Is Anyone Paying Attention?

[Lori Dee]

I wonder if he thinks the People are ready to throw him out, and is preparing to defend his throne with police and military force.

And, just as predicted...

Republican-led states to send hundreds more National Guard troops to D.C.
National Guard troops in Washington may soon carry weapons, a reversal of their initial orders.
Link to Full Article
The Washington Post - Gaya Gupta and Karen DeYoung
Updated
August 16, 2025 at 4:57 p.m. EDT

Three Republican-led states, responding to a Trump administration request, said Saturday they will send up to 750 National Guard troops to join 800 already mobilized in D.C.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said he would deploy 200 troops "to stand with President Trump as he works to restore law and order to our nation's capital." Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine pledged 150, according to local news reports.

----------------------------

What exactly are they protecting that they need so many guns?

Who is the enemy? A bunch of unarmed protesters? Justice Dept employees throwing sandwiches?

Is anybody old enough to remember Kent State? (Trigger Warning if you plan to Google it.)
Is anybody paying attention?

[Lori Dee]

Mississippi becomes fourth state to send National Guard troops to DC in expanding federal crackdown
https://apnews.com/article/washington-dc-federal-police-takeover-national-guard-fb91f9884c928b98036754885a7c0180

Nobody seems to know why DC needs so many federal agents from the DEA, ICS, FBI, Secret Service, plus the DC police, and now hundreds of National Guard troops. Yes, crime is bad. No, crime is not THAT bad.

The Texas Democrats have returned to Texas, ending their walkout to prevent gerrymandering of the state's voter district maps. California and other states have now vowed to gerrymander their own state maps to counteract the GOP power grab. Texas, at the request of Donald Trump to "get five more" GOP seats in the House, has sparked protests all over the country. The GOP knows its majority in Congress is only held by a slim margin, and they could easily lose that majority in the mid-term elections. It has happened before, and when the Democrats took control last time, Donald Trump was impeached... twice.

The next step being taken by Trump to retain his throne goes beyond rigging voting maps and deploying hundreds of armed federal agents. Now he is promising to issue an Executive Order to ban mail-in ballots. He has no authority to do so, but that hasn't stopped him before. This will be challenged in the courts, but in the meantime, the MAGA base will spread more disinformation about ballot security and election fraud.

Trump says lawyers are drafting executive order to end mail-in voting
Announcement comes days after Putin allegedly told Trump US elections were rigged because of postal ballots
Link to Full Article

I wonder how much the People will put up with. Nationwide protests are not working. Democrat legislature walkouts are not working. It will be up to the People to do something, and the mid-term elections should prove interesting.

[davina61]

It to stop demonstrations against his corrupt leadership, remember how they caught Al Capone? maybe he could be taken down  on tax swindles!

[Lori Dee]

Wow. Just. Wow.

This article fits this thread perfectly. I wish I could quote the entire article, but I can't. Please read:

Trump's remarkable statement against states' rights
Analysis by Aaron Blake
Aug 18, 2025

https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/18/politics/mail-voting-trump-states-rights-analysis

[Lori Dee]

In the very first post of this thread, back on February 3, I mentioned Trump's desire to take the Panama Canal. I also mentioned that by doing so, he could control the flow of oil coming out of Venezuela.

Trump refuses to rule out use of military force to take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal
Updated 6:11 PM MST, January 7, 2025
https://apnews.com/article/trump-biden-offshore-drilling-gulf-of-america-fa66f8d072eb39c00a8128a8941ede75

Look at the map again. Panama is located at the bottom of the map, the south end of Central America. There are two blank spaces to the right (east) of the Panama Canal. The furthest one is Venezuela, the largest oil producer in that part of the world.

Why is this important?

The U.S. imports oil from Venezuela. Lots of it. The only country that buys more Venezuelan oil than the U.S. is China. ...

Trump said that the U.S. will be energy-dominant. He issued an Executive Order to declare an Energy National Emergency. Presidents use "national emergencies" to invoke special powers as a way to bypass Congress.

...

Only Congress has the authority to declare war. Right now, the Republican Party controls both houses of Congress, so it is unlikely they will oppose such a proposal from "His Orangeness". Another thing history has taught us is that we can have the war machine active without a declared war. Such actions are called "conflicts" instead of war and can be initiated by the President without approval from Congress. The U.S. has been involved in many "conflicts" from Vietnam to Ukraine.

Just some things to think about.

Trump uses his keywords to justify his actions (legal or not). He uses "illegal immigration" and "dangerous criminals" to deport people he doesn't like. He uses protests and "rampant crime" as excuses to deploy National Guard troops and federal agents to cities he wants to control.

US destroyers head toward waters off Venezuela as Trump aims to pressure drug cartels
Link to Source Article
Associated Press -  MIKE PESOLI, AAMER MADHANI and JORGE RUEDA
Updated 1:33 PM MDT, August 19, 2025

The United States is deploying three Aegis guided-missile destroyers to the waters off Venezuela as part of President Donald Trump's effort to combat threats from Latin American drug cartels, according to a U.S. official briefed on the planning.

Coincidence?
My question is, "What threat?"

Donald Trump Says No Migrants Have Entered in Past Month
Link to Source Article
Newsweek -Nick Mordowanec
Published Jun 30, 2025 at 5:01 PM EDT

After briefly mentioning "solving" inflation, Trump reverted to the border and how numbers have drastically decreased since he reentered office.

"... so much of my time is spent on the border," Trump said. "You know, last month, we had no people coming.

It is illegal to fire weapons into a sovereign country without that country's permission. Maybe he is helping his friends in Venezuela get rid of those nasty drug cartels.

Magicians use sleight of hand to perform their tricks. They have you watching their right hand so that you don't see what their left hand is doing.

Let's keep paying attention.