The Second Term of Donald J. Trump as President of the United States of America

S2 #3,527
Onlookers mystified by behavior they've witnessed commonly make the mistake of concluding:
I (the witness) don't understand it, therefore the witnessed is stupid.
It's a conclusion that's commonly wrong.

"U.S. military officers are encouraged to cultivate leadership skills." s #3,535
We ought not be surprised if Major Watson brought others to his protest.
Acting alone, he spares others repercussion.

Accepting a U.S. military commission, and obtaining promotions to the rank of Air Force Major usually requires skilled application of talent.
There are multiple plausible explanations for Major Watson's behavior.
Included among them, he could no longer justify sworn oath of fidelity to a madman.

Major Watson's a big boy. He can speak for himself.
The unfortunate reality is, Trump is expelling top talent from our ranks, and concentrating the dead-wood.
This is a conspicuous danger to U.S. national security. How bad?

Trump commanded the U.S. military into War against a second-rate power like Iran.
And Trump has forced himself into a stalemate, wherein he will be very lucky to
return the U.S. to the advantageous position the U.S. was in with Iran at the end of the Obama administration.

Farewell Major Watson
 
theHill.JPG

Wall Street Journal: Trump family ‘cashing in on the presidency in big and sketchy ways’​

Ashleigh Fields / Thu, July 2, 2026 at 11:52 AM GMT-5

The Wall Street Journal's editorial board published a Wednesday op-ed slamming President Trump and his family for "cashing in on the presidency" after his financial disclosures showed the president brought in $2 billion last year alone.
Trump's crypto venture, effectively managed by the Trump Organization, reaped in more than $526.8 million in proceeds from tokens sold by World Liberty Financial.
The benefits weren't exclusive to Trump's sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. but also helped support the family of special envoy Steve Witkoff, including his son, Zach Witkoff. The Witkoff family co-founded the decentralized finance platform and crypto business in question.

"The Trump clan is cashing in on the Presidency in big and sketchy ways. The 927-page report shows Mr. Trump made some $1.4 billion last year from crypto alone. Yowzers," they added in reference to the president's recent financial disclosure.
They cite the odd timing for the meme coin's launch, which happened days before Trump's inauguration.
"The Trumps are seeing their opportunities and taking them, in the tradition of what Tammany Hall's George Washington Plunkitt called 'honest graft,'" the board wrote, referring to the idea of profiting from insider political knowledge without breaking the law.

"Assuming all of this is legal, it's still an unseemly display of using the Presidency for family profit," it continued.
 
Onlookers mystified by behavior they've witnessed commonly make the mistake of concluding:
I (the witness) don't understand it, therefore the witnessed is stupid.
It's a conclusion that's commonly wrong.


We ought not be surprised if Major Watson brought others to his protest.
Acting alone, he spares others repercussion.

Accepting a U.S. military commission, and obtaining promotions to the rank of Air Force Major usually requires skilled application of talent.
There are multiple plausible explanations for Major Watson's behavior.
Included among them, he could no longer justify sworn oath of fidelity to a madman.

Major Watson's a big boy. He can speak for himself.
The unfortunate reality is, Trump is expelling top talent from our ranks, and concentrating the dead-wood.
This is a conspicuous danger to U.S. national security. How bad?

Trump commanded the U.S. military into War against a second-rate power like Iran.
And Trump has forced himself into a stalemate, wherein he will be very lucky to
return the U.S. to the advantageous position the U.S. was in with Iran at the end of the Obama administration.

Farewell Major Watson

Normally there is a good reason for members of the military to not make political criticism of the chain of command.
It would promote a lack of confidence and obedience.

However, when a president actually commits war crimes, such as blowing up civilian boats, kidnapping presidents, or blowing up Ayatollahs who have violated no law, then it is war crimes that all people are required to indict.
For Major Watson to not protest would make him complicit in war crimes.
 
"For Major Watson to not protest would make him complicit in war crimes." R5 #3,543
Potentially perhaps, if Watson was issued an illegal order.
Not clear to me what the legal basis would be for complicity regarding action he both opposed, AND was not party to, apart from membership in the organization that perpetrated it, the U.S. military.
If an al Qaida membership, a U.S. law court might judge harshly. BUT, for a U.S. law court to judge U.S. Air Force majors punitively, bad idea. Unlikely, judicial tolerance would be benefit the court, & the accused.

I hope I'm not over-interpreting #3,543, U.S. military officers, particularly career officers high enough in rank to be directly affected, as are the commanders R5 mentions:
"... war crimes, such as blowing up civilian boats, kidnapping presidents, or blowing up Ayatollahs who have violated no law ..." R5 #3,543
Whether the senior officers responsible are punished or rewarded, too early to know. Trump's $1.776 $Billion “The Anti-Weaponization Fund” demonstrates Trump is willing to be generous to those that break the law for him.

These officers are vulnerable. Their career, their professional lives their reputation either as a hero, or murderous criminal, may be determined by factors beyond their control. Grim.
I do not envy them their dilemma, & will not criticize Major Watson, considering his Hobson's choice.

They started calling it the “Nuremberg defense” when lawyers for Lt. William Calley at his court martial argued that he was only following orders in the March 1968 slaughter of hundreds of Vietnamese in what became known as the My Lai Massacre.
 
The legacy of Nuremberg is now reflected in the U.S. Manual of Courts-Martial, which states that service members have a duty to disobey an order that “a man of ordinary sense and understanding would know to be illegal.”

Trump doubles down on Democrats’ sedition accusation over veterans’ video

President Trump doubled down on his claim that a group of Democratic lawmakers with backgrounds in military or intelligence service have committed sedition by encouraging service members to defy unlawful orders.

In a pair of posts on his Truth Social platform late Saturday, the president said those lawmakers should be in jail, rather than defending themselves on cable networks.

“THE TRAITORS THAT TOLD THE MILITARY TO DISOBEY MY ORDERS SHOULD BE IN JAIL RIGHT NOW, NOT ROAMING THE FAKE NEWS NETWORKS TRYING TO EXPLAIN THAT WHAT THEY SAID WAS OK. IT WASN’T, AND NEVER WILL BE!” Trump wrote shortly before midnight.

“IT WAS SEDITION AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL, AND SEDITION IS A MAJOR CRIME. THERE CAN BE NO OTHER INTERPRETATION OF WHAT THEY SAID!” he continued.....



Grand jury declines to charge Democrats in 'illegal orders' video


US federal prosecutors have failed to secure an indictment against six members of Congress who published a video last year encouraging US troops to disobey orders they deem illegal.

A grand jury declined to indict the Democratic lawmakers on charges of seditious conspiracy in the case pursued by the office of the US attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, who was nominated to the position by President Donald Trump.

Trump had branded the video "seditious" and a federal probe into the video was launched shortly after.

One lawmaker, Senator Mark Kelly, a former Navy captain and astronaut, has sued the government for moving to reduce his retirement rank over the video.

Following news of the failed indictment, Kelly wrote on social media: "This is an outrageous abuse of power by Donald Trump and his lackies.

"It wasn't enough for Pete Hegseth to censure me and threaten to demote me, now it appears they tried to have me charged with a crime."

The BBC has reached out to the US Department of Justice for comment.

The justice department had sought to charge the lawmakers, who had all either served in the military or had roles in intelligence, under a criminal statute known as 18 U.S.C. § 2387, which includes treason, sedition and subversive activities, according to ....



And then we have Hegseth on illegal orders in 2016


Of course he's no claiming that all the orders are legal and there are established procedures for questioning that - only thing he doesn't mention is that he's fired the lawyers who would be responsible for addressing any such questions.

 
That brain worm seems to have relapsed and started using heroin again

 
Potentially perhaps, if Watson was issued an illegal order.
Not clear to me what the legal basis would be for complicity regarding action he both opposed, AND was not party to, apart from membership in the organization that perpetrated it, the U.S. military.
If an al Qaida membership, a U.S. law court might judge harshly. BUT, for a U.S. law court to judge U.S. Air Force majors punitively, bad idea. Unlikely, judicial tolerance would be benefit the court, & the accused.

I hope I'm not over-interpreting #3,543, U.S. military officers, particularly career officers high enough in rank to be directly affected, as are the commanders R5 mentions:

Whether the senior officers responsible are punished or rewarded, too early to know. Trump's $1.776 $Billion “The Anti-Weaponization Fund” demonstrates Trump is willing to be generous to those that break the law for him.

These officers are vulnerable. Their career, their professional lives their reputation either as a hero, or murderous criminal, may be determined by factors beyond their control. Grim.
I do not envy them their dilemma, & will not criticize Major Watson, considering his Hobson's choice.

They started calling it the “Nuremberg defense” when lawyers for Lt. William Calley at his court martial argued that he was only following orders in the March 1968 slaughter of hundreds of Vietnamese in what became known as the My Lai Massacre.

Compare this to the north Texas Antifa sentences for just setting off fireworks outside an ICE detention center.
{...
The Justice Department has announced that eight North Texas Antifa Cell operatives were sentenced for their roles in rioting, using weapons and explosives, providing material support to terrorists, obstruction, and the attempted murder of an Alvarado police officer at the Prairieland Detention Center on July 4, 2025. This is the first sentencing of defendants affiliated with Antifa following President Donald J. Trump’s executive order designating the group as a Domestic Terrorist Organization in September 2025.

Benjamin Hanil Song, who was convicted of the attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, was sentenced to 100 years in prison. Together, the Prairieland terrorists received a combined sentence of 450 years in prison:

  • Maricela Rueda was sentenced to 70 years in prison;
  • Cameron Arnold was sentenced to 50 years in prison;
  • Savanna Batten was sentenced to 50 years in prison;
  • Zachary Evetts was sentenced to 50 years in prison;
  • Bradford Morris was sentenced to 50 years in prison;
  • Elizabeth Soto was sentenced to 50 years in prison; and
  • Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
...}
https://www.hstoday.us/subject-matt...1-o.J6QojLEKFNGPqgfv6Slt0A3zphN4ioHWrKMD0mKiY
 
That brain worm seems to have relapsed and started using heroin again


The problem is the video is wrong.
There are over 200 different pathogens we collectively call flu, so if you live long enough, you can get 200 completely different vaccinations just for flu.
And anyone with actual knowledge of the immune system will tell you that no vaccines should ever be combined.
The process of the immune system storing immunity memory is very delicate, so you should not have 2 different immunities trying to be stored at the same time.
The rest of the world does not combine vaccines, and they do not give vaccines under the age of 1.
Nor should anyone under 40 get any covid vaccine since it does more harm than covid does at that age.
The main danger from covid is that those over 60 can get a fatal case of pneumonia from an over reaction by the immune system.
In other words, covid has never killed anyone, and those who die after contracting covid are actually dying from an auto-immune over response.
 

Poll names Trump as worst American in history, Republicans say he's greatest

Read about it here

Since Biden did so badly I was surprised Trump did even worse.
But not only did Trump not stop the wars in the Ukraine and Palestine, but created new wars in Venezuela, Iran, etc.
He also violated the Constitution with ICE and tariffs.
 
From the NYT

Mining Deal Benefits Sons
Investors tied to the president get access to Kazakhstan tungsten


This is behind a paywall and I don't have a subscription - I do have the hardcopy newspaper and it's worth reading if anyone has a subscription

However the following article does hit the high points

 
What makes you say that Biden did badly? After all, he had to clean up the mess left by Trump.

View attachment 5617

And, unlike Trump, Biden was respected on the world stage.

What I believe is that although Obama ran as anti-war, he did badly by expanding wars.
I think he expanded the war in Afghanistan, the Ukraine, Palestine, Egypt, Syria, Libya, etc.
And then I think Biden increased our illegal involvement in the Ukraine, with hundreds of billions in weapons.
That is also true of the hundreds of billions Biden gave Israel in weapons.

It surprised me that Trump could make those bad situations even worse.

We could blame covid for much of the economic problems, but Biden endorsed the social distancing and masks with covid, which greatly increased the death toll.
 
"And then I think Biden increased our illegal involvement in the Ukraine, with hundreds of billions in weapons." R5 #3,555
Those that perceive Ukraine the instigator / aggressor in the Russia / Ukraine War might disagree.
But basic facts like sequence of events, Russian forces without provocation massing on Ukraine's border before invading,
and the fact that if Russia wishes to end it all Russia has to do is go home, return to formerly recognized Russian sovereign territory.

Based on the premise that Russia is undertaking territorial conquest, it is in U.S. / NATO / EU interests to smack Russia down.
The U.S. has military allies, and trade partners, and national interests to protect.
Providing Ukraine with matériel enables US to combat Russian aggression with U.S. treasure but not American blood.

Blame Biden, BUT
it's congress that controls spending. You can credit Biden with charismatic persuasion of congress.
More?
 
Futurism01s.JPG

Elon Musk Is Charging Starlink Customers Gigantic Bogus Fees Because Its Network Is Being Crushed by “High Demand”​

Sun, July 5, 2026 at 12:01 PM GMT-5
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk maintains an extremely close relationship with Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr.
Under Carr’s leadership, Musk’s rocket company has effectively been given carte blanche in its efforts to roll out its orbital Starlink broadband service to more Americans, a glaring conflict of interest that could have profound implications for society.
That’s despite concerns over thousands or even millions of satellites cluttering our planet’s already extremely busy orbit and the environmentally damaging rocket launches that send them up.

And the space-based network is already starting to experience some major strains — as some experts have long predicted. It’s a lesson some Starlink customers are finding out the hard way. As TechDirt‘s Karl Bode highlighted, SpaceX is now charging some users so-called “demand surcharges” of up to $1,500, simply because their address is within a high demand area.
“Starlink is too congested to handle meaningful load at scale so they’re quietly hitting people with $750-$1500 ‘demand surcharges,'” Bode wrote in a recent post on Bluesky. Even worse, those who are trying to contest these charges are facing a “black hole,” since SpaceX doesn’t “invest in customer service.”


"SpaceX CEO Elon Musk maintains an extremely close relationship with Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr."

That's bad.
When newspapers were a public information mainstay our First Amendment / freedom of the press protections served us well. BUT !
Now that the FCC has a thumb on the scale "freedom of the press" doesn't look quite so free.


fascism
noun
fas·cism ˈfa-ˌshi-zəm also ˈfa-ˌsi-
often Fascism : a populist political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual, that is associated with a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, and that is characterized by severe economic and social regimentation and by forcible suppression of opposition

Contrast that to "Antifa", meaning anti-fascist. The Trump administration has already demonstrated its position against Antifa. https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases...er-crushing-blow-to-antifa-terrorist-network/
 
Those that perceive Ukraine the instigator / aggressor in the Russia / Ukraine War might disagree.
But basic facts like sequence of events, Russian forces without provocation massing on Ukraine's border before invading,
and the fact that if Russia wishes to end it all Russia has to do is go home, return to formerly recognized Russian sovereign territory.

Based on the premise that Russia is undertaking territorial conquest, it is in U.S. / NATO / EU interests to smack Russia down.
The U.S. has military allies, and trade partners, and national interests to protect.
Providing Ukraine with matériel enables US to combat Russian aggression with U.S. treasure but not American blood.

Blame Biden, BUT
it's congress that controls spending. You can credit Biden with charismatic persuasion of congress.
More?

Sorry, but I disagree.
I believe that the Ukraine war was designed by Obama, Hillary, and Biden in 2013 when Hunter Biden started delivering bribes to the ethnic Polish generals in Kyiv.
The 2014 Maidan coup was based on fake demonstrations by paid provocateurs.
The result of the Maidan coup was a number of treaty violations that amounted to acts of war.
Such as trying to block Russian use of Sevastopol, the murder of over 30k ethnic Russian Ukrainians by the fascist Azov Battalion, and trying to join NATO, an alliance strictly prohibited by the Budapest Memorandum.
So the Russians waited 8 years before finally massing troops, and even then they did not attack until Kyiv broke off all negotiations, essentially declaring war.

And no, Russia cannot just leave, because since the Ukraine use to have Russian nukes, it is INSIDE the Russian defense grid.
Meaning that if the Ukraine were to join NATO, that would allow the US to install a first strike force inside the Russian defense grid.
There would then be no warning if the US were to attack Russia.
The Russians would not know of the attack until the incoming nukes exploded.
Compare this to the relatively benign Cuban Missile Crisis cause.

And no, it is NOT at all "in the interests of the US, Nato, or EU to at all respond because the Ukraine is historically and legally, always part of Russia.
The independence of the Ukraine in 1920 was an illegal declaration by the Treaty of Versailles, who had absolutely no authority make such a declaration and no one took it seriously.

As for funding, this year Congress did pass H.R. 2913 to give funds to the Ukraine, but in reality the tens of billions started to be given to the Ukraine in 2013, and every year after that, by Obama, Trump, and Biden. H.R. 2913 will just give the Ukraine an additional $8 billion a years.
 
"The independence of the Ukraine in 1920 was an illegal declaration by the Treaty of Versailles, who had absolutely no authority make such a declaration and no one took it seriously." R5 #3,558
Ukrainians are willing to fight & die, rather than accept Russian rule. That's enough sovereign legitimacy for me.

"And no, it is NOT at all "in the interests of the US, Nato, or EU to at all respond because the Ukraine is historically and legally, always part of Russia." R5 #3,558
That's a non sequitur. If Russia is attempting to conquer real estate by sustained military force and brutal bloodshed the legitimacy of Ukraine's sovereignty might ease the ethics of U.S. arms dealing.
But determined Russian military aggression is a concern to U.S. / NATO / EU either way, because we're on the list. Think pastor Martin Niemöller. And there have already been military incidents involving Russian weaponry and non-Russian non-Ukrainian sovereign land of a NATO member.

This is a recognizable pattern for Putin, dipping his toe in, before he leaps. Putin took Crimea before (the rest of) Ukraine.
And Putin has used Russian military aircraft to probe NATO airspace.
It doesn't take a rocket psychologist to recognize Putin's intentions.

If Hitler & Mussolini had conquered the world, you think Hitler would have let Mussolini survive?
North Korea's Kim Jong Un is a convenience to Putin now. KJU might think himself safe. Possibly not as safe as KJU plans.
 
Ukrainians are willing to fight & die, rather than accept Russian rule. That's enough sovereign legitimacy for me.


That's a non sequitur. If Russia is attempting to conquer real estate by sustained military force and brutal bloodshed the legitimacy of Ukraine's sovereignty might ease the ethics of U.S. arms dealing.
But determined Russian military aggression is a concern to U.S. / NATO / EU either way, because we're on the list. Think pastor Martin Niemöller. And there have already been military incidents involving Russian weaponry and non-Russian non-Ukrainian sovereign land of a NATO member.

This is a recognizable pattern for Putin, dipping his toe in, before he leaps. Putin took Crimea before (the rest of) Ukraine.
And Putin has used Russian military aircraft to probe NATO airspace.
It doesn't take a rocket psychologist to recognize Putin's intentions.

If Hitler & Mussolini had conquered the world, you think Hitler would have let Mussolini survive?
North Korea's Kim Jong Un is a convenience to Putin now. KJU might think himself safe. Possibly not as safe as KJU plans.

Except I think that is not true.
First of all, half of the Ukrainians are ethnic Russian and have repeatedly voted to stay as part of Russia.
Second is that the ethnic Polish Ukrainians are not native and are leftover from the Polish invasion defeated around 1700.
Third is that the ethnic Polish Ukrainians have been murdering ethnic Russian natives of the Ukraine, so can never be allowed to rule.

Russia could easily have defeated the Ukraine in a week.
All Putin had to do was to attack the civilian infrastructure like water, fuel, and electricity, like we did to Iraq in Shock and Awe.
Russia never did that.
I have never seen any country being treated as delicately as Russia is treating the Ukraine.

And do not forget that the 2012 elections of ethnic Russian Ukrainians were monitored and considered fair.
There have not been any elections since then.
 
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