The Trump Dichotomy

We’re at a fascinating — and disappointing — crossroads in the US. The Trump administration is advocating more funding for defense, security, and detention centers. They’re doing this while the national debt grows.

Inflation is eating into people’s discretionary spending. Yet Trump is deliberately shrinking the safety net. Under MAHA, they’re actively working against people being healthy by cutting oversight and campaigning against vaccines while cutting the EPA air and water regulations which kept our air and water safe.

As inflation increases and the number of people on Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security rises, the Trump administration says, “Work harder! Work more!”

Meanwhile, Trump’s administration pushes for more AI.

As with robotics in manufacturing, AI and General AI are often touted as a way to reduce personnel costs in help centers and bureaucracies through employing less people.

Conversely, AI and data centers have an adverse effect on the environment and increases the price of water and energy and hit local economies. That will again squeeze the poor. Spending more on water and energy, they’ll have less for food and anything else.

So, the Trump administration is driving us toward being poorer, with fewer work and employment opportunities, with higher food, energy, and water costs.

That setup benefits the hyperwealthy. People like Trump. Musk. And most of Trump’s administration. They’re not affected by inflation.

In parallel to this, Trump is hyping stocks and then buying them. Once articles about that came out, don’t you think that his administration and faithful followers are doing the same, if they have the money to?

“Oh, look, Trump just visited Thermo Fisher and hyped it. Buy, buy, buy!”

As the days of Trump’s war continue adding up, the war is heating up again. Iran struck; now Trump vows he’ll strike back ‘very hard’. That’s the person who declared himself ‘the peace president’.

The dichotomy between what Trump says he wants and what he does has never been greater. He’s making himself and his cronies wealthier and bankrupting the rest of us.

This is Trump’s vision of make America great again. The irony, first noted back in 2016 and apparent ever since, is how negatively Trump’s policies hit his staunchest MAGA supporters. Yet, they cheer his moves. It’s a dichotomy rooted in perversity and emotions that I’ll never grasp. Nor will they.

How does the $1,00,000,000 Epstein bunker-ballroom help MAGA? Does it cut inflation?

How ’bout that mega arch that Trump plans to build? How does that alleviate the water problems, the drought, the rising food and healthcare prices that Americans are enduring?

Is the Iran war making MAGA safer? Trump is convincing them that it is.

Likewise, Trump convinced MAGA that tariffs are good for them, but the opposite impact has been seen.

Just as Trump has convinced them that cutting health and environmental rules and regulations will make it ‘easier to do business in America’ — while making it harder for anyone to enter the United States to do business with his oppressive ICE and Homeland Security tactics.

You can fool some of the people some of the time, but Trump can fool MAGA all of the time.

Thursday’s Theme Music — Wrong Direction

Ashland, southern Oregon — Thursday, June 11, 2026.

It’s blue skies and warmer temperatures for us today. Like the weather has just awakened to the season and decided, alright, let’s go.

Tear it up, break it up, go for it. That’s Trump. He alone decides what ‘we’ the nation will do. This is true whether we’re going to war, escalating violence, tearing down the White House, remodeling it, building, modifying, or renaming monuments.

Trump ignores the law, goes around the requirements, skips past reviews. Then, as work begins and We the People protest, we go to court. While the issues are adjudicated, Trump keeps tearing and down and building. He’s been doing this with attacking Iran, building the Epstein ballroom — well, it’s a long list.

It’s also a giant middle finger at We the People, our political norms, checks and balances, laws, and Constitution.

The GOP is okay with it. Him. Speaker Johnson metaphorically shrugs. The media tiptoes around what he’s doing, because the other thing Trump does is threaten. His administration holds a bunch of keys. Everyone knows it. And Trump has demonstrated he has no concerns for anything and anyone but himself. Beyond his words, his policies reflect it. He thinks, oh, the war will end and prices will drop.

Really? Is that what happened when prices rose during COVID?

Your Trump Quote of the Day:

Trump was lying, of course. He always lies. He began acting like a dictator on day one, and still is.

That’s why protests are important. When Congress stands aside, SCOTUS enables, and the press backs away, We the People must stand up.

No Kings is coming up again. Sunday, June 14, 2026.

Show up again. Keep showing up, please. We don’t like the direction Trump is taking us and must change it.

Today’s morning mental music stream song is “Invisible Sun” by The Police. I was reflecting on my childhood and pictures of smoky, polluted skies we would see in the newspaper. By then, our skies were much clearer and cleaner. Now, Trump is turning it back in the name of making money.

Sample Lyrics

It’s dark all day and it glows all night
Factory smoke and acetylene light
I face the day with my head caved in
Lookin’ like somethin’ that the cat brought in

My hopes for you are that the sun is warm, the air is fresh and clean, and your spirits are high.

Cheers

Tuesday’s Theme Music – Crashing

Ashland, southern Oregon — Tuesday, June 9, 2026.

Lightly rained off and on all day yesterday. We have a marbled sky today, gray and white against blue. Sunshine cuts through the clouds, darkening the mountain’s greenery with shadow islands. 56 F, our high will cut into the mid 70s. I don’t mind; give me this instead of the drought’s extreme dry and the blistering heat that usually strikes.

Gina is on the warpath, as we put it in my household growing up, a carryover from Mom and her generation and those before her. Mom called Gina with reports of theft and the lack of regular cleaning. Mom said that she’s been cleaning her own bathroom floors with wet wipes.

As the most confrontational of my family, Gina charged right in: this needs to be fixed. What’s the ‘or else’ implied? I’m not sure. It might be ‘more Gina’.

My wife got her latest ‘real ID’ yesterday. This one has the star. What will adorn them next?

Getting that for her required an appointment and a visit to the ‘big’ DMV in Medford. It was either go there or camp out at the Ashland DMV every morning and hope the Gods of Bureaucracy were kind.

She took in her birth certificate. Not the real thing, but a tattered, certified ‘photographic reproduction’ created in 1962. Much of the birth certificate’s entries were in cursive. The DMV agent, a very nice person, laughed about the struggles to read cursive, as she hasn’t had to in a while. That led to a sidebar about her children. They don’t know cursive and when she writes notes using cursive, they ask things like, “What language is that?”

That chased us into a conversation about signatures. The DMV agent said anything can be used and recognized as a ‘signature’. From further conversation, it appears that we’re basically going back to ‘making our mark’.

On the Trump side of things, my wife and I were talking about the food prices. My gosh, how they’ve gone up.

This morning had news about Scott Bessent, Trump’s secretary of something, claiming that prices are coming down. I’m sure you can cherry-pick and find some prices have declined. Overall, prices remain UP.

I did a search about Bessent’s claim and saw that he’s made that claim a few times the last several months. And as late as last November – 2025 – he was trying to blame Democrats for the prices. I know from Trump’s latest Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! pivot, aka the Trump Iran war, that Trump knows that prices are higher. He knows that the war is causing it.

*probably also knows his tariffs are causing them but won’t admit it because that would reveal he’s been wrong all along*

Trump, though, has pivoted. He’s not worried about high prices, affordability, or Americans’ finances, no; he’s saving us from Iranian nukes.

Ironically, of course, that was also the Bush-Cheney claim for the war against Iraq: WMD.

Yes, Trump and the GOP have dragged WMD back out of the closet. They’ve avoided using that phrase. That phrase — WMD — is loaded with baggage for US voters and the world.

It shows that in the end, Trump and the GOP only have three dimensions to their strategy: fear, distract, and cause dis-unity. For when facts, truth, and unity show up, Democrats win, and we move forward. Not evenly, and certainly not perfectly. But we move forward in our efforts against poverty, food deserts, climate change, and real challenges. Not fake challenges that are monsters only in unthinking minds.

Trump’s war is now 101 days old and counting. Iran shot down a helicopter. Trump vowed retaliation. That’s how it works with cease-fires with Trump.

The other big Trump news was about Trump attending the NBA game in New York.

  1. Trump couldn’t make time to go to his son’s small, private wedding, but oh, boy, he loved showing up at an NBA playoff game.
  2. The arrogance and selfishness Trump showed by going to that game, and its impact on fans’ ability to enjoy the game.
  3. Boos rained down on Trump. He heard it and tried to pretend it was cheering. LOL. But he knew it was booing, and he didn’t like it.
  4. A photo showed Trump asleep at the game. Real? I don’t know. But Trump has been shown sleeping at enough events that the photo has legs.
  5. Trump looks really bad. Sick. Tired. OLD. DOTTERING.

Not a good outing for Trump.

Your Trump Quote of the Day:

The Epstein ballroom remains under construction. No new news on who is paying for it.

Trump’s approval continues its slow crash. Disapproval numbers show a sea of red. In a way, Trump is starting to live up to the vision he had of himself as a ‘unifying’ force; unity in disapproval of him and his policies is increasing.

My morning thoughts were about a dream that involved flying. The Neurons were snooping around, found out, and introduced “Aeroplane” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers into the morning mental music stream. Hope you enjoy it.

My hopes for everyone and everything is to go with peace and grace and make life better for all of us. Not just a privileged few.

Cheers

Monday’s Theme Music — You Know It’s True

Ashland, southern Oregon — Monday, June 8, 2026.

It’s another cool June morning in Ashland’s valley. Also damp with light rain. I’ll take both over the dry, hot weather which had been predicted for us. Right now, it’s 53 degrees F with clouds and expected to reach 64.

My sister has continued reporting on emptying Mom’s house. The ‘metal guy’ came and hauled away metal shelves, chairs, tables, junk. As she lists the accumulation and where it was found — behind or in the shed, in the garage — it becomes a reflection on how we make plans and set things aside, then forget about them. I confess, there’s probably a chunk of stuff like that in my life.

Each time that I share a story like this with my wife, she responds, “Don’t you think your mother wishes she did a death clean?”

No; I don’t. Mom isn’t involved. The FAMILY might wish it so, but Mom is in many ways removed from the process.

Read about Trump’s case against the BBC:

Trump refuses to hand over financial records in BBC damages case

Technically, it’s the trust run by Junior which refused to hand over the records. Don’t doubt that Junior didn’t ask Trump about it before saying that they’re not handing over the records.

If it was anyone else not handing over records, Trump would immediately be declaring, “So CROOKED AND DISGUSTING!!! WHAT ARE THEY HIDING!!!”

TDS — Trump Double Standards — are Trump’s only standard.

Your Trump Quote of the Day:

It’s classic Trump, accusing another of the things he does. Like that time — one of many — when he mocked President Biden for sleeping.

“He broke every record. He sleeps all the time, during the day, during the night, on the beach. The only guy could fall asleep on the beach with the press watching,” Trump said, seeming to reference a clip of Biden filmed while he was vacationing.

Trump added, “When you love your job, when you love your country, and when you’re in a position like we are, future king, highly respected, crown prince, and, in my case, president, you’re thinking about your country.”

Trump has been photographed multiple times sleeping in meetings recently. Using Trump’s logic, Trump must not love his country.

Today’s music is from Sammy Hagar. His song, “There’s Only One Way to Rock” was released in 1981. It’s in my morning mental music stream today due to one phrase: “It’s a fact and you know that it’s true.”

That’s important today. Under Trump Double Standards, he often pretends things are not facts. Likes to think it’s not true. Like statements he made about releasing the Epstein files. Claims he made about them not mattering. Claims he made about the Epstein files being a Democratic hoax.

Or food and energy. How he would lower prices day one. Then he announced tariffs and started a war. They drove prices up. Now Trump claims he doesn’t care about prices. Though, now he’s shifted reasons for why, claiming that he doesn’t care about prices because of the war with Iran.

Trump’s war with Iran isn’t a war but a conflict. It’s not that long, even though it’s 100 days and longer than he said it would be.

It’s also true with Epstein’s ballroom. Trump made it all about the need for a ballroom and then flipped his reasoning when private financing stalled, and made it about ‘security’. But the facts are facts; they are documented.

And you know it’s true.

May peace and joy grace your day in all and every meaningful way.

Cheers

Trump: Good News, Bad News, Lies

To begin with the bad news, Trump’s Iran war has reached 100 days.

The cease-fire continues to hold, with Iran attacking Israel with missiles. Fortunately, Trump had already destroyed all of Iran’s military.

During a “Meet the Press” interview last weekend, Trump claimed that he never guaranteed no new war.

“I didn’t guarantee no war. Why would I have built the strongest military in the world? I built our military.”

Trump’s claim that ‘I built our military’ barely stands up to any scrutiny. Most of the military hardware and personnel were part of the US military before Trump entered office in 2017. That is well documented.

His claim that he didn’t ‘guarantee’ no war is technically true: he didn’t ‘guarantee’ it. But he implied no new war by using the words no now war. His claim now goes against the vast Internet documentation of him promising “No new wars.”

Of course, in his mind, we’re not at war, even though he reminded everyone that we were at war, because he’s trying to gaslight us with one of his fabulous word weaves. Most of the world calls his word weaves ‘bullshit’ or early signs of cognitive issues, but to Trump, it’s genius.

Challenged about attacking Iran, Trump claimed, “If I didn’t go in there with the B-2 bombers, they would right now have a nuclear weapon, and it could be that half of the world would be eradicated already.”

Unfortunately for Trump, this was contrary to all evidence and facts, including his claims from June of 2025. Apparently becoming upset by having facts and evidence pressed on him, Trump declared, “I’ve had enough,” and stormed off the set. This could be why some have labeled him as TACO, for, “Trump Always Chickening Out”.

On the good news side of things, Trump managed to stay awake during “Meet the Press”.

There’s no confirmation that Trump had to leave because he felt a need to take a nap.

Sunday’s Theme Music – Alright

Ashland, southern Oregon — Sunday, June 7, 2026.

Terribly deep blue sky is out there, reflecting the front capping the valley. Clear and sunny, the temperatures are hovering in the mid 50s F but are on their way up to 70.

I’ve been running into friends who have ‘heard the news’ about my bladder cancer. They get the look and posture of concern. Ask how I am, offer to do things for me, all those things that we do. I love the support but dislike the attention.

Of course, it’s more than me. Most of my friends have lost friends and family to cancer of different kinds. They carry that weight.

Mom’s house is still being cleaned out. Gina sent a photo of Mom’s empty closet. Mom’s closet was always tight with clothes but impeccably organized. She had a thing with hangers, using different types of hangers for different materials and needs, a process born from years of life, routines, plans.

Habitat for Humanity is closed to donations in that area. Gina is paying Goodwill to come, take the furniture out, haul it away. The sales of some other furniture, purses, Corning Ware, fans, and electronics will cover those costs. The clothes are being given to various area charities. The irony is that the cost is about $600, which is almost as much as Mom paid for that furniture twenty years ago.

To have a life reduced to dollars and cents.

I have thoughts on Trump today, gleaned from new articles, but I’m running late. My wife arose early to continue cleaning the refrigerator. I couldn’t stand by and not help. It’s all done now, and yes, looks great and was worthwhile to do.

The music in today’s morning mental music stream is “I’m Alright”. Kenny Loggins wrote and performed it. The song was used as the theme music for “Caddyshack”, a movie with Bill Murray, Rodney Dangerfield, Michael O’Keefe, Ted Knight, and Chevy Chase that came out in 1980. It also starred a groundhog.

We were stationed in Japan shortly after that. Home video players were just hitting the market. We bought one and would go down and buy bootleg recordings of movies like “Caddyshack”. Then the USO at the base main gate opened a video rental business where we could rent videos for a dollar. Pause to reflect, that was over forty years ago. Where did the time go?

Hope your weekend is going well and is full of more happy peaks than low valleys.

Cheers

Saturday’s Theme Music – Lies & Truths

Ashland, southern Oregon — Saturday, June 6, 2026.

It’s cloudy today in the valley. Same morning cool air, 50 F. We’ll sprint up to 64 F before the evening cooling begins again.

Quiet back east, in Pittsburgh. Nothing from Mom and my sisters for over sixteen hours. More showings are scheduled for Mom’s house, and more donations of clothing and furniture are being made.

I’m watching Trump’s Great American State Fair slowly imploding, along with his UFC fight. He makes it about him, and he makes it hateful and divisiveness. We the People, along with many artists and celebrities, respond, sorry, I’m not into those values, and I’m not that into you.

Trump takes that all personally. He spins fast to his favorite style of denigrating them. His America250 committee selected performers and artists presumably because they had some cachet, were known and successful acts, things like that.

Once they turn down the gig, Trump calls them all third-rate. If he’s right, then, only ‘third-rate’ acts agreed to his celebration and then even they turned him down. Which means, if I follow the thread right, means that Trump and his ‘celebration’ must be fourth-rate, or worse.

Trump’s war with Iran continues toward 100 days. Despite the cease-fire, there was more back and forth military strikes yesterday.

I don’t think Iran is interested in ending the war through negotiations. I wouldn’t, were I in their shoes. Trump’s war is disrupting political and military alliances and supply chains, causing increased prices. These then cause Trump’s popularity and effectiveness to decline.

With the US already polarized, there’s increased fragmentation as some of the GOP turns on Trump. The US is a mess, paralyzed by these politics and an ineffective Congress.

So why would Iran rush to end the war? Every day it goes on marginalizes Trump and the US. Trump has no cards. All he can do is threaten more violence. That violence comes with escalating costs to his image, ego, and human life. No, Trump doesn’t care about human life, but enough voters do that he’s feeling it.

Trump also pardoned another person.

Trump says he pardoned man sentenced to 7 years for ‘fixing his own truck’

Your Trump Lie — er, Quote — of the Day:

Trump butchered the truth and history. Someone commenting on it told the real story behind Trump’s claims:

“Troy Lake, the owner of Elite Diesel Service Inc. in Colorado, was sentenced to 12 months and one day in federal prison for conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act by disabling emissions monitoring systems on hundreds of heavy-duty commercial trucks. He also faced over $50,000 in combined fines. Lake served about seven months in federal prison before being released to house arrest to finish his sentence. Subsequently, President Donald Trump granted him a full, unconditional pardon, completely erasing his conviction and penalties.” NOT 7 YRS, NOT HIS OWN VEHICLE AND BREAKING THE LAW FOR HIS OWN PROFIT, much like Trump!“

Proving once again, Trump can’t be believed. Distrust and verify.

MAGA ate it up, though. That means a lot to Trump’s ego.

Gas prices are down, but the national average is $4.24. The high fuel prices are affecting Americans’ travel and leisure plans.

Today’s music is “Misguided Angel” by Cowboy Junkies. A novel I was reading referenced the song. Hadn’t heard it in a while so I pulled it up last night on Youtube and listened to it. Such a sweet, powerful song, about a woman in love with a guy who is not good for her because of his temperament. The singer is fearful of him yet stays with him because of love. It becomes about the courage needed for her to do that.

That’s the kind of truth art often shows us. That things are not black and white but are mired in complications. Love and emotion are often our greatest complications.

The Neurons liked it and it was still in my morning mental music stream today. So here it is.

May your Saturday proceed with peace and grace.

Cheers

Thursday’s Theme Music — Illusions

Ashland, southern Oregon — Thursday, June 4, 2026.

Out one window, it’s a gorgeous day: sunny, clear blue sky. Out toward the west, dark clouds are moving in. They look like they have different intentions. It’s 55 now but we expect 80.

Mom’s house is up for sale and it’s had a lot of early interest. I’m not surprised, once it went live. Comparing it to other homes in the $150k range in that area reveals that most are as old or older, and the same size. Mom’s house was built in 1940; others in that range/area were built anywhere from 1930 to 1960. But they’re usually two bedrooms, one bath whereas Mom’s place offers four bedrooms and three baths. I easily visualize it as ideal for a small multigenerational setup. I hope this early interest isn’t an illusion.

While I’ve been focused mostly on Trump’s war on Iran (96 days and counting), he’s been busy with other wars. He’s been actively warring against cultural and political norms. All presidents have done so but none on the scale that Trump has done. We have the visual evidence of the Epstein ballroom and the war for funding for it (after Trump claimed it would cost taxpayers nothing); the atrocious rose garden; and the horrible disfiguration of the Lincoln Memorial.

Trump is turning the White House lawn into a stadium for fights and appending his name on famous places like the Kennedy Center. He’s doing all these things outside of the law but the law is fighting back via judges and courts and their rulings.

Under Trump, his advocates are trying to break the law and have currency with his likeness on it.

Through MAHA and Kennedy, Trump has been warring against good health. Through the EPA, Trump has warred against clean air and water. Through Hegseth, he’s warred against having a good defense and diversity. Through the Departments of Education and Justice, Trump has warred against good education, research, and law and order.

Through his pardons, he’s warred against justice.

Through ICE and his immigration policies, Trump has warred against our very nature as a melting pot, a place that welcome the poor and tired.

Through cuts in the social safety net and programs such as SNAP and Headstart, Trump has warred against people in poverty.

Via cuts to NASA, NOAA, and NIHM, Trump has warred against research, science, and technology.

Through it all, Trump has warred against intelligence, decency, unity, and compassion via his texts.

MAGA stays loyal to him. He buys their loyalty because he’s cultured a distrust of the media, calling it ‘the enemy’. Then he screams:

  • Look at how they treat me!
  • They stole the 2020 election!
  • Look how great I am and what wonderful things I’ve done!
  • I’m doing it all for you and our great nation!

Yet, the evidence shows otherwise.

Trump is selling a grand illusion. But the details reveal the truth.

Not surprisingly, Les Neurons are playing “The Grand Illusion” in my morning mental music stream.

Lyrics:

But don’t be fooled by the radio
The TV or the magazines
They show you photographs of how your life should be
But they’re just someone else’s fantasy

So if you think your life is complete confusion
Because you never win the game
Just remember that it’s a Grand illusion
‘Cause deep inside we’re all the same
We’re all the same…

So if you think your life is complete confusion
Because your neighbors got it made
Just remember that it’s a Grand illusion
And deep inside we’re all the same

The Styx song came out in 1977. Dennis DeYoung wrote the song and said it’s all about how ‘they’ set you up to think and see one thing to hide the truth:

“It’s that feeling that success is set up in such a way that if you succeed you’re a failure, and if you don’t succeed you’re a failure.”

That’s the Trump methodology all the way.

I hope your day is not a grand illusion, but has real progress toward happiness and satisfaction.

Cheers

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