Sunday Funnies: Green Reflections
Tag: donald-trump
Trump’s Capitulation: Hegseth Loses his First War.
President Trump signed the now infamous Memorandum of Agreement with Iran at a Palace of Versailles dinner party last evening. From one image, it looks as if the dinner plates, silverware, and crystal wine glasses had been shoved aside so that Trump, grasping an extra large sharpie, could sign the document. Reminds me of a family dinner and getting my parents to sign my report card.
A lone candle and table top flower arrangements were the official props for this sad bit of presidential theatrics, a sad charade intending to display strength and power, but in reality, signifying a humiliating a defeat for America.
Didn’t Nixon sign some peace accord in France?
Why Trump would use a dinner party at Versailles to sign the Memorandum of Understanding is bewildering, considering that the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, signed over a century ago, was a keystone in the the rise of Nazis Germany and World War Two. The agreement is mostly a one-sided capitulation to Iran. There are a number of 30- and 60- day sticks and carrots in the agreement, however, but mostly carrots. It reflects Trump’s desire to extract himself out of his self made briar patch.
Trump’s first term trashing of Obama’a deal with Iran cascaded into an avalanche of disasters: The deaths of tens of thousands, including 13 servicemen and women in Trump’s latest war; the expenditure of 100s of billions of American taxpayer dollars; a creating critical shortage of munitions to defend our homeland.
Additionally, an unforeseen consequence of Trump killing the Obama agreement, and disengaging from dialogue with Iran, was Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct 7. This horrific attack was followed by Israel’s war of retribution against Hamas and the death of over 50,000 Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
Iran would never have greenlighted Hamas to attack Israel, I argue, if the Obama era deal — the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — were in force. The horrific terrorist attack on Israel and the resultant wars on Irans’ regional surrogates and tens of thousands of civilian deaths were avoidable. These deaths and never ending wars were primarily the result of Trump’s racial animus and vendetta towards Obama, his rank amateurism, hubris, and plain stupidity.
None of the ever changing goals of the war were achieved: Iran did not end its ballistic missile program; Iran did not end its nuke program; Iran did not turn over all its fissile material to the U.S.; Iran did not end support to proxy groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, Iran’s regime did not change. None.
Below are some key points of America’s agreement with Iran:
And I thought it wasn’t a War: An “immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts” and a final deal to follow, confirming the “permanent termination of the war.”
No Regime Change: The U.S. and Iran promise not to “interfere in each other’s internal affairs.”
The Retreat of U.S. Forces: The “U.S. will undertake to remove its forces from the proximity to Iran within 30 days of the final deal.”
Ending the U.S. Naval Blockade: The U.S. will immediately begin removing its naval blockade of Iranian ports.
“Best Efforts” to Open the Strait of Hormuz (that weren’t closed before the war): Iran “will make arrangements using its best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of Oman.”
“Not One Penny for Tribute” …fees, well, okay: ‘Iran will consult with Oman to define future administration and maritime services in the Strait of Hormuz.’
Can we say,’graft.’ Real Estate Developer and Trump Son-in-law — Jared Kushner’s — modern Marshall Plan: The U.S and others will develop a $300 billion reconstruction and economic development plan for Iran. Funding partners TBD.
Ending Sanctions on Iran: The U.S. will “undertake to terminate all types of sanctions” against Iran in an agreed upon schedule as part of the final deal.
No Nuke Promise, again: Iran reaffirms that it shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons. Pending the final deal, Iran can maintain its’ current “status quo “of its nuclear program.
The Obama Plan Redo: Iran agrees to “blend down its enriched uranium” under the supervision of the IAEA. Where have I seen IAEA oversight before? Wait, wait, it will come to me.
No New Sanctions on Iran’s Nuke Program: “The U.S. will not impose any new sanctions and will not deploy additional forces in the region.”
Waivers for Iran Exporting Crude Oil: The U.S. will “issue waivers” for the export of Iranian crude oil pending termination of the sanctions.
‘Let it Go, Let it Go,’ unfreezing Iran’s assets: The US will unfreeze Iran’s frozen assets and make them fully available (pending additional negotiations).
Now He Needs the United Nations: The final deal will be endorsed by a United Nations’ Security Council binding Resolution.
The full MOU:
1 — The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran and their allies in the current war, by signing this MOU, declared the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon, and undertake from now on not to initiate any war or any military operation against each other, and to refrain from the threat or use of force against each other and ensuring the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon. The final deal will confirm the permanent termination of the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon and other provisions of this paragraph.
2 — The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran undertake to respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to refrain from interfering in each other’s internal affairs.
3 — The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran commit to negotiating and achieving the final deal in maximum 60 days, expendable with mutual consent.
4 — Immediately upon the signing of this MOU, the United States of America will begin the removal of its naval blockade and any disturbances or impediments against the Islamic Republic of Iran, and will fully end the naval blockade within 30 days. During this period, the traffic of vessels will be in proportion to the numbers of pre-war traffic being restored by the Islamic Republic of Iran. The United States of America further undertakes to remove its forces from the proximity of the Islamic Republic of Iran within 30 days after the final deal.
5 — Upon the signing of this MOU, the Islamic Republic of Iran will make arrangements using its best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels with no charge for 60 days only from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of Oman and vice versa. The traffic of commercial vessels will immediately start, and considering the need for removing the technical and military obstacles and demining by the Islamic Republic of Iran, will be instated within 30 days. The Islamic Republic of Iran will conduct dialogue with the Sultanate of Oman to define the future administration and maritime services in the Strait of Hormuz, in discussion with other Persian Gulf littoral states in line with the applicable international law and the sovereign rights of coastal states of the Strait of Hormuz.
6 — The United States of America undertakes with regional partners to develop a definitive, mutually agreed plan with at least USD $300 billion for the reconstruction and economic development of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The mechanism for the implementation of this plan will be finalized as part of a final deal within 60 days. All required licenses, waivers, and permissions needed for the relevant financial transactions will be granted by the United States of America.
7 — The United States of America undertakes to terminate all types of sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran, including the United Nations Security Council resolutions, IAEA Board of Governors resolutions, and all unilateral U.S. sanctions—primary and secondary—in an agreed upon schedule as part of the final deal. The Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America acknowledge the critical importance of the sanctions termination issue above mentioned and expressed their intentions to immediately address these issues in the negotiations in order to achieve mutual agreement on them.
8 — The Islamic Republic of Iran reaffirms that it shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons. The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran have agreed to resolve the disposition of stockpile enriched material pursuant to a mechanism that will be mutually agreed upon in accordance with the schedule mentioned in paragraph seven, with the minimum methodology to be down blending on site under the supervision of the IAEA. The two parties also agreed to discuss the issue of enrichment and other mutually agreed matters related to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear needs, based on a satisfactory framework being agreed upon in the final deal. The final deal will confirm the provisions of this paragraph. The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran acknowledged the critical importance of the nuclear issues above mentioned and expressed their intention to immediately address these issues in the negotiations in order to achieve mutual agreement on them.
9 — Pending the final deal, the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran agree to maintain the status quo. The Islamic Republic of Iran will maintain the current status quo of its nuclear program and the United States of America will not impose any new sanctions and will not deploy additional forces in the region.
10 — The United States of America undertakes that immediately upon the signing of this MOU and until the termination of sanctions, the U.S. Department of Treasury will issue waivers for the export of Iranian crude oil, petroleum products and derivatives, and all associated services, including banking transactions, insurances, transportation, etc.
11 — The United States of America undertakes to make fully available for use the frozen or restricted funds and assets of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Upon the implementation of the MOU, the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran will mutually agree on the procedures related to the release of these funds during the negotiations. Such funds, whether retained in the original account or transferred, shall be made fully usable for payment to any ultimate beneficiary designated by the central bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The United States of America undertakes to issue all the necessary licenses and authorizations accordingly.
12 — The United States of America and Islamic Republic of Iran agree that an executive mechanism will be established to monitor the successful implementation of this MOU and the future compliance of the final deal.
13 — After signing this MOU, and subject to the beginning of the implementation of paragraphs 1, 4, 5, 10, and 11 of this MOU, and the continuing implementation of these measures, the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran will start negotiations regarding the final deal exclusively on the other paragraphs.
14 — The final deal will be endorsed by a binding United Nations Security Council resolution.
Screwworm Infestation Discovered in Washington DC
Screwworm: Putting the Screws to Texas and John McGuire
Screwworms infestations were detected in Texas recently, according to media and government reports. The screwworm, known as the New World Screw worm, is a fly that lays eggs on open wounds, for instance on livestock, that then grow into flesh eating maggots. It can be fatal if not treated.
The screwworm was eradicated from the U.S. in the 1960s. For decades, the U.S. worked to keep the screwworm at bay, working closely with Mexican and Central American governments. This included the U.S. government funding facilities to produce and distribute sterile flies, for instance. In 2023, the screwworm started migrating north again, probably climate change related, no? As a result of further northward migration, a ban importing cattle from Mexico was recently put in place. This is a key contributor to the shortage of beef cattle in the U.S., in fact, a 75-year low.
If the screwworm infestation becomes more widespread in Texas, the state could suffer close to $2 billion dollars in economic losses. Canada banned livestock imports from Texas temporarily. A 1976 screwworm outbreak in Texas caused economic losses between $700 million and $1.8 billion in 2024 dollars, according to a Congressional Research Report submitted as part of a bill introduced in 2025: H.R. 3392 (more on that bill a bit later).
The response to the new infestation has been, to say the least, interesting. Texas ranchers are blaming the federal government for being too slow to respond. Yep, the same Texas ranchers I suspect who voted for Trump, once, twice, and most likely thrice. They, I would imagine, cheered on the DOGE cuts to USAID and USDA, two agencies that are instrumental in programs to contain the screwworm south of the border. Things could have been different, but ….
On May 14, 2025, Texas Republican Tony Gonzalez introduced the “STOP Screwworms Act” in the House of Representatives. H.R. 3392 required the Secretary of Agriculture to “establish a New World Screwworm fly rearing facility, and for other purposes.” It never got past being introduced, much less become law. It was a bipartisan bill, with over 50 cosponsors. The same CRS report mentioned above outlined the devastating impact an infestation could have on Texas and other border states if no action was taken.
The failure of this bill to pass and become law illustrates how screwed up and incompetent the House of Representative is under the control of the Republicans and Speaker Johnson. Not to be outdone, the current Trump appointed Secretary of Agriculture blames, wait, wait, wait….. Biden and open borders. The cattle ranchers aren’t buying it.
Some ranchers have proposed self-funding screwworm eradication programs given the federal governments slow and incompetent response. You know, you get slow and incompetent when programs are defunded, scientists hounded out of government service, and all sorts of other stupid stuff.
Meanwhile, as the screwworm infestation gets worse, our President keeps a razor sharp focus on……the reflecting pool, his billion-dollar ballroom, and his birthday bash UFC fight at the White House’s Thunderdome. Texans. What the hell did you think was going to happen? It’s your own damn fault.
Another thing that irritates me is that when there was a 2025 measles outbreak in West Texas that infected close to 800 kids, of whom about 100 were hospitalized, and two died. All hell should have broken loose, but no. Texans seemed to shrug. Fits the anti-science, anti-vaccine, anti-government ideology of Texas. Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human services blamed the vaccines and suggested suspect treatments. Where was the outcry? I guess you all like your cattle more than your kids. About 70 percent of kids are vaccinated in Texas, that is below the national average.
Come on Texas, you can do better. The federal government’s slow and haphazard response should be a warning to farmers and ranchers that still support Trump, in Texas and my home state of Virginia. He’s not your friend. Do you trust a politician whose hands have never touched dirt, or had a callous, or owned a dog, or got up before sunrise?
But, I imagine you’re busy trying to find buyers for soybeans and corn crops you planted and worrying whether you can afford the diesel fuel or fertilizer as Trump’s incompetent and haphazard war of choice with Iran drags. You farmers and ranchers all need some “straight” talk and tough love at times: You screwed yourselves.
This November, put a stop to the chaos. Make Congress vote for you and not Trump. Vote for Democratic candidates and family farmer friendly policies, not for corporate farm monopolies.
John McGuire, our representative, has not introduced or sponsored one bill to directly help the farmers of his district. He doesn’t serve on any farm or agricultural subcommittees. He did vote for two key bipartisan farm bills, however, which included funding for a new fire truck for Louisa County and monies for the Nottoway Sheriff’s office, hardly direct help to our farmers here in Louisa. He did sponsor a bill to “Make the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful” in 2025.
The sugar farmers love him it seems, as he gets campaign donations from them and their associations. For instance, the America Sugar Cane League, the Michigan Sugar Growers PAC, and the Sugar Growers Cooperative Florida. Do we even grow sugarcane in Virginia? Did I mention he has been buying Nvidia stock this year? Twice (January and May).
Philomela: The Nightingale, Epstein, and Trump
Philomel means lover of song. In classic literature and prose, philomel was substituted with the nightingale. William Shakespeare, for example, employed the nightingale, or even philomel, at least 33 times in his plays and sonnets as symbols of song, grief, and trauma. Its’ origins trace back to Greek and Roman mythology; of how the gods created the nightingale.
It is a tragic story, and like many Greek and Roman mythologies, is racked with violence, sexual violence in particular. This story contains such tales. There are several versions of the myth, I learned, and over the ages this story has been reinterpreted in prose and art.
The story I still thing resonates today, Greek and Roman Gods were powerful beings, they not only abused their powers to indulge their thirst for vengeance and lusts but also silence their victims. They also had soft spots and intervened at the last second in supposed acts of generosity and kindness. Today we have powerful men who use their money and office to silence victims.
The story of Philomela is one such example. Philomela was the younger sister of Pronce who was married to Tereus, the king of the Thracians. Philomela’s voice was considered beautiful, like a birds song. Tereus developed an obsession for Philomela. He raped her, and to stop her from telling his wife much less anyone else, cut out her tongue. Philomela, however, used her master weaving skills to make a purple robe or shawl with hidden messages of the rape. Through the symbols woven into the shawl or robe, Pronce learned of the rape, and in a rage killed her (Pronce’s) and Tereus’ son, cooked him, and served him to Tereus.
When Tereus found out, he raged, grabbed an axe, and chased Philomela and Ponce out of his palace, intending to murder them. He caught up with them, but, at that point, before he killed them, the Gods turned all three into birds. Ponce became a swallow, Philomela a nightingale, and Tereus a hoopoe, a very orangey, colorful bird known for its feathered crown.
Over a week ago, news media reported that E. Jean Carroll, was being investigated by the Department of Justice for perjury. Carroll, famously sued Trump for defamation a few years ago, and won a $83.3 million settlement. The civil jury found that Donald Trump sexually assaulted her in a department store dressing room in New York City. The judge called it rape. Trump has appealed the civil courts verdict, asking that the settlement be set aside. It sits before the Supreme Court today.
You can smell the corruption all the way from Illinois and the White House. Trump, as President, presides over the Department of Justice. The acting Attorney General is a former attorney for Trump. The Trump appointed U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Andrew Bourtos, is overseeing the investigation. As a side note he is an alumnus of UVA law school.
As the fate of the civil case and judgment against Trump rests before the Supreme Court, Trump is using the Department of Justice to ‘cut out the tongue’ of E. Jean Carroll. She is today’s Philomela. It is outrageous. It is also meant, I think, to silence victims of Epstein and his many friends from coming forward.
Trump is a vile and heinous man and thinks nothing to use the full weight of his immense presidential powers, both legal and illegal, to go after and silence his accusers. He fancies himself a deity. Congress and the Supreme Court have allowed him to be a king and deity.
He needs to be turned into a hoopoe, orange feathered crown and all. A massive turn out this November will effectively turn him into a flightless Hoopoe of sorts. The Greek and Roman gods did have a sense of humor, however. Perhaps they would turn Trump into the Dodo bird or better yet a fluffy-backed tit-babbler or a blue-footed booby.
Goethe, a Dead Italian Poet, and an American Presidency
In the late 18th century Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe completed a play loosely based on the late 16th century Italian poet Torquato Tasso. Part autobiographical, according to one scholar, Goethe explores Tasso’s real-life moments of inspired poems created in the throes of mental illness, perhaps during episodes of manic depression or schizophrenia.
At one point Tasso was confined to a ‘madhouse’ for pulling a knife on his patron, the Duke of Ferrara, Alfons. In the play, the protagonist also was placed under house arrest for threats and pulling a knife. Goethe uses the play to explore the ‘tensions between the rational and the irrational,’ according to one academic article. From this play comes the much-quoted saying, “the coward only threatens when he is safe.”
This is a cogent observation of the human condition, even if the quote has become something of a truism. It worries me because our President seems to be threatening everyone and everything as he too shuttles between the rational and the irrational. His knife is our military and domestic paramilitary police.
Things are not going well for Trump – mentally or politically — it seems.
His war with Iran is a military, strategic, and political disaster. Iran checkmated him. Meanwhile, as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed and America’s main street economy tanks, Trump fiddles with childlike vanity projects.
Inflation is rising at a quick pace, all because of Trump’s disastrous tariff wars and his catastrophe of a war with Iran, a war of choice. Last week gas prices were at this country’s highest national average cost per gallon ….ever. Americans, according to a new report, are falling behind in debt payments “at the fastest pace since the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.” Credit card delinquencies rose to 13 plus percent in the first quarter of 2026. Additionally, auto loan delinquencies are also at record numbers. His polls are lower than sleepy Joes ever were.
Internationally, the world is aghast at Trump’s pretenses of not only being King of America but seeking to rule the world. At every opportunity he channels the evil emperor Ming the Merciless of Flash Gordon fame. Trump’s daily mental ruptures are rattling global markets. The 10-year government bond yield is at record highs, meaning sureness in the U.S. government ability to pay off its debts is declining. Because mortgage rates are linked to the 10-year bond, not to the Fed’s rate that banks get, it means that mortgage rates remain stubbornly high, making it harder to buy a home. That’s Trump’s doing, not the Chairman of the Fed. In short, international confidence in America is in freefall.
Yet, Trump seems wholly unconcerned with the mid-terms or 2028. Just pleasing his MAGA base and ignoring the basic sensibilities of democracy and the democratic process. As if they no longer exist. He even posted an image of himself with a rifle and the carcass of a rhino. Threatening Republicans who don’t back him 100 percent.
Why? What does he have up his sleeve that makes him think he is safe from political disaster and reversal?
I can only guess he isn’t concerned about the Republicans losing the house and senate this November or the White House with a democratic incumbent in 2028. That the outcomes of the vote of 2026 and 2028 are irrelevant; that he intends, and believes, he can and will stay in power.
As Trump vacillates between the rational and irrational, he increasingly lives in the latter camp. I am deeply concerned that a mental health driven constitutional breakdown is becoming increasingly likely should neither his Cabinet or Congress intervene. Given the cowardice of his cabinet Secretaries, Vice President, Roberts, Johnson, and Thune, Trump has nothing to fear and continues his campaigns of threats.
Corrupt
Corrupt is a word much used nowadays to describe Trump and his administration. I even heard it in Louisa in an establishment that I would say is part of MAGA country. A few weeks ago, when my wife and I were in a store in the Louisa and Mineral area, the owner standing behind the counter, went on a tirade about Trump and his corruption. Stating that Trump and his family pocketed over $1.4 billion.
I have been to this store several times and there has been, on occasion, anti-liberal, anti-progressive, anti-democratic party bantering and comments made by folks in the store and behind the counter. For instance, if something was free, it was a “democratic discount.” I stopped going to the store, but sometimes they were the only game in town.
That said, when I heard the owner dis Trump recently, I got a grin on my face as wide as the Grand Canyon, said nothing, paid for my stuff, and left. “Damn,” I said to my wife in the truck, adding, “holy shit that was interesting.”
Whether that anger translates at the polls to a dem vote, is to be seen. It may turn into low republican turnout, which will benefit the democrats. But who knows. Who knows whether a corrupt White House will try and cancel the November election by declaring a national emergency, or, if there is an election, whether Trump will nullify democratic wins by claiming fraud and seize ballots. That is the $1.4 billion dollar question.
Corrupt, however, is more expansive than simple bribery, self-dealing, insider trading, and all unethical things Trump is doing to enrich himself, his family, and those loyal to him. It has a much richer and broader meaning. Corruption is plush in adjectives and verbs dating back to the 14th century.
Like many words in English, it has a Latin origin. It’s root meaning corrumpere, simply means to destroy to spoil. In the English language starting in the 1300s it took on the modern sense of how we understand corruption, both physically and spiritually. Most folks nowadays think just bribery, but it has many meanings. Sadly, I think you can put a check mark by each of the words below and say, “yep, that’s Trump.”
Debased in character, unhealthy, uncouth, bribe, to break, decrepit, putrid, putrefy, spoiled, depraved morally, pervert, contaminate, impair the purity of, seduce or violate (woman or child), render impure, and finally, influence by bribe or other motive.
Not only is Trump using the office of the Presidency to corruptly enrich himself and his family, but the list of his other corrupt acts is deep, and America decays and putrefies every day he remains in power:
he demolishes the rule of law in America every opportunity he has.
he routinely perverts the course of justice;
he broke America’s social contract;
he debases America and its allies daily with wildly crazy midnight social media posts;
he orders extrajudicial killings on the high seas and starts unjust wars without cause and without the people’s consent.
he violated a woman in a department store dressing room, a civil jury found;
he was accused by a woman of raping her when she was 13, per FBI documents;
he was a longtime friend with child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein;
he posts images of himself as Jesus.
And finally, he is personally uncouth, not worthy of the highest office in our great land.
So, what to do. The first order is to vote in November, make pleas to friends and family to get out and vote. That’s the easy party. If Trump cancels the election or nullifies the election or tells congress not to seat the new congress, what then? What’s the response? I think, and I believe this, it will be the beginning of the end of the union. I don’t think disenfranchised states will wait for the courts.
Civil War? I hope not, and most Americans do not want this. It would be fratricidal. Problem is Trump is an insane, corrupt nihilist who likes to play the madman, when he is in effect really a madman, surrounded by sycophantic child like nihilists like Vance, Miller, and Hegseth. The question is, what will a depraved Trump do when massive demonstrations erupt across the country and in Washington DC should he cancel or nullify the elections?
A Supreme Mess: Roberts and His Den of Constitutional Thieves
We are, I think, in a supreme mess. A vindictive Chief Justice Roberts just settled a vendetta. As a Reagan Administration lawyer, Roberts opposed strengthening the Voting Rights Act. He penned memos arguing that letting someone sue a state for a ‘discriminatory effect’ was federal overreach, and interfered in states’ rights.
Despite his opposition to the amendment to the voting rights act, Congress in 1982 passed the bill in a bipartisan vote. Forty four years later he and five other conservative justices strike down that amendment as part of ten-year set of rulings undermining the law and Congresses’ intent. In effect stealing not only the Voting Rights Act, but the 15th Amendment, from the American people.
Congress clearly and resoundingly spoke on this major question in 1982. Now, the chief proponent of the Major Questions doctrine, says not good enough. If anything, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was, and is, an example of Congress clearly stating its will, the will of the people, on a major constitutional question. That is enforcing the 15th Amendment.
This ruling highlights why we are in trouble as a nation. To the conservative super majority, It’s not about the Constitution, it’s about settling personal and political vendettas. Dangerously, the Robert’s Court is a corrupt right wing political machine, rewriting the Constitution at will. The increasing use and misuse of the shadow docket, anonymous rulings, labored arguments that collapse under their own weight, the outright fabrication of history and data, all point to a debased and crooked Court. A Court where profiteering and acceptance of bribes by some justices is brazenly open.
I think the court will overturn birthright citizenship in part. It just opened the flood gate for gerrymandering districts to favor whites (sorry, I meant I Republicans) months before the mid-terms. I also believe when Trump seizes ballots this November the Court will permit it to do so. When Trump announces his intent to run for a third unconstitutional term the Court will invent a new doctrine to permit Trump to run again. Hopefully the gentleman with the scythe will come calling first.
This corrupt court and a dysfunctional Congress are all that stand before a tyrannical Trump and one party authoritarian rule. We are, therefore, in a heap of trouble, up a constitutional creek without a paddle. Now is the time to look to the future and decide how we, as a people, will respond.
A Very, Very Short History of Voting Rights in America: 1776 to 2026
Let’s begin with a very short quiz. True or false: Up to 1926 non-citizens in many States could vote in local, state, and national elections.
If you answered True, you are ………correct.
If you carefully read the original ratified constitution, you will note that it did not explicitly define who could vote. Or, for that matter even define citizen or citizenship. In fact, and practice, voting rights in the several states at our founding tended to be based on the big three: acquired wealth, gender, and race. These three qualifications defined who could and, consequently, who could not vote. While property qualifications pretty much disappeared in the early 19th century, gender and race defined who could vote, not citizenship, for many, many decades.
Some state constitutions merely asserted “white males” could vote with no mention of citizenship. As the country expanded westward voting by aliens was encouraged, for instance in the Northwest Ordinance of 1789 “freehold aliens” could vote. Some states required aliens to take an oath that they were upstanding inhabitants and intended to become citizens. Becoming a naturalized citizenship was linked to race, however, in our early Republic.
The Naturalization Act of 1790 stated that only “free white person of good character’ could become citizens after two years of residence, however, several following Acts raised the residency requirements first to five years, and then in 1798 the Alien and Sedition Act raised the residency requirement to 14 years. This last requirement did not last long and was in response to fears of dastardly French influences.
The Constitution of 1789, while never linking voting to citizenship, clearly stated, however, that the President, Representatives, and Senators must be citizens, and added an additional modifier for President, they must be a ‘natural born citizen.’ The absence of any express statement in the constitution linking citizenship to voting suggests that voting by non-citizens was such common practice that it was deemed a common law right, at least in the American colonies which, before the revolution, were generally governed by written charters.
Americans, it seems, before they were technically American, were better off than their fellow Englishmen in Great Britian in terms of suffrage. In Great Britian, voting in the 18th century was extremely restricted and it was not until a series of reforms in the 19th century did Great Britian enlarge the voting franchise.
For about 150 years then, many states permitted aliens, that is non-citizens, to vote. I think Scalia, were he alive, and other constitutional originalists would vomit at that thought.
Voting by non-citizens did ebb and flow over time, however. Wars resulted in contractions of voting rights by non-citizens, for instance the War of 1812 and the First World War saw pushback. The rise of nativist movements as waves of immigrants arrived provoked some pushback as well on non-citizen voting rights in the mid 19th century. This accelerated when immigrants from eastern or southern Europe — such as Greece or Italy — began arriving in huge numbers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[i]
Basically, folks from an earlier list of shithole countries or representing threatening religions, you know, the ever-dangerous Catholic or Jew. Claims of intellectual, genetic, and moral inferiority abounded. They couldn’t assimilate many claimed. Does that not sound familiar?
As we have seen, voting rights in America has a peculiar history and was (and is it seems) very much tied with gender and race, not citizenship. Citizenship was a variable state by state. Women gained the right to vote 105 years ago. African American men in 1870. Asian immigrants could not become U.S. citizens until 1952, and therefore ineligible to vote.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 did much to enforce and federalize and nationalize the right to vote. It did much to ensure all citizens, regardless of race or origin, were given equal opportunity to vote. That is no longer the case. While the reversals of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 have been articulated in terms of impacts on black and brown voters, the demise of the Act will have broader impacts on other communities: Asian, South Asian, Middle Eastern, Pacific Islander, and other diaspora communities.
Trump’s new immigration policy is designed to impact the make-up of the next generation of voters. Afrikaners over Africans, whites over others. And, with the help of the Robert’s court, making it harder for everyday Americans of color to vote in states with long histories of denying black and brown people the right to vote. The attack on the Voting Rights Act is just one part of a broader, systemic attack on who is an American, who can become an American, and therefore, who has a voice in America’s present and future.
This November we are voting for more than just neutering Trump politically, we are fighting for whose America this is, and who will inherit America from us once we are gone. This is a generational vote, a vote for our kids, our grandkids, and our generations of unborn Americans.
Post Script: The Supreme Court recently invalidated Louisiana’s congressional district voting map because districts were gerrymandered by race. A normal grace period of a month was set aside by the Court to allow immediate action by Louisiana. Voting was already underway. The Louisiana governor is currently refusing to count over 30k mail-in votes already received.
[i] Texas permitted non-citizens to vote until 1921. Indiana as well. Kansas 1918. Oregon 1914. Virginia 1818. Pennsylvania 1838. See Ron Hayduk, Democracy for All: Restoring Immigrant Voting Rights in the United States, 2006.
Supreme Mistake: Et Tu Roberts?
The Supreme Court last week gave a final, mortal blow to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Et tu Roberts. The Court’s majority opinion, penned by Justice Alito, argued that America has changed since the 1960s, that the racial animus predicating the denial of black and brown people from voting or having the chance to be represented in Congress, had magically evaporated.
The Louisiana congressional district map, which was at the heart of this recent case, was therefore unconstitutional, according to six of the justices. Voting districts, per the Court could be gerrymandered to reflect political favoritism toward a political party but not race. To add insult to injury, the Court then granted Louisiana the immediate ability to change the map. Normally, there is a month’s long grace period giving the losing side an opportunity to prepare arguments in lower courts before the ruling comes into effect.
The central premise that America has changed is facile and flawed and misguided. Yes, America has become a more pluralistic society, black and brown representation did increase since the late 1960s. However, in many deep south states with large black and brown populations, white’s continue to be overrepresented in state houses and the House of Representatives. It ignores repeated and continual attempts to disenfranchise black and brown voters through ostensibly race neutral laws.
On another level, the racial animus towards black and brown folks is as strong as ever. Take Trump’s words that immigrants from ‘shit hole’ countries are polluting American blood, or that Haitians eat folks’ pets, or that Somalis are low IQ, or that non-white immigrants are destroying western civilization. I don’t think these thoughts are outliers in MAGA world, or for that matter in the minds of some of the Supreme Court justices.
A week before the riots in Charlottesville in August 2017, in which Heather Heyer was murdered and dozens more were injured when a white supremacist drove his car into peaceful protestors, I posted this essay. An essay about my community here in Louisa. Given the Court’s decision last week, I believe the essay deserves a repost. I repost it in its entirety below followed by a brief postscript:
Four ladies were sitting in a pie and coffee joint. In walk a priest, a rabbi, and an Imam. Naw, in walk my wife and I. What follows, disappointingly, is a true, but sad story. As we walk in the four women were playing bridge and conversationally engaged. As I ordered coffee and tea, a slice of rhubarb pie, and a muffin, at the counter my wife selected a table cattycorner from this bridge quartet, well within earshot, especially as they spoke in upturned voices.
Given the closeness of the tables, it was impossible not to be encompassed in the conversation, even as detached, unwilling silent witnesses. Eavesdropping into the conversation mid-way found us somewhere in a conversation about church business followed quickly by a lamentation that a friend, who apparently was pictured in a Ku Klux Klan photograph, was being unfairly associated with the racism. “Guilt by association” chuckled one woman slightly. It was like walking into a Kafka soliloquy. This tête-à-tête then veered onto the hot local subject of the removal of a confederate statue from a nearby university town. All expressed bitterness, with one speaking out loud for their little group, that it was a disgrace, that you “can’t change history.”
She’s right, but apparently, she can’t fathom or acknowledge that the South’s history is more than about white heritage. Then, in a deeply submerged psychological association, the statue controversy was instantaneously linked to the public schools — think 1954 and Brown v. Board of Education declaring racial segregation unconstitutional – when one exclaimed in the next breath to mutual concord, that “We provide them with a free education” and if ‘they don’t take advantage of that, it isn’t our problem.’ Oh, that set me off. We and them. WE and THEM! That basically sums it up. At that point my wife shot me that ‘not now’ look with a little Mona Lisa smirk, part threat, part calm down. I mumbled aloud about walking into a ‘daughters of the confederacy’ meeting.
My back was to this bridge playing klavern and I was facing out the pie shop’s picture window taking in the Mayberry-like main street, named of course Main Street. Across the street was the antebellum circuit courthouse, a little red brick jail stood off to the left of the courthouse. A statue of a confederate soldier stands a silent vigil; his gaze forever fixed towards the northeast watching over the town square and all who approach. Sheriff Andy Taylor or Atticus Finch may walk by if you close your eyes for a second. This American circuit courthouse was a facilitator of slavery and racial oppression. No doubt, slaves seized from indebted planters were most likely sold just yards away. Wills that directed the selling off or gifting of slaves, breaking up families, were filed in that courthouse. I wondered too about the little jail and imagined whether slave traders, with their coffles of slaves heading down from Alexandria to Richmond, and then on to New Orleans, would bed down their walking inventory in the local jail overnight for a small fee.
I am not sure the irony of their conversation juxtaposed so close to slavery’s ghosts was apparent to these card players. Nonetheless, the carefree and unguarded manner the conversation played out in a public space underscored, I think, the impulsive racist bigotry that pervades many American towns. It is as natural as breathing it seems. The fact that they spoke in raised voices like it was 1859 or 1955 leads me to believe these women intuitively assumed, that because my wife and I are white, we automatically subscribe to their philosophy.
Shamefully, I sat mute, halfway between cowardice and rage, sipping tepid tea, but felt my anger and words would not change what has been etched in these women’s minds since before their mothers’ mothers were even born. Their banter was wide ranging and not all about race. At some point one commented about CNN “yapping on” about the “Russia thing,” “brain washing of liberals,” and what to do about North Korea. On North Korea, at least, there was disagreement. While it isn’t fair to put all the white folks in this corner of the South into a box and label it “toxic bigots, handle with care” racism’s complexities remains deep in this part of the woods and the women playing bridge no doubt have already infested their children and grandchildren with their septic views of race, supremacy, and obligation. At least the muffin was good, but the conversation left a bitter, sad after taste.
On reflection, “WE and THEM” is at the heart of America’s political divide. It always has been. At its core is the fundamental question about “whose America is this?” America belongs to the descendants of African captives forced into generational slavery, the new African citizen, the fifth generation Mexican American, the Coptic Christian immigrant from Egypt, the Shia Muslim from Syria, the offspring of Puritan New Englanders, the Chinese Americans whose ancestors helped build America’s western railroads, native Americans. And yes, even the fearful daughters of the confederacy who indifferently sip the tepid tears of those lost to slavery while playing bridge, should have equal access to a piece of the American pie.
Post Script: The Supreme Court made another decision antithetical to American democracy and misjudges the residual racial animus and antipathy still much alive in this country. This decision highlights the need for every vote this November. A democratic majority in the House and Senate will put a dead stop to Trump’s rule by decree. The Senate will ensure no more supreme court justices appointed by Trump are confirmed should any retire or die during the last two years of Trump’s term.
