment to the United States. Republicans have to vote and we have to make sure that we stop them from cheating because they cheat like dogs. Without voter fraud, we win so easily. They cheat like hell, and cheaters deserve long-term prison sentences.” He claims that Democrats are trying to encourage illegal immigrants to vote, and that’s why they are trying to open the borders to our country. “You could have a case where all of the elections wouldn’t be decided on the evening of November 3rd. These elections could be decided two months later. They could be decided many months later. … You know why? Because lots of things will happen during that period of time, especially when you have tight margins. Lots of things can happen. There’s never been anything like this.”

Hopefully, you agree with me that this is all bat poop, crazy talk. There is not a shred of evidence to support any of these claims and assertions, but Trump persists because too many voters are willing to suspend reality in favor of favoritism. I might be naive, but I don’t believe that many Trump voters believe that the 2020 Presidential election was rigged. However, I do believe that they believe that it is okay to rig the upcoming and future elections in anyway possible because Trump has made them irrationally and deathly afraid of Democrats. The Communists and Socialists are coming to take the jobs that AI cannot. They are this election cycle’s immigrant caravans, who will disappear just like them after the next election. For MAGA, eliminating free and fair elections seems to be a reasonable trade off to keep Democrats out of power.

Democrats don’t need to rig elections. Democrats and Independents vote. The early returns point out that they are coming out in record numbers to register their dissatisfaction. They are mailing in, and walking in. They are standing in long lines. I suspect many Republicans are going to sit this one out so they can claim that the election was rigged.

August 8, 2026

Can you imagine my surprise when I woke up recently to read that I was a Communist? According to our feckless leader, the Democratic Party has been taken over by Communists. Joe McCarthy must be doing cartwheels in his coffin. I knew I was a capitalist. I knew I was a centrist. I even knew, God help me, that I was an atheist. However, I didn’t know that I was a Communist. If Trump can call me a Communist, can I call him a Fascist or a Nazi? I am just asking the question.

I am old enough to remember when Communism was actually a thing. There was the Cold War. There was the Cuban missile crisis. For younger readers (if there are any), who are baseball fans, that is why Red Sox reliever, Aroldis Chapman, is called the Cuban Missile. There was the sight of Nikita Khrushchev pounding his shoe at the United Nations, telling the world that he would bury us. We had the Berlin Wall, and the arms race. We had kitchen diplomacy. We had Sputnik, and the space race.

To be specific, President Donald Trump launched a rhetorical “Red Scare” during early July 2026 speeches—notably at Mt. Rushmore and the National Mall—warning that communism is a mortal threat to American liberty and labeling political opponents as communists ahead of the midterm elections. To put Trump’s warnings into hysterical perspective, at a recent spin class, I asked the riders if they had ever heard of the phrase “better dead than red.” Not a single hand went up. Now, for whatever reason, Trump is focusing on history almost as old as the Odyssey.

Merriam-Webster defines Communism as a totalitarian system of government in which a single authoritarian party controls state-owned means of production. It is the final stage of society in Marxist theory in which the state has withered away and economic goods are distributed equally. It is a system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed. It is a theory advocating the elimination of private property. In practice, in nations like the Soviet Union, a single party runs the government and controls all economic activity.

In Communist countries, the Party worships one man above the Constitution in a cult of personality. The Party demonizes immigrants, and says they poison the blood of the country. The Party calls the press the enemy of the people, and punishes reporters. The Party calls any opposition the enemy within. The Party will deploy its military against its own people. The Party tries to lock up members of Congress for exercising their free speech rights. The Party will do almost anything to remain in power, whether that be by restricting voting rights, fomenting a violent takeover of the government, or interfering in and taking control of elections.

One of the major platforms of the American “Communist” party is to provide universal healthcare. Communists like me believe that healthcare should be a right, and not an entitlement for the wealthy. Here is a list of the “communist” countries that offer universal healthcare in one form or another: Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brunei, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, and the United Kingdom. On the other hand, to prove Trump’s point, the USSR established a fully centralized, state-funded medical system focused on broad public health and preventative care. China operates a public, state-dominated healthcare system that provides near universal coverage to over 95% of its 1.4 billion citizens through a massive national medical insurance network. It runs on a hybrid model combining heavy state planning, public insurance, and market elements. Not to be outdone, North Korea provides universal, free, medical services.

Stephen Miller, White House Deputy Chief of Staff, declared in an interview with Fox’s Sean Hannity that “the Democrat Party is not a political party. It is a domestic extremist organization.” He is leading an aggressive, sweeping administration campaign to redefine and target left-wing activism, protest movements, and progressive groups as forms of “domestic terrorism” and organized political violence. If wanting decent healthcare is a Communist plot, “Workers of the world, unite!”

July 22, 2026

We, the citizens of the United States, recently celebrated the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Some of us marked the momentous occasion with backyard barbecues with our family and friends. Others enjoyed local fireworks displays. Others made it all about themselves while simultaneously desecrating the House they lived in. Regardless as to how you marked the moment, it was historic. We declared our independence from a foreign power, who was exercising autocratic control over our every day lives.

However, it took another eleven years to actually enumerate the rights that were expected to accrue to all humans. The U.S. Constitution was written in 1787, ratified in 1788, and has been in operation since 1789. Amendments one through ten, known as the Bill of Rights, adopted together in 1791, guarantee fundamental rights such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the right to bear arms. The number of “rights” were fiercely debated by the states before they were eventually pared to ten, and approved. I find it interesting that we do not commemorate the Constitution in the same way we honor the Declaration of Independence even though it is far more important to our commonweal. However, I will leave that to others to debate like Constitutional law professor Barack Hussein Obama and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, Jill Lepore.

The twentieth century could be considered the “Age of Human Rights.” With fits and starts, many of the things that we take for granted as Americans have taken hold around the world with some obvious exceptions. Through the UN and other organizations, sovereign countries have ceded authority to international bodies because they could not be trusted to protect human rights within their own borders. However, according to Jose Alvarez, International Law Professor at New York University, “the global human rights regime is now experiencing what many see as its greatest set of challenges since the U.N.’s establishment.”

The backlash to human rights associated with Viktor Orban in Hungary and the far right parties in Germany, France and Italy came to the U.S. in 2016 with Donald Trump’s election. Emboldened by winning the popular vote in 2024, his control over an obsequious Congress, and a hold of the majority of Supreme Court Justices, Donald Trump has taken an axe to the liberal world order that the U.S. helped to create and sustain. He has undermined the rights of women, racial and ethnic minorities, documented and undocumented aliens, asylum seekers and foreign visa-holders, as well as LGBTQ persons through Executive Orders and other administrative actions. If you oppose their actions, they threaten to retaliate against judges, prosecutors, and academics who raise questions about the legality of the administration’s actions. “Much of the criticism directed at Trump’s actions has focused on whether they violate the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights. Rights advocates have been alarmed by the extent and speed with which Trump appears to be dismantling or incapacitating institutions both at home and abroad.”

Trump has also signaled his intent to withdraw support from the U.N. and its support for human rights efforts around the world through agencies like UNESCO, the World Health Organization, and USAID. Unfortunately and predictably, this trend is permeating throughout the globe. A U.N. report says that “the world is at an historic juncture in which the “age of rights” could well mutate into something vastly different. Some argue that the state (U.S.) most responsible for establishing and funding international human rights is now seeking to undermine the very same at every turn.”

The U.S Constitution has been amended only 27 times, the last being the Twenty-Seventh Amendment ratified May 7, 1992 which prevents any law that changes the salary of members of Congress from taking effect until after the next election of Representatives has occurred. As historian Jill Lepore points out in her most recent book, “We the People,” it has become painfully difficult if not impossible to amend the Constitution in any meaningful way. Because Congress has abdicated its responsibilities to the American people, it has ceded the field to Trump and his activist Supreme Court to slowly erode many of the rights we have taken for granted. In their book “Regime Change,” Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan report on Trump’s attempts to eliminate the right of “habeus corpus.” Habeus corpus is enshrined in Article One of the Constitution. It is a fundamental legal right that allows anyone detained by the government to challenge the legality of their imprisonment. Once it is eliminated, it would apply to documented and undocumented citizens alike.

July 7, 2026

I have recently been overwhelmed by the number of articles addressing Social Security, and their sense of urgency. One was titled “Furman on Social Security: Attention Must Be Paid.” There was an editorial titled “Congress must act now to save Social Security.” A financial website wants me to start planning now for changes to Social Security. One feed tells me that the retirement crisis, like the tornado in “Twister,” is already here. Financial advisor, Terry Savage, whose column appears in the Springfield Republican, asks “What does insolvency mean for Social Security?” Letters to the Editor are debating whether or not to privatize Social Security. Seeing that I have a dog in this fight, I thought it would make sense to investigate what all of the hullabaloo is about.

The Social Security Trustees recently released a report on the systems finances. The numbers didn’t change much. Unless something is done, the Old Age Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program will be unable to pay full benefits starting around 2032. Without reforms that adjust the balance between incoming revenue and outgoing benefits, the system may have to cut benefits by as much as 22%.

Several factors have contributed to the potential shortfall. We have more retirees, and they are living longer. The average life expectancy is up 50% since 1940. On the revenue side, the ratio of workers to beneficiaries has fallen from 5:1 to 2.9:1. The Social Security payroll tax of 12.4% applies to less personal income today (83%) than it did in 1983 (90%), arguably due to income inequality. Trump’s anti-immigration policies are making it worse. According to the Trustees’ report, lower immigration will deepen Social Security’s financial hole because many immigrants are working-age adults who would be paying into the system for decades.

Fixing the shortfall is an easy math problem for Economics undergraduates, but it poses a Ph.D-level political problem according to Jason Furman, Harvard Economics Professor and President Barack Obama’s chief economist. The fund’s projected depletion is just the date by which something must be done politically.

Congress and the White House could easily take action to sustain America’s retirement system, but, given the current state of our politics, there is no guarantee that they will. In the past, Congress has always reached a compromise to continue funding Social Security, and changes have been phased in over time.

The Bipartisan Policy Center recommends adjusting benefits and altering the rate of taxation. The amount we pay in payroll taxes is much less than most other rich countries. However, our deficit is larger relative to our economy than any other rich country, and is larger relative to the economy than at any time in our history with a few exceptions. Congress does have options some of which will admittedly be unpopular. Congress could raise the Social Security tax rate from 12.4%. It could end the $184,500 “cap” on payroll taxes. Congress could reduce benefits proportionately so those with higher incomes (from retirement plans, dividends, interest etc.) would see their benefits reduced. Lastly, Washington could print money.

The radicals in the Republican Party have clearly declared war on entitlements, and made drastic tax cuts in order to cut off the oxygen supply to many of these programs. Who can forget “repeal and replace?” By some estimates, approximately ten to fifteen million people will lose medical coverage under the Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare and Medicaid because of the OBBB aka One Big Beautiful Bill. Approximately four million recipients have lost their SNAP aka food benefits.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has vowed to make his Zombie-like Congress take a look at Social Security with an eye to cutting benefits. He says that they need to be “adjusted and fixed.” His goal is to hold Social Security hostage on behalf of Republican goals. He has not mentioned anything about increasing revenue streams through reasonable deliberations and compromise. That has been the Republican strategy all along going back to Paul Ryan and earlier. Starve the beast by cutting taxes, plead poverty because of huge deficits, and then cut benefits.

Privatization is not the answer President George W. Bush tried and failed to do that in his second term. Social Security is a guarantee. Self-directed accounts are no guarantee as we have seen from multiple market meltdowns, and Trump’s meme coin Ponzi scheme. Accounts run by money managers pose the same risks, and present enormous conflicts of interest. Until we can get politics out of the equation, Social Security will continue to be an issue. Until we can get a reasonable compromise, to paraphrase actor Charlton Heston, the government will have to take away Social Security from our “cold, dead hands.”

June 17, 2026

Attention K-Mart shoppers. We have a clean up on aisle 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

What do you do when a President has made a mess of just about everything? Fortunately, history can be a guide through the healing process. Unfortunately, the clean up will consume a lot of the time and resources of the next duly elected Democratic administration, but, as someone once unartfully said, “It is what it is,” unless, of course, “It isn’t.”

D-Trumpification will involve ridding our society, our culture, our press, our economy, our judiciary, and our politics of the stain of Trump and his MAGA ideology.

For starters, we would need put back into jail all of the January 6th rioters, who were convicted of crimes. We would have to reassess all of Trump’s pardons for evidence of conflicts of interest, bribery, and corruption. Administration officials like Secretary Pete Hegseth, who ordered extra-judicial assassinations of defenseless boats in the Caribbean, would have to face justice. Government officials like Todd Blanche, Pam Bondi and Kash Patel, who are guilty of covering up the Epstein files, would also have to face justice. Military officials guilty of blowing up Iranian school children should face military tribunals for war crimes.

Trump officials guilty of taking bribes, trading on inside information, or otherwise profiting from major conflicts of interest should be next on the list. This would include the Trump children. Anyone who has significantly increased their personal net worth at the expense of the American tax payer should face scrutiny. Lesser offenders guilty of just carrying out the orders of their superiors should be fired, placed on probation, fined, or restricted from certain jobs. All of the attorneys in the Department of Justice, who weaponized the legal system and filed frivolous lawsuits suits against Trump’s supposed enemies, people like James Comey, Leticia James, Jerome Powell, John Bolton, E. Jean Carroll, and now Gavin Newsom, should be disbarred. Sympathizers like the board members of the John F. Kennedy Fine Arts Center or Trump appointments to the Federal Reserve should be forced to resign. Others should be dismissed.

Beyond legal remedies, D-Trumpification needs to involve the erasure, elimination, and expungement of all vestiges of the regime. This would include, but not be limited to, the $250 bill, Trump’s photo on visas, the Arch, the ballroom, the White House patio, Trump’s image on the DOJ building, the “American Flag blue” of the Reflecting Pool, the Trump golf course in D.C., the Garden of Heroes, all of the gold leaf graffiti in the White House, the Trump-class battleship, and any public funds for the Trump library. There should be a clawback of funds for all of the unnecessary trips Trump has taken to Mar-a-Lago. The Qatari jet should be impounded. Trump’s image should be expunged from all government buildings including the Presidential portrait gallery in the White House. I will let Disney make its own decision regarding the Hall of Presidents.

Culturally, we need to go back through all of the government websites, documents, and publications that have been scrubbed of references to slavery, climate change, and the like. All exhibits at the Smithsonian Institution need to be restored to pre-Trump content. Any changes made to CDC recommendations need to be reversed.The Gulf of Mexico should once again be the Gulf of Mexico, and the Department of Defense should be the Department of Defense.

The legitimate press needs to be reinstated at both the White House and the Department of Defense. The government should reimburse any institution or company that was blackmailed into making payments to the Trump administration. This would include law firms, universities, and companies with business before the federal government.

Demilitarization would include slashing the bloated military budget back to pre-Trump levels. The same should be done with the budget for ICE. ICE officials should be prosecuted for official misconduct. Any military officer deploying troops to American cities should be courtmartialed.

Lastly, the next administration needs to take a hard look at the over concentration of power in the executive branch and the President. The use of Executive Orders needs to be curtailed. The Supreme Court decision granting the President almost unlimited power and immunity needs to be reversed. If the Supreme Court refuses to do this, Congress needs to look at age and term limits. Presidential pardon power needs to be eliminated. Trump’s tax returns should be subject to legitimate audits.

As a guide, Hungary has been taking steps to eliminating any vestiges of former autocratic President Viktor Orban. Hungary has been:

Restoring democratic checks and balances and reversing systemic gerrymandering. 

2. Purging loyalists from state institutions.

3. Uprooting oligarchic cronyism.

4. Re-engaging with Europe and NATO

As we try to move forward and away from Trumpism, the challenge of D-Trumpifying will take time. Destruction of laws, norms, and guardrails happened quickly, but trying to put the genie back in the bottle without triggering a complete rule-of-law crisis of its own will be a delicate tightrope for the new government.