Subverting Democracy Lettering

A democracy functions best when an educated citizenry votes and makes decisions based on facts and readily available information. There are individuals and institutions that profit by subverting the truth, obscuring the facts and denying their own complicity. Who are these people and organizations and how do they profit?

Democracy Killers

Attorney General William Barr ‐ Mr. Barr is President Trump's front man for snubbing investigations into Trump Administration malfeasance. https://www.salon.com/2020/06/27/bill-barr-is-even-worse-than-you-think-his-entire-job-is-to-protect-donald-trump/

Vice President Mike Pence ‐ Mike is a first-class dictator boot-licker. He disappears when the president is acting particularly egregious, but returns playing his sanctimonious religious harp when it's time to rally the evangelicals and offer platitudes in defense of morally offensive decisions and pronouncements made by his boss. Mike has a self‐serving moral compass and is an extremely weak voice for advising the president. He chooses religious dictum over civil law. href="https://www.huffpost. com/entry/opinion-patterson-mike-pence_n_5b4f9f85e4b0fd5c73c1c0c6

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ‐ Mitch does whatever it takes to keep the Republican Party in control. Civil law, senate rules and democratic procedures die when Mitch sees a challenge to Republican power. He reverses stances on procedure when his power structure may be threatened. https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/05/29/mitch-mcconnell-supreme-court-merrick-garland-2016-trump-2020-orig.cnn

U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Elaine Chao ‐ Elaine, wife of Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, spent a checkered past as Secretary of Labor 2001 ‐ 2009. Numerous investigations found her office and performance wanting. Many hours in "private" meetings are suspected of shielding her discussions with political and industrial favorites. A gift from her father to Elaine and Mitch valued at $5‐25 million is questionable in light of her father's foreign investments in China. In May, 2020 Trump removed the Inspector General of the Transportation Department who was investigating Chao. The swamp is deeper than ever. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaine_Chao

Fox News ‐ Though occasionally Fox News does take issue with a Trump position or action you can pretty well bet on the Murdoch‐owned conservative mouthpiece espousing the wonders of the Trump administration. Having such an unquestioning "news" service shill for the Republican Party is akin to contributions in kind to the Republican National Committee. How does this promote democracy? https://www.wired.com/story/fox- news-is-now-a-threat-to-national-security/

It Takes A Pandemic

Every sentient being in the United States knows President Trump is no "regular" president. Personal attacks on government officials, people in the news and those he has never dealt with are a daily occurrence. He does not know how the government operates. He believes that he can tell everyone how to do their job regardless of what branch they serve. He uses the military as a personal entertainment resource. And, most telling of all is his supreme ignorance of the Constitution Of The United States.

It is said Mr. Trump does not read much https://www.theroot.com/does-donald-trump-struggle-with-reading-an-investigati-1818640474 . His rumored difficulty with the printed word is reinforced by his cadence while reading a teleprompter. Perhaps he has a reading disability and, as in the rest of his life, he refuses to expose any deviation from his idea of perfection. Whatever the reason, this "defect" has not met with sufficient compensation. This notable defect is proving disastrous to the country. When a president "misses" a significant detail in the Presidential Daily Brief, and he usually does because he seldom reads it, the nation is put at risk https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/breaking-with-tradition-trump-skips- presidents-written-intelligence-report-for-oral-briefings /2018/02/09/b7ba569e-0c52-11e8-95a5-c396801049ef_story.html . The so-called verbal briefs apparently can't cover all the material before Trump gets bored and loses interest https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/white-house-press-secretary-insists-that- trump-does-read-and-is-the-most-informed-person-on-planet-earth-when-it-comes-to-the-threats- that-we-face/ar-BB16aszo .

So, here we are with a bored president who does not invest time in learning all he can in order to best defend the nation. Donald J. Trump has made a career out of bluster and obfuscation and brought that talent into the White House https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/ the-fix/wp/2017/01/03/donald-trump-obfuscator-in-chief/ . What has been most amazing is how it played with so many Americans. It is a national embarrassment that our country contains so many people who can eat up the stories, lies and pure fabrications this president disgorges daily href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidmarkowitz/2020/05/05/trump-is-lying-more-than-ever-just-look- at-the-data/#26b23ddc1e17 . America is in deep trouble.

As if that isn't enough we are now faced with a presumably natural disaster, the COVID-19 event. Trying to extract any good news from this pandemic is a difficult task. However, there are some areas the virus has illuminated. The total and absolute indifference Trump has shown to science and public health has moved to the headlines of page one. His bluster when he said the virus was under control was palpable href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/16/politics/coronavirus-us-president- donald-trump-fauci-politics/index.html . His out-loud musings about insane curative treatments further deepened his political grave https://thehill.com/homenews/coronavirus-report/494428- trump-suggests-using-light-heat-as-coronavirus-treatment . In short, people clearly saw not only the shallowness of Trump's knowledge but also his disregard for advice from noted experts.

Now, President Trump is tired of the COVID-19 business and seldom mentions it in his screeds to the paltry number of followers foolhardy enough to visit one of his infection rallies. He acts like a tired old man who has lost his appetite for even pretending to be president. Add that to his well‐ publicized self‐enrichment through presidential actions https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/apr/16/trump-businesses-money-campaign-federal-agencies and criminal tax evasion https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/07/donald-trump- charity-foundation-misuse-lawsuit and we have a very dangerous and parasitic individual inhabiting the White House. Fortunately, the almost vanquished honorable Republicans see this and have come out against Trump… for the good of the nation href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/gop-operatives-launch-super-pac-target- anti-trump/story?id=71300904 .

It took a pandemic, arguably an act of God, to shine a harsh light on Trump's sociopathic indifference and utter incompetence. If this is what it takes to disinfect the presidency, so be it.