The Romance and the Reality of This Vote

 

A recent survey by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found that among those who say they are extremely motivated to vote, Democrats lead 59 percent to 35 percent. 

--WashPost, Oct. 12, 2026 

 

AppState's Student Union during early voting

 

Counting today, just three more days before I get to mark a ballot. Man, it's been a lonnnng time coming! A kind of dark night of the soul. Won't voting feel like a cleanse?

Haven't these two years exhausted all our emotional reserves? Our energy for being outraged -- angry at open corruption, at defiance of normal ethics, at the gleefulness of low-lifes while they loot our good faith along with the public purse -- it's drained our very juice. 

The fount of all that head-slapping graft and greed flows directly from DJT, who has enriched himself reportedly many times over in just these two years. His lessons in amoral taking of advantage are of course trickling down to mere pikers at pilfering. Like Don Junior's former girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle. Solicited a bribe. The intended bribee confessed everything. Kimberly may lose her ambassadorship but otherwise get away with it. Just watch. 

Every new revelation of self-dealing and cronyism is like ethical dark matter, sucking at our very will to scream into the wind. The two oldest Trump boys, Don Jr. and Eric, happen to have stakes in more than a dozen defense-technology companies that just happen to be getting very lucrative government contracts. That's fucking outrageous, but it gets by us now without a whimper. ProPublica documented another "investment" of Don Junior's in a North Carolina company, Vulcan Elements. Someone at the White House and in the name of the White House (whoever that may have been; looking at you, Peter Navarro) intervened to get Vulcan Elements to the front of the line and on a fast track for a $620 million Pentagon loan. 

Not that our vote on Thursday will punish, or even stop, the corruption of the public trust. You have to remember that John Roberts and those black-robed guys said DJT couldn't be prosecuted for crimes. And anyhow, the prez already has Todd Blanche running Justice, both another shield and a willing hit-man. Who's gonna charge the con-man, or any of his spawn, for the next two years? Maybe Congress, but only if Dems take the Senate too. There has to be a conviction in the Senate. 

Even after he's out of the White House (but probably not out of our consciousness -- he'll be like a brain-worm, painful and insistent), it will take years -- some wise people predict decades -- to rebuild what has been lost from the modern American social contract. My vote on Thursday will be a hobbling step toward stopping the momentum. I'll be satisfied with stopping the momentum.

 

Government Is About Cashing In, Yes?

Everything's for sale in Trump Nation, especially access to The Man Himself.

Came out that Don Jr. and Eric Trump "dangled a rare opportunity for donors willing to pony up $500,000 and more" to hang out with the new president on the day after his inauguration (photo-op included at no additional charge!) and go on a hunting or fishing trip with one of the brothers. Donors willing to go up to $1 million might get to kiss The Donald's naked ass.

"In the weeks since Mr. Trump’s election, three of his four adult children, who are serving on his transition committee, have been a near-constant presence. One or more of them have participated in a meeting with the prime minister of Japan, joined in on a phone call with the president of Argentina, and sat at the conference table where Mr. Trump met with leaders of major technology companies."

Ivanka has a big hand in promoting Trump properties world-wide, and she owns Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry. She wore a $10,800 gold bangle bracelet when she participated in an interview her family did with “60 Minutes,” and, like, 30 minutes later, her jewelry company sent out a notice to reporters with a photograph of her wearing the bracelet, trying to use the appearance as an opportunity to sell more items. “Please find attached a style alert of Ivanka wearing her favorite bangle from the Metropolis Collection over the weekend on 60 Minutes,” Monica Marder, the vice president for sales at Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry, said in the email.

The Eric Trump Foundation famously offered "coffee with Ivanka Trump" for a measly $77,888 -- that is, they offered that inducement until the press got wind of it, and then the offer evaporated like Donald Trump's hairspray. Same goes for that $500,000 to $1 million offer of access to the new president on the day after his inauguration -- withdrawn quickly after it became public.

Don't trust for a moment that supposedly non-profits and Trump foundations are raising this money, presumably for charitable reasons. The people willing to buy access sure as hell aren't doing it for charitable reasons.

The "kleptocrats" are about to move in, and they obviously can't wait. Literally can't wait.