Let's Fix This Country | Articles on national issues, politics, foreign policy, and the culture

corruption

How Is the Trump Presidency Not a Criminal Enterprise?

May 22 2026

Donald Trump's move to steal $1.8 billion from American taxpayers to give to the January 6 insurrectionists goes far beyond what anyone could have imagined even from the king of kleptocracy. Destined to receive what the Trump
His banner is installed at Trump's very own
Department of Justice.

regime regards as restitution will primarily be the nearly 1,600 insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol that day in 2021.

Incited by Trump, they assaulted and overwhelmed the Capitol police, beating them with pipes, flag poles, a fire extinguisher, resulting in 140 injured and five dead, one from trauma, others by suicide.

The mob broke into the building, hunted fleeing Congress members through its hallways, threatened to hang Vice-President Pence — all with the intent to overturn the democratic election of Joe Biden. For a spectrum of crimes, they either pled guilty or were convicted by juries and sentenced by judges in courts of law and were rightly imprisoned.

whitewash

On the first day he returned to office for a second term, Trump pardoned all of them and commuted their sentences, releasing all from prison. There followed a vindictive purge of Justice Department attorneys for the sin of being assigned to investigate and construct cases against the rioters; some 200 attorneys were fired and thousands quit.

Not disgrace enough, Trump now intends to financially reward them for attempting to upend constitutional democracy and keep him in power. Here’s Trump’s version:

”This is reimbursing people that were horribly treated, horribly treated, it’s anti-weaponization. They’ve been weaponzied. They’ve been in some cases imprisoned wrongly. They paid legal fees that they didn’t have . They’ve gone bankrupt. Their lives have been destroyed. And they turn out to be right.”

How did they not bring this upon themselves? That they were “right” for Trump means he… Read More »

entitlements

It’s Too Late to Fix Social Security

May 8 2026

article illustration
Ten years ago subscribers would have read on this page "What’s Going to Happen to Your Social Security?". It told you that, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), starting in 2033 Social Security will be short of funds — unable then to pay full benefits should Congress fail to fix the shortfall.

In the ten years since, Congress has done nothing. This looming catastrophe — 40% of seniors depend on Social Security as their only source of income — yet Congress does nothing.

And so, just six years from now, the Social Security trust fund will run out of money by 2032, “resulting in benefit cuts of 22.5% in 2033”, says the CBO.

the mechanics

For many decades, the Social Security Administration (SSA) took in more from payroll taxes than it paid out as benefits to seniors and persons with disabilities. The difference was loaned in a constant stream to the government in exchange for IOUs with the growing deposits referred to as a trust fund.

As the bulge of the post-World War II baby boomer generation began to retire, by 2021 benefit outlays began to exceed tax receipts, and the SSA had to start calling in the IOUs from the government trust fund to cover the gap. The trust fund will be completely drained at some point in 2032 leaving, beginning the following year, only the income of payroll taxes, and that income will be 22.5% shy of what will be needed as benefits to be paid out to retirees. What… Read More »

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war

The Iran War Reveals an America in Decline

May 15 2026

America may be discovering that the disastrous war with Iran has reverberated far beyond Iran. After supposed “obliteration” of nuclear sites last June and, we are told, 13,000 strikes at Iranian targets this time, Iran shows no sign of yielding and has the upper hand with its control of the Hormuz Strait. Despite President Trump saying, “We’re the strongest nation in the world. We have the strongest military by far in the world”, and about Operation Epic Fury, “It’s going to work very easily”, we have demonstrated that our military is less dominant than the world may have believed.

article illustration
The article later discusses the four nation
axis out to supplant the U.S.as a world
superpower.

Early in the conflict, Defense Secretary Hegseth said Iran’s missile and drone programs are being “overwhelmingly destroyed”, that the joint U.S.-Israel attacks had “decimated Iran’s military and rendered it combat-ineffective for years to come”. The President described Iran’s arsenal as reduced to only about 18% or 19% of prewar level.

But it was soon reported that more than half of the country’s missile launchers are still intact as well as thousands of one-way attack drones. Just this week a worse report: A secret intelligence assessment told lawmakers that roughly 90% of Iran’s underground missile storage and launch facilities nationwide are assessed to be “partially or fully operational”, and that Iran still has about 70% of its estimated 2,500 prewar missile stockpile. Worse of all, Iran has restored operational access to 30 of its 33 missile sites along the Strait.

inventory drawdown

The U.S. is looking at greatly diminished stockpiles of weapons. It has expended about 1,100 long-range… Read More »

war

Did We Commit Treason Above? Trump Thinks So.

May 16 2026

Yesterday's article faced up to the realization that the inconclusive war against Iran made our allies and adversaries view the U.S. as a nation in decline. It showed an Iran that had done serious damage to neighboring Arab states and has taken control of the Hormuz strait.

On Air Force One returning from China, David Sanger, a seasoned analyst for The New York Times, sent Mr. Trump into a tirade when he asked:

“What would the… Read More »

environment

The Climate War That Trump Is Winning

Mar 27 2026

Lacking any knowledge of climate science, President Trump nevertheless persists in calling global warming a “hoax”, a “scam”, a “con job” advanced by climate scientists who are “stupid people”. Fittingly, on taking office again, he immediately set about cancelling all climate initiatives, hyping oil and gas with his infantile "drill, baby, drill" mantra, hobbling wind and solar, and slashing regulations.

On his first day he set in motion the yearlong process that removes the United States from the Paris… Read More »

the war

How Trump’s Know-Nothing Arrogance Brought This War on Himself »

Apr 17 2026

This view, from Discovery/Alert, shows the Strait of Hormuz with internal captioning informing that 20% of the world's oil passes through the strait and 75% for four Asia nations. (Click to expand)

In May of 2018, Donald Trump cancelled United States participation in the 2015 agreement that limited Iran's nuclear development. in return, Iran got sanctions relief. The pact — the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA — had been forged between Iran, the United States, and five other countries — Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China — with the full European Union signing… Read More »