What Would Nellis Say?

 By Rick Stiller 

As a statement of the hypocrisy of our leaders and the demise of the principles and values this country has represented for two and a half centuries, we begin the celebration of the birth and, sadly, the decimation of our once vibrant democracy, with gladiatorial bloodletting on the White House lawn for the amusement, glorification, and colossal profit of a tyrannical, self-absorbed, narcissistic man-child. 

This administration is dishonoring and dismantling the historical foundations and tearing at the moral fabric of our unique dedication to the rights of the individual and the impartiality of our social consciousness with every new assault on the rule of law, the institutional repudiation of truth and justice, and the mutilation of our national identity.

Our founders’ concept of ‘We The People’ was intended to include all of us and it is being demolished and replaced with violent racial purification by Trump’s masked, unidentifiable, brutal private army that is tasked with assaulting, incarcerating, and deporting hundreds of thousands of our friends and neighbors, who fled to this country to escape violence, poverty, and oppression, without warrants or charges, for the crime of not being a white, fake-“Christian” male. The Statue of Liberty is inscribed with “Give me your tired, your poor…”

While Trump’s official bigot and immigrant tormentor, Tom Homan, claims that ICE agents are only arresting “the worst of the worst”, the vast majority of the detainees were obeying our laws and following the instructions of the courts before they were arrested. Legal immigrants and American citizens, including babies and toddlers, are being snatched off the streets and disappeared into a corrupt for-profit gulag that ignores due process and legitimate rights in favor of blatant cruelty and unprovoked murders without consequence for the offending officers. 

Congress just passed another $70b funding bill for the enforcement of obscure unconstitutional laws and edicts for the removal of refugees, construction of massive concentration camps, and the purchase of giant warehouses to detain 150,000 human beings in squalid conditions, with the goal of deporting a million prisoners per year to despotic third-world countries they’ve never visited, let alone lived in.

Little Stevie Miller, chief director of fascist doctrine and strategic implementation behind Trump’s ruthless rampage to repeal human rights, is pushing for the suspension of Habeas Corpus (Often referred to as "the Great Writ," it serves as a critical check on government power, ensuring authorities cannot arrest or hold individuals indefinitely without just cause and due process for undocumented refugees) claiming Executive Privilege to negate a basic tenet of citizens’ rights dating back to the Magna Carta in 1215. It was enshrined in our Constitution to preserve liberty, justice, and democracy: “The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it,” and it applies to anyone arrested within our borders without exception.

Our society was built on the ingenuity and work ethic of millions of immigrants over the past two and a half centuries. Aside from Native Americans, we are all immigrants or their descendants. The MAGgot / Republican obsession with bleaching our population to produce a white-“Christian” ethno-state only succeeds if they are successful in separating and dividing us into warring tribes, claiming that victimized whites are being persecuted by all those “other” menacing groups that are usurping their rights and privileges.

Desperate to maintain their grip on power against a monumental backlash opposing the administration’s lies, corruption, and incompetence, Trump directed Red States to illegally gerrymander voting districts to add more Republican seats while diminishing representation of Democrats and minorities.

When Democrats responded in-kind, by adding seats in Blue States, the MAGgots demanded that those states hand over the voting rolls to the Department of Human Services (DHS, which controls ICE and the Border Patrol, and has no power or authority over our elections) to prevent “voter fraud and voting by undocumented immigrants” (which is not now and has not been a problem in any recent state or federal election) by purging “suspect” constituents – specifically Democrats, minorities, and women. 

Trump is threatening to refuse to sign any bills until the Senate approves the anti-democratic and unconstitutional “Save Act”, which will disenfranchise any voter who wants to register for the first time, has moved into a new voting district, or has changed their name (as in every woman who takes her husband’s name in marriage), by requiring birth certificates, passports, or court documentation proving their status as citizens. It is specifically designed to exclude minority and women voters.

Miller has proposed issuing an Executive Order to bar the Postal Service from delivering legitimate mail-in ballots to election officials in those states that refuse to comply with federal oversight of voter rolls. In lieu of that, he is threatening to send ICE agents to intimidate and accost minority voters at polling stations in Democratic districts. 

No one should be surprised by a last-minute declaration of a “national emergency” to justify the institution of martial law and the deployment of federal troops to disrupt the process in a final, drastic move to avoid the investigations and criminal charges that are sure to accompany Republican loss of power.

This barbarity is no less immoral or unethical than Trump’s senseless war against Iran. While his claims (amidst dozens of unattainable demands and endless excuses) about preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon are pure tripe to satisfy his base, the reality is that we had an agreement with Iran banning weapons development overseen by United Nations inspectors in place before our president tore it up and started making threats. Trump started this war, and today, rather than crowing about a great victory, he capitulated in defeat and humiliation for his incompetence and ineptitude, while the entire world will continue to pay the price for his bombastic ignorance for years to come.

Genocidal war criminal Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu conned our Conman-in-chief into believing we could take out the Iranian leadership, the population would rise up in revolt, and the whole conflict would be over in a week. Instead, we’ve spent tens of billions of dollars and decimated our stockpiles of tactical weapons, sacrificed 13 American lives and hundreds injured, as well as 125 Iranian schoolchildren who were bombed “by mistake” by the world’s most formidable military backed by the most advanced intelligence apparatus on the planet. Iran's Ministry of Health and forensic officials report at least 3,468 killed and more than 26,500 injured during Trump’s “excursion”.

And while Captain Bone Spurs is playing soldier with real bombs and whether there is a lasting agreement or not, the world’s economy will continue limping along as petroleum reserves dwindle, and millions of people in underdeveloped countries will not receive vital shipments of fertilizer in time to grow subsistence crops. Projections suggest that this might result in up to 40 million people dying of starvation in the next year.

All of this is the result of MAGgot, racist, and ignorant voters electing the most hateful,  ignorant, incompetent, and corrupt president in the history of our country, despite fair warning in the publication of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 which spelled out everything that this administration has done to “bleach” our society, erase our history, demolish the bureaucracy that serves our citizens, eliminate our rights and benefits, and bury the very concept of democracy in favor of dictatorial authoritarianism run by and in service of the wealthiest few.

They will succeed unless We The People are brave enough to stand together to demand liberty, justice, and equality for all, before all of that we hold most dear becomes the stuff of myths and legends.

Stand Up! Speak Out! Make A Difference!

Visit www.rickstiller.com for my novels and essays, www.rickstillerart.com for portraits of the flowers that grow in Kelian’s Garden