Former GOP Operative Describes How Republicans Manipulate Voters Through Fear

Posted on February 20, 2026 by Trish Nelson

Jen Senko’s dad (The Brainwashing of My Dad)

This is an amazing podcast. Rick Wilson as you know is a former GOP strategist who has left the fold and in his words, “I’ve sort of tried to do penance  for a decade now.”

I’ve noticed what Marc Elias articulates in his first question to Rick Wilson about why former Republicans are able to speak with greater clarity about Republican behavior and psychology than Democrats can.  We should pay better attention to what they say because they know how it works.  They were on the inside.  They participated.

From Nicole Wallace who has said time and again, “Republicans count on Democrats to not fight back” to Liz Cheney who said “America will not survive another Trump presidency” to Rick Wilson who explains in this video how the Republican party creed is “win at all costs.”

In this podcast Wilson explains how they manipulate low information voters by activating fear, disrupting their ability to use reasoning and logic.  It is critically important for the survival of democracy that we are clear eyed about who they are and what they are willing to do to achieve and maintain power.

Regular Americans don’t like to think anyone is capable of evil. I believe it is part of the mainstream American culture that we don’t like to “point fingers.”  We tend to give the worst people the greatest benefit of the doubt. This is a form of denial or placating with the aim of avoiding conflict and not having to face that some of the people in power or who we have to work with on a daily basis, or neighbors or family members, are despicable human beings and need to be held accountable and no one wants to do it.

Here is a portion of the interview I think is the most important part.  I have transcribed this part verbatim to the best of my ability. If you prefer to watch the video, it takes place at the beginning. Scroll down.

Marc Elias:

Who are the commentators who are speaking the most clearly and with direct, non-hedging, language about the threat? You have almost all former Republicans. There is you, Bill Crystal, The folks at the Bulwark. It’s really noticeable the language that I hear from my friends and colleagues on the left and the democratic party, the folks that were former republicans just seem to have a more direct language that they use around this.”

Rick Wilson:

“Being able to articulate a threat like Trump is not about party, in my opinion. It’s about being willing to say I’m going to put aside my policy preferences, I’m going to put aside my biases, my desires to do things a certain way and I’m going to get to the X, I’m going to get the job done. I’m going to figure out what I have to do to win.

“In the Republican party you grow up with this. When you’re a consultant as I was for 30 years, you grow up with this sort of catch phrase. Just win, baby. And the corollary to just win, baby, is stay on message. And the old joke used to be if you have trouble understanding point 1, refer to point 2. I you have trouble understanding point 2 refer back to point 1.

“I’ve been opposed to Trump since 2015 publicly, loudly, sometimes probably too loudly, much to the detriment of my old career, my friendships, my relationships, across the board. But I also came out of that culture that created the creature that became Donald Trump.”

“Trump is different from every other republican who has ever existed. But he was an inevitability given what we did for a long time, which I’ve sort of tried to do penance for for a decade now. We activated the low propensity, low income, low intellectual or low educational achievement voter. We activated them with fear. We poked their amygdalas over and over and over and over again.”

“And so I know the creature that emerged from that laboratory and he is that creature.  I remember Marc, I was on a conversation back a few day s after January 6th with a bunch of Democratic donors and consultants and elected officials like what should we do now? And a very serious person who I respect said, “Well, we’ve got to get back on our prescription drug coverage. I did a Rick Wilson – I was like the fuck are you talking about? The capital is on fire still. There’s still broken glass on the ground. You’re going to talk about prescription drugs when the constitution was on the razor’s edge from being shredded by these guys? Are you kidding me?”

“So, I mean, I guess it’s because I know the fear that or I know that the nature of the monster is, and I know that if people don’t fear it appropriately, it will win.”

“One of the things about the Epstein files is explained by the origin story of Trump in 2016. A right wing conspiracy theory was made up out of whole cloth, completely out of whole cloth, that Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, George Soros, a whole variety of Democratic elected officials, consultants, leaders, donors, were involved in a DC based but global child trafficking cannibal pedophile sex ring. And as absurd as that sounds, it was promoted very heavily by Russian disinformation, by American conspiracy theorists like Jack Bobic, Alex Jones, Mike Cernovich, all these folks that were on the fringes of reason, as a rule, and they promoted this because it had massive interest by the base. Something about it clicked with that Republican base. And even though it didn’t disappear after 2016 and she was never ‘brought to justice.’ There was never mass arrests of secret pedophiles that Q-Anon kept promising…

Marc – “…which, by the way, was supposed to be going on in the basement of a pizza place in Washington, DC..

Wilson: “correct..”

Marc – which led to a deranged man going to the place and firing a gun.

Wilson: 

“They did this in a way that wired itself into the brain of the MAGA base and it gave them permission to hate Democrats because they’re like, “oh, they’re all pedophiles. They’re all sex traffickers. They are all child molesters. And it was beaten over and over and over and over again in all these social media channels, all these alternative spaces that the right wing media and right wing political activists know exist.

“But it turns out it was projection. It turns out that the guy really involved with a guy who ran a global pedophile sex ring was Donald Trump being involved with Jeffrey Epstein. They were friends for decades. They were running buddies in the social scene in both New York and Palm Beach. And as much as they have said, “Oh Democrats are all pedophiles, it turns out that Donald Trump is a guy who has now put Ghislaine Maxwell, who was the facilitator of this ring, into a cushy club fed and DT has for months or years now covered up the vast trenches of documents that it took a congressional discharge petition to pass a law to excise from their hands. And even now they’re trying to pull back information on Epstein right this minute that was released today. Now they’re trying to pull it back again.

None of this works with this Republican base. They are psychologically broken about it. They are angry. They feel betrayed. And I think one of the things Mark, that they also feel is the ring of truth. They knew DT was a degenerate. They knew DT was a bad guy, a liar, an adulterer, a con man. But they thought, well, he hates the people I hate so it’s ok. So I have found this to be an absolutely fascinating issue to watch him squirm on it and watch his base. And they’ve kind of given up contorting themselves on it because it’s unspinnable. There’s not enough mayonnaise in the world to turn it into chicken salad.”

“They are stuck with this story forever.”

“The attraction that remains now for the base is a very narrow slice of the culture war aspect of the GOP. It’s the owning the libs guys. It’s the media is evil and I’m going to help Trump own the libs. I’m going to hurt the people that I think look down on me. And you know that is a fairly narrow and sort of small number of folks. But if you’re a working class person who thought Trump was going to bring you economic prosperity, you were wrong. If you’re an evangelical who thinks he shares your Christian values, you’re wrong.

The base has shrunk by about a third and it used to be about 40% of Americans and now it’s in the low 30s high 20s who are like the Trump hotties I call them. He’s broken faith with them as he would inevitably break faith with everybody. He’s a guy who has never kept in his life a business deal, a marriage vow, a promise of almost any kind that wasn’t about himself.

So I don’t have a lot of pity for them, they’ve made their bed with Trump and he’s as horrible a person as can be imagined. But they have to own it now. This is what they chose. This is the world they elected to live in.

ELECTION/MID-TERM

“we should expect absolute lawlessness.”

MEDIA

A lot of those shows have both-sided themselves into irrelevance. That is a really poisonous kind of situation for media because if you’re trying to pretend both sides are the same in a world where one side wants to burn American democracy to the ground and one side wants to pass policy proposals you’re not dealing with the actual comparable political parties.

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Jesse Jackson: My Reverend, My Brother

Posted on February 19, 2026 by Trish Nelson

Photo: iowacapitaldispatch.com


Contributed by Molly Regan

Greg Palast a well known activist and author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and other books shares photos and memories about Rev. Jesse Jackson who died Feruary 17, 2026.

Jesse Jackson: My Reverend, My Brother

by Greg Palast February 17, 2026

For 50 years, we fought side-by-side and sometimes fought face-to-face. He’s the only man, other than my dad, I’ve ever kissed, a year ago. When I kissed him goodbye he was holding our Vigilantes film poster in his wheelchair.

Above: Jesse Jackson, Bernie Sanders, and Greg Palast backstage at the Rainbow PUSH Convention in Chicago in July 2017. Photo: N Powers.

We aren’t fools. Advances have been no less than breathtaking, revolutionary. But, dammit, here we were, 58 years on, and from Georgia to Florida to Wisconsin, the vote suppression trickery was, and is, getting uglier and uglier and, unfortunately, more sophisticated. The Georgia legislature voted to eliminate nearly every single ballot drop box in the state — knowing full well that this is the principal method Black voters use to cast ballots to avoid the hours-long voting lines that have been forced on them in Atlanta.

And so, today, we honored those who fought and died, and honor those who will have to fight and die, by releasing this special Rainbow/PUSH edition of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, introduced by Reverend Jackson, without charge.

In 1965 Martin Luther King crossed the bridge and continued 50 miles to Montgomery. Along the way, four voting rights advocates would be murdered, two Black, two White — their goal of integration achieved in death. By time King arrived in Montgomery, the President of the United States introduced the Voting Rights Act.

The film Best Democracy ends as I cross the Bridge with Hank Sanders. Senator Sanders. He represented Selma in the state legislature — decades after he marched to Montgomery. Decades after he was denied the right to vote. The Senator had demanded I cross the bridge with him — so I would not forget to cross it morally, emotionally and politically year after year. Because the vote suppressors are also on the march. But they’ve learned new tricks. They’ve traded their white sheets for spreadsheets, culling the voter rolls of people of color.

In Selma, I met with Lynda Blackmon Lowery, 14 years old when she crossed the Bridge with Dr. King. This little girl was beaten so severely, they actually laid her in a hearse to take her lifeless body to the morgue. But then, suddenly, she sat up, and before the other shocked marchers could stop her, Lynda ran back onto the bridge, into the tear gas.

There are giants who walk this Earth. And we must walk behind them. And never stop.

Aleha Hashalom, Reverend.

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Iowa: Success Story and Successful Battleground

Posted on February 18, 2026 by Trish Nelson

photo credit: rollcall.com

You won’t want to miss Simon Rosenberg’s most recent interview with IDP Chair Rita Hart. Here is a link to Simon’s previous August 2025 interview with Chair Hart.

Follow Simon Rosenberg/Hopium Chronicles on Substack and other social media outlets. Be a paid subscriber to help support the work.


Posted on YouTube February 17, 2026:

“Excited to share a new interview with Rita Hart, the hardworking Chair of the Iowa Democratic Party. Our interview kicks off a series of check ins we’ll be doing with the candidates and state parties which our community at Hopium Chronicles is supporting this year. https://www.hopiumchronicles.com

In this new discussion the Chair gives us an update on a state where we have real opportunities in competitive races – the incumbent Republican Governor, Kim Reynolds is the most unpopular in the country; Trump’s tariffs and mass deportation policies are doing enormous damage to Iowa’s farm economy; polling shows that both the Gubernatorial and Senate races are competitive in a +13 Trump state; 3 of the DCCC’s 44 targeted “districts in play” – districts we are working to flip – are in Iowa (IA-1, IA-2, IA-3).

What should make all of us optimistic about our opportunity in Iowa this year is their remarkable performances in six state legislative special elections so far. In these six specials our candidates over-performed 2024 by an average of 22 points, winning four races, flipping two state Senate seats to end the GOP super majority, and electing the first Latina to the state House and Black woman to the State Senate. It’s arguably the best performance of any state party in the country over the past year in state legislative special elections.

Iowa is one of those states we must target to have a shot at flipping the Senate this year. If we hold on to GA (Ossoff), MI, MN, and NH we start at 47 Senate seats. If we flip ME and NC (Cooper) we get to 49. To get to 51 we will need to win 2 of Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Ohio, Texas. Between our community’s Audacious Expansion Fund and our Senate endorsements Hopium is currently raising and supporting Democratic efforts in all 7 of these expansion states – Alaska, Iowa, Florida, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas. https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/

So friends, watch this wonderful interview with a terrific leader of a state party in one of most important battleground states this cycle, and learn how this money we are raising for the state parties is being put to use. Keep working hard everyone and thanks for all that you do for your country, each and every day.

– Simon

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Help Iowa Survive Our Final GOP Trifecta Controlled Legislative Session

Posted on February 17, 2026 by Trish Nelson

Action Alert From Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (CCI) –

This Thursday – Feb. 19: Our water, our health rally & lobby day

During the 2026 legislative session it’s our job to keep the Cancer Gag Act dead and to push for common sense policies – like restoring funding for water quality monitoring and increasing funding to map our aquifers.

On February 19 from 1 – 4pm we’ll be joining with our allies at Food & Water Watch and Progress Iowa for a lobby day to tell our legislators it’s time to take meaningful action to protect our water and crack down on big ag polluters. RSVP to join us here.

Feb. 23: Public School Strong orientation

10 school boards have passed our resolution calling on the Governor and state legislature to fully fund public schools at a 5% increase in state supplemental aid (SSA) and a phase out of the private school vouchers. Will your district be next?

Full funding for public schools starts at the school board level and we invite you to join other Iowans to our next Public School Strong orientation on Feb. 23 at 7 pm on zoom (register here).

At this meeting folks will learn more about what’s behind the attacks on public education, the purpose and goals of Public School Strong, and receive a free PSS t-shirt!

Feb. 24: How taxpayers are propping up the factory farm industry & corporate ag

RSVP here to join us for the Farm & Environment Monthly organizing call on Feb. 24 from 6 – 7:30 PM. At this meeting we will:

  • Dig in on how our public dollars are being used to prop up the factory farm and industrial ag model.
  • Get updates on what’s happened at the statehouse related to the Cancer Gag Act, the CO2 pipeline, water quality, and more.
  • Find ways to take action to protect our water and health.

Mark your calendar for Feb. 24 at 6 PM and RSVP here to get the information to join the call.

Feb. 26: Clean water meeting w/ Prof. Rosburg

CCI is hosting our second clean water meeting with Drake professor Tom Rosburg on Thursday, Feb. 26 from 6-7:30PM in Grinnell. Tom is an Ecology and Botany Professor and long time prairie warrior fighting for Iowa’s most vulnerable ecosystems.

Join us to hear more about the state of Iowa’s water, how it effects our local ecosystems and our health, and the positive impacts of prairie systems on our water. Learn about native ecosystems, leave with native prairie seeds! RSVP to join us here.

Take action for a Farm Bill that puts our health and independent producers before corporate $

The US House Agriculture Committee is anticipated to debate and amend the House version of what’s left of the Farm Bill early next week! Both Representatives Randy Feenstra and Zach Nunn sit on the committee.

Send them an email today and ask them to do two things:

Oppose any version of the Cancer Gag Act or the EATS Act!
Support the New Producer Economic Security Program and Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling!

You can find talking points for these issues and emails to contact Feenstra and Nunn here!

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Meet Leila Staton Candidate for House District 54

Posted on February 16, 2026 by Trish Nelson


Leila Staton is a Democrat running competitively for Iowa House District 54. The seat is currently held by Republican Joshua Meggers. Find our more about Leila at LeilaforIowa.com.  Follow Leila for Iowa on Facebook

“The most impactful decisions are made at the state legislature. They affect you way more than the federal government.”

“I’m 100% authentic. I don’t think it’s worth it to sacrifice parts of yourself while running for office.”

– Leila Staton

Follow Insufferable Wenches of Iowa YouTube channel for more statehouse candidate interviews. “Insufferable Wenches is a progressive volunteer organization dedicated to civics education & engagement, mutual aid, advocacy, and all things political.”

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Sunday Funday: Black History Month

Posted on February 15, 2026 by Dave Bradley

Marcy Wheeler takes a peek behind the ICE masks. Maybe there is another reason why Trump cult followers want to keep the masks on – 7 minutes:

 

What a year last week was. But i think we are starting to see the Trump administration getting more and more desperate. I believe soon, the message that those acting illegally in Trump’s name (say Pam Bondi for instance)  will someday have to defend their illegal actions in court. If we are the real democracy we say we are, that day may be coming soon.

Monday is President’s Day. Ironic that we should have the worst, most corrupt, racist and felonious ever sitting in the chair at this time. Take some time to ponder what an absolutely insane person is now president and how he got there.  But it is also Black History Month so we will focus some questions on Black contributions to American society.

It will be hard to hold the questions from last week to a manageable amount. Remember the FIWH is the Felon In the White House. Shall we begin?

A) Let’s kick off here in Iowa where the legislature is considering a proposal to prepare an offer to bring what pro sports team to Iowa?
B) Perhaps the most famous black American inventor, what inventor still has a building named after him at Iowa State where he was the first black student and faculty member?
C) “How can you talk about pedophiles when the Dow is at $50,000?” is a paraphrase of an answer from what administration official in a House committee hearing last week?
D) In yet another ironic moment last week the FIWH’s Religious Liberty Commission was sued on what grounds last week?
E) Dorothy Johnson Vaughn is a scientist whose name many may recognize from a movie chronicling her career as a what for NASA?
F) Once again the Iowa senate shows its ignorance as it passes only a 1.75% funding increase for what critical function of government?
G) What?? Did the FIWH claim China would end in Canada because of the new accords between China and Canada?
H) This is not Pam Bondi’s first go round at keeping information on Jeffrey Epstein hidden. She also did so at the state level as attorney general of what state?
I) Mae C. Jemison is a name many will recognize immediately for her exploits as a what?
J) The FIWH did a big favor for what big donor Monday when he stepped in Monday and said he would personally block the Gordy Howe bridge between the US and Canada from opening?
K) Also on the blocking front, the FIWH said the EPA would revoke what rules that underpinned environmental rules?
L) Mark Dean made a major contribution to modern technology at IBM when he developed the system that allowed computers to communicate with what?
M) It’s down. it’s up. It’s — still up I think. A rainbow flag was removed early this week the replaced later in the week at what national monument?
N) Breezy Johnson won America’s first gold at the Winter Olympics last week. Then what happened to the medal she won?
O) Lots of tense confusion at what major airport this week as communication snafus led to the airport to be closed for 10 days, then reopened a couple of hours later?
P) Dr. Charles Richard Drew is a name you have probably heard, especially if you give blood. Dr. Drew invented what?
Q) As many economic indicators show a US economy going into the tank, what indicator revealed last week showed an unusual large jump ahead?
R) In a move that seems out of step for this administration, Dr. Mehmet Oz urged Americans to get vaccinated for what current spreading disease?
S) What auto company reported a loss of $11.1 B in the fourth quarter of 2025, it’s worst performance since the Great Republican Recession?

T)  But will they do it? Claiming victory, what administration official announced that ICE thugs would be removed from Minnesota?

One thing Pam Bondi has made clear throughout this hearing: her client is Donald Trump, not the American people. – Joyce Alene

tip of the hat to all-hat-no-cattle.com

 
Answers:
 
A) The Chicago Bears – please laugh – I almost fell out of my chair laughing when I heard that.
 
B) George Washington Carver
 
C) Pam Bondi
 
D) Because it lacked the requisite diversity
 
E) mathemetician as chronicled in “Hidden Figures”
 
F) school funding. Remember also that a good chunk of that money will pay for private schools;s for the wealthy
 
G) the National Hockey League – this guy ain’t right in the head
 
H) Florida
 
I) astronaut
 
J) Manuel Moroun who had a meeting with administration officials just days before Trump’s announcement
 
K) environmental findings rules
 
L) printers and other peripherals
 
M) Stonewall National Monument
 
N) It slipped off its ribbon and broke into pieces when it hit the ground
 
O) El Paso – lots of incompetence on display here
 
P) Metods to store and transport blood products
 
Q) Monthly job gains for January. While those numbers were high, the yearly job numbers were revised greatly downward
 
R) Measles – 
 
S) Ford
 
T) Tom Homan – I will believe it when I see it
 
Melanie Stansbury of NM comments on viewing the (Trump)-Epstein Files – 5 minutes:
 
Admin Officials in the Epstein Files:
 
Donald J. Trump (President) 
Melania Trump (1st Lady)
Howard Lutnick (Sec. Commerce) 
John Phelan (Sec. Navy)
Paolo Zampolli (Kennedy Center)
RFK Jr. (Sec. HHS) 
Kevin Warsh (Fed Nominee)
Mehmet Oz (Admin. for CMS)
Elon Musk (Fmr DOGE Appointee)
Steve Bannon (Fmr Senior Advisor)
Alex Acosta (Fmr Sec. Labor)
Bill Barr (Fmr AG)
Brett Ratner (Film Director “Melania”) – Rep. Melanie Stansbury D-NM
Posted in #trumpresistance, Humor | 1 Comment

“This Is All One Story” 

Posted on February 14, 2026 by Dave Bradley

 

8 minutes:

If you don’t recognize the players in the video above, they are Stephanie Miller, host of the daily Stephanie Miller show (that can be found on Youtube, Freespeech TV, or on radio stations KTNF from Minneapolis or WCPT Chicago on the internet starting at 8AM Central time) and Malcolm Nance, former CIA spy and current best selling author.

Nance comes on the Stephanie Miller Show at 9:30 on Wednesdays. His segment often includes some extremely insightful analysis. In his career at the CIA, Nance was an analyst. His insights are seldom replicated anywhere else and he is frighteningly frequently correct.

As investigations into Trump’s connections with Jeffrey Epstein gear up, during Nance’s segments on the show, he and Stephanie have created a theme around the concept that “It is all one story.” That is to say that Trump’s association with Epstein and Epstein’s association with Putin and Trump’s association with Putin all intermingled over the years to help bring about the circumstances we have today.

Also in the mix of the story is the gestapo like like tactics taking place in American cities attacking immigrants including citizens, attacks on other countries, the open bribes to Trump, his insane late night attacks on anybody and anything. All these diversions seem to be in the service of diverting attention from Trump’s ties to Epstein and Putin.

Along the way, other men became entangled. As Trump struggles to illegally cover up documents that by law must be opened, we are hearing names like Musk, Gates, Lutnik, Prince Andrew and so on pop to the surface. And always in the background is Putin. All the while Republicans up and down the line quake and fall in line.

As you listen to the conversation above it is truly scary that men of wealth and power not only act as if they are above the law, but ran in the same circles where laws are ignored.

The cover up is now on the shoulders of the Republican Party. Will they stand up for their country or will they fall in line to their cult leader. Maybe you can ask them when they come out of hiding for a campaign appearance or the ever elusive town hall. I am sure they will welcome your questions and tell how they plan to make it so no man is above the law.

Posted in #trumpresistance, 2026 election, Republican hypocrisy, Republican Obstruction, Republican Policy | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Watergate Redux? 

Posted on February 14, 2026 by Dave Bradley

Ever felt like you have been in a situation before, but you just can’t put your finger on why. Then almost as if out of the blue it hits you? Is anybody beside me seeing any similarity of the fall of Dick Nixon due to Watergate and the current continual firehose of news on Trump and his relations to Epstein and the whole pedophile story.

Nor do we feel what seemed like forever between revelations as reporter assembled the story in tiny pieces through some very intrepid reporting, or in the occasional gusher as someone fessed up to save their own skin or through some sense of duty: 5 minutes

As I was watching some of the deposition of AG Bondi Wednesday, her demeanor and the arrogance of the Republican Party brought back distant memories of the Watergate hearings. I was so much younger then, was not fully up to snuff on all the issues and could only catch snippets between school and work. But after all these years, the Republican arrogance in the face of some very serious charges echoed back to 1973 & 1974.

Among the memories were those of a president trapped in a cover up of his own doing in an effort to avoid paying for the consequences of his crimes. Rather than admit to wrong doing, Nixon chose the path of cover up. As the investigation waged on, we slowly saw the lies unravel and the co-conspirators slowly break down.

Then it hit me as Bondi took her offensive tone – just like in Watergate, she knows – hell the whole damn administration knows, and all of Trump’s buddies know – that there were crimes. Now we have gone so far down the path that there is no going back Trump and his entourage long ago chose the path of covering up the crimes.

Now it is way too late to turn back. Mr. Trump has chosen a path, his party long ago chose to join him, so now we must put the country through the long process of investigation and counter moves to try to gum up the wheels of justice. As we embark on this journey, we can take a little view of where we are.

As we compare the landscape from then to now, the biggest noticeable difference is the makeup of the media. Back in the Watergate era, the press was much more independent and competitive. While some were in Nixon’s pocket, the majority were much more in pursuit of the story and in most cases the truth. This is why the press is often cited as the fourth estate – their search for truth would act as an outside force to reign politicians in. During Watergate, some news organizations did this well.

Now much of the media is captured by political factions – mostly on the right. Their mission is no longer truth, but profit and making sure one side – mostly the right – wins. But thanks to the internet and social media there is still a strong tradition of truth seekers. Expect the administration to try to shut such media out of any investigative journalism. Also expect the administration to use their power to stop any reporting. This will be a real test of our constitution. As it is right now the constitution is teetering.

Something else that has changed is the courage of our politicians. It should be no surprise that Trump holds the political life of every Republican in his hands and threatens them constantly with being primaried if they step out of line. Back in the Watergate days, while Nixon had influence, he was far from having career life and death power over congress critters. Trump’s power is made even greater as so many states are so gerrymandered that the Republican primary is more important than the general election.

Today’s Republican congress members are being squeezed from the opposite direction because the Epstein pedophile scandal is so disgusting that any hint that congress will not go full bore after the pedophiles that if they give a hint that they (Republican congress members) will not pursue the issue, then the congress members will lose a lot of support. This is an issue that really hits home with most Americans – raping children.

One last sort of a wild card not around 50 years ago is the involvement of foreign governments. Many western European governments are finding that they have or have had high ranking members of their governments involved with Epstein. Citizens in countries such as the UK, Poland, France and others are planning to investigate. It will be hard for Trump, Bondi, Lutnik and members of congress to entirely gum up investigations in other countries. Keep your hats on. Remember that the Republican Party is the only party in the worldwide democracies that is trying to stop investigations into Epstein.

So how long can the insiders block the investigations? How long before members of congress see their future going down the toilet and turn sides? How long before other governments reveal details that point specifically to Trump?  Can the Trump Administration either stop the next election or rig the election so Republicans regain control? Will Trump and his party act to end our democracy to keep him out of jail? Republicans can’t win a fair fight these days.

Let me throw in a scenario that keeps running through my mind. Nixon quit when he lost support from his party. Let me suggest that after a debacle of an election, Republicans work to have Trump resign citing dementia effective Jan. 21, 2027. This would remove Trump and put Vance in the presidency in a situation where, if he ran and won, (think rigged election) he could remain in power for 10 years. That should end democracy as we know it.

Fasten your seatbelts, the ride will be bumpy. Let us hope that most Americans are more in favor of democracy than autocracy.

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Miller-Meeks Fails To Respond to Veterans

Posted on February 13, 2026 by Trish Nelson

Ed Flaherty of Veterans For Peace addressing about 75 people gathered to protest the military action in Venezuela over the weekend.

Below is a letter to the editors of several local newspapers from Ed Flaherty, calling out Mariannette Miller-Meeks for her failure to respond to a letter sent to her from himself and a group of veterans. 

Miller-Meeks refuses to respond to veterans after repeated attempts

On November 18, six members of Congress, all military veterans, posted a video reminding military service members that they need not and must not follow illegal orders. Days later, President Trump called them traitors, accusing them of seditious behavior and suggested they be arrested.

In the following week, eleven military veterans, all residents in an assisted living facility, signed and sent a letter to Representative Miller-Meeks, asking her if she “supports presidential threats against those who encourage adherence to the law? Do you support the troops’ commitment to defend the Constitution?” It has been over two months, and despite repeated attempts to contact her, no response has been received.

I believe that all eleven of us veterans anticipated little more than a vacuous response from her.

However, we are surprised and disappointed that we apparently did not even deserve the respect of a response.

Ed Flaherty

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Why “Detention Centers” Are Central To Trump’s Mass Deportation Strategy

Posted on February 12, 2026 by Trish Nelson

One of the above photos is a CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation). The other is a Trump detention center. Creepy how similar they look.  Can you tell which is which?  Answer below.

Follow Simon Rosenberg – 

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The top photo is a CAFO – Sentientmedia.org
The bottom photo is a detention center in Texas texastribune.org/2026/02/07/ice-facility-el-paso-tuberculosis/

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