J. Michael Newlighttm

Think about this: Bill says “I feel your pain,” and wins the Presidency; Hillary calls Trump supporters "a basket of deplorables,” and loses.

Trump is the master of creating chaos and dissension by viciously insulting others, and the impulse is to hit back in kind, with bigger and more damning insults against him, his minions and supporters -- a put-down contest, like school children calling each other names on the playground.

So here is the EPIPHANY: responding in kind, with anger and hostility, just feeds the beast, no matter how clever the retort. Instead of shaking fists at Trump supporters and calling them stupid, or robots, or followers of a cult, realize that very soon many of them will find that their interests are not being served by White House policies: workers losing jobs, farmers losing farms, states -- even red states -- losing vital Federal support, and what then?

Finally having had enough, to whom will they turn – those who have verbally abused them for allowing themselves to be misled, or those who offer encouragement, support, and an alternative?

Sure, maybe some of those folks are idealogues, just plain nasty and hell-bent on making those around them suffer, and will never change, but there are enough, who have guilelessly fallen for the rhetoric they thought would serve their best interests, to sway an election. Cursing them won’t guide them into making better choices.

We accuse those now in charge of the Federal government to be lacking in empathy – where is our empathy in recognizing the real pain and confusion that led many into voting as they did? How can we bring them on board when their disappointment, and the abuse they suffer, pushes them into searching for an alternative?

In 2024, 2.3 million more people voted for Trump – that's only 1.5% of those who voted either for Trump or Harris. A shift of 1.25 million would have thrown the popular vote to the Democrats. Almost 4 million votes were thrown away on third party candidates, and only 64% of eligible voters cast their ballots.

The Electoral College went 58% to 42% -- a shift of slightly more than 8% would have changed the outcome.

So the task ahead is to avoid being suckered into meaningless finger pointing, and to proceed in building a compelling platform for the Democratic Party heading into 2026. The key is unity, simplicity and repetition of a clear, coherent message.

A manifesto is formally presented to the U.S. Congress and the White House, and broadcast to the general public, as follows:

”We, the Governors of the three Pacific Coast States – California, Oregon and Washington – applaud the efforts of the current Administration to neuter the Federal Government and return control to the individual states. In cooperation with this noble effort to “starve the beast,” we proclaim the following:

1. Henceforth, all Federal income tax withholding required of our states’ residents, both individual and corporate, shall by decree be remitted to the respective state’s Department of Revenue, rather than to the Federal Department of Internal Revenue, to be held in escrow until such time as needed to replace support for programs being eliminated at the Federal level, or for any other purpose, at the discretion of the legislature of each respective state.

2. All Federal property within the borders of each state shall become the property of that state. This shall include military installations, materials and equipment, which shall provide the foundation for organization of individual “well regulated” State Militias, as provided for in the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

3. All members of the Federal armed forces who reside, or wish to reside, in the Pacific Coast States, are encouraged to leave their military units and travel to said states, along with their weapons and equipment, to continue in military service in their state's militia. This includes female, homosexual, bisexual and trans-sexual personnel who are in good standing with their respective units.

4. The legislature of each state shall pass laws protecting its citizens from persecution by Federal authorities for complying with the terms of this manifesto."

The curious conundrum at the heart of our constitutional law is the fact that among the three “co-equal” branches, the Legislature makes law, the Executive enforces the law and (as a hypothetical check on bad behavior by the other two branches) the Judiciary interprets the law, yet there is an obvious and startling flaw: only the Executive Branch has police power – neither the Judiciary nor the Legislature has the ability to enforce their legislation or judicial decisions.

So, it is obvious that if rogue actors gain control of the Executive, they can merely ignore the law and do as they please – who will stop them?

New FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino: “The only thing that matters is power. Power. That is all that matters. A system of checks and balances? Haha! That’s a good one.”

Bongino says Trump should just ignore court decisions that he disagrees with — “Who’s gonna arrest him, the Marshalls? Trump controls them.”

And the Oligarchs, MAGA Republicans, Evangelicals, Project 2025, Christian Nationalists, or Movement Conservatives -- whichever name you wish to apply to the cabal that has seized the power of the Executive Branch – fully understand, and are willing to exploit, this glaring reality.

The flurry of seemingly irrational disruptions of normal government process – bureaucratic purges, unqualified appointments, wild proposals to take over Canada or Greenland or Panama or Gaza, and so on – are intentionally provocative.

The seeming stupidity continues to escalate but it is all part of the plan to "arouse" (as Chuck Schumer would have it) the alarmed, disturbed citizenry to ever-more desperate and threatening demonstrations, rallies and ultimately armed insurrection.

The goal is to bring the “aroused” citizenry to a crescendo which will require the establishment of Federal martial law.

And once our society is in such a state of unlawful turmoil, requiring suppression by the heavy hand of Federal troops, the elections of 2026 will have to be “postponed”.

Canada, Mexico and our European allies tire of being politically bullied and threatened with tariffs by the United States which, even in the best of times, has seemed insufferably arrogant. China, also, realizes that punishment by tariffs is the future of relations with the U.S. It becomes clear that the U.S. is no longer a reliable ally nor economic partner.

The major players begin planning to act in concert. Since the U.S. produces only 26% of world GDP (down from 40% in 1960), it becomes desirable for the other countries to break trading ties with the U.S. and re-wire the international flows of goods and services to exclude the U.S. Yes, there will be a few years of pain, but once the new relationships are established, the world will be a better place for all but the U.S.

Gradually, Canada and Mexico close their borders to trade and travel with the United States.

China exchanges manufactured goods for petroleum, grain and forest products from Canada, and for food supplies from Mexico, Central and South Americas.

Europe cuts off American trade and tourism, and exchanges sophisticated technological and manufactured goods – Airbus airplanes, motor vehicles, machinery and chemical products – with China and the non-U.S. Americas.

India also gets into the game, sending its highly-trained technology workers out into rest of the world, cutting ties with the U.S.

The American economy falters and becomes unhinged.

And since foreign entities own 23% of U.S. Treasury debt, they are able to deliver the coup-de-grace by refusing to rollover the debt, but instead demanding return of principal.

The U.S. becomes insolvent and falls into a deep economic depression. The Euro, or perhaps the Renminbi, becomes the world reserve currency.

A mob of vandals threatens to overrun our Capitol, hammering at the doors of Federal workplaces. Sanctioned by Trump lackey Elon Musk, they are sociopathic ideologues, shameless, lacking in wisdom, experience, empathy or basic humanity. They are coming to destroy institutions and drive out government employees.

They do not respond to criticism, reason, legal threats, name-calling by late-night talk show hosts nor imprecations by Democratic legislators. They are there to steal everything owned by the American people. Their intent is to destroy work product, livelihoods and, ultimately, lives.

Appeasement is futile; it's like British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain coming home with a meaningless “agreement” signed by Herr Hitler. As the Free World dealt with the Nazis in WW II, only force will win the day, because these fanatics only understand force. Those agreeing to comply with their demands will, sooner rather than later, follow the 6 million Jews into “re-education” (concentration) camps, and, like them, disappear into history.

The police will not help; the lawyers and courts offer no relief; legislators are powerless, Republicans by choice, Democrats out-voted.

But employees begin to resist, rather than comply. They come to work armed with baseball bats, helmets, hangman’s ropes, bear spray and firearms. When the tech bro weasels show up, making demands, the government workers beat the living piss out of them. And as they lie whimpering on the floor, they are photographed, their wallets taken along with their ID and pictures of their children. Who they are and where they live becomes known. They are threatened with death to their entire families. Some of the invaders’ houses are burned down.

The black-shirted Blackwater thugs sent as reinforcements are overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

The decision has been made to resist, not comply; to fight terror with terror. This is not about “they go low, we go high”.

This is life or death.