They always say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and this is UGLY

Politics in America is broken in a way that may well take at least a generation even to begin to turn around.

For my sins, I sat through the entire Rules Committee hearing. I didn’t post yesterday because my last post was mentally exhausting to research and produce. I wanted to take the time to listen and observe the process that led to the final vote on the House floor today, to get a sense of who the Democrats are in this moment of peril. Strange way to recharge my batteries, I know, but…..

I have been critical of Democratic leadership for their failure to protect the American people from this moment, and I stand by that criticism. However, what I have learned over the past thirty hours, plus, of virtually sitting in the room is that the Democratic congressional army is passionate and dedicated to fighting for the vulnerable, the unheard, and everyday families in America. It’s easy to point fingers in times of struggle, but it achieves little. Never has it been more evident to me that lions should not lead by donkeys, and until this is addressed, I fear all the passion and commitment in the world will do little to challenge the living hell the vulnerable in America will suffer if this bill passes the Senate and proceeds to the president’s desk.

As I began to write this, I was listening to the debate before the vote, as hope drained away for millions of American families now contemplating the possibility of life without healthcare, nutritional and other critical support. Before I finished, despair had taken a step closer to brutal and cruel reality.

One thing that stands out to me is that Democrats must look long and hard at their inaction on immigration. This was the single biggest fail point of the last administration, which handed Republicans a loaded gun with which to kill them, not just at the ballot box. It gave them a boogeyman to blame for their cruelty in this budget bill. You can quote the bipartisan immigration bill to me all day, but it was too little, too late, and a heavy price has been paid.

Putting aside all the perceived mistakes, it’s clear that from the outset, Democrats were fighting a losing battle on this bill in the House and would have to rely on Republicans to prevent it from becoming law. Never a good position to be in when Trump is holding the entire Republican Party hostage and threatening to primary any dissenters.

There is little doubt that this bill is a reality TV fantasy being sold to the American people by a sociopathic liar, who is being enabled by a Party that has lost the plot. Just as it said over the entrance to Auschwitz, "Arbeit macht frei" (Work sets you free), and that is the lie MAGA are selling to its victims of this abhorrent bill. The consequences will be catastrophic if the bill limps to the president’s desk. By the time those who voted for him discover the truth, it will be too late to take action, and then I have no idea what will happen. It appears Trump must be working on the assumption that he can somehow avoid the 2026 midterms with some BS state of emergency, or perhaps he intends to have made so much money that he walks away, throwing the Republican Party under the bus.

Many people say to me, “We know what’s happening; just tell us how we can fix it.” To which my reply is, “Which part of there is no quick fix for this type of structural dismantling of government and the rule of law are people struggling with?” History tells us that this is the stuff of popular uprising. Trump is only the front man for the most dangerous, well-funded, well-planned silent coup ever to take place in America in plain sight.

It was brought home to me how terrifying things are becoming in a report from The New York Times(I have gifted the link so it’s not behind a paywall). I have shared this piece by John Ismay on social media today about Pete Hegseth holding a Christian prayer service at the Pentagon, billed as the “Secretary of Defence Christian Prayer & Worship Service.” In this service, he praised Trump as a “divinely appointed leader”. The Times reports

‘It was standing room only and ran for about 30 minutes, with Brooks Potteiger, the pastor of Mr. Hegseth’s church in Tennessee, as the main speaker.’

It went on to report Hegseth stated:

“This is precisely where I need to be, and I think exactly where we need to be as a nation, at this moment,” Mr. Hegseth, standing at a lectern bearing the seal of the Defense Department, said in his opening remarks: “in prayer, on bended knee recognizing the providence of our lord and savior Jesus Christ.” He added, “Knowing that there’s an author in heaven overseeing all of this, who’s underwritten all of it, for us, on the cross, gives me the strength to proceed.”

The evangelical Christian Pastor Pottenger, apparently a mentor of Pete Hegseth, preached:

“We pray for our leaders who you have sovereignly appointed — for President Trump, thank you for the way that you have used him to bring stability and moral clarity to our land. And we pray that you would continue to protect him, bless him, give him great wisdom.”

This is just one more objective of Project 2025 to sprinkle their twisted version of Christianity into the very fabric of government; it’s EXACTLY what Adolf Hitler did in 1930s Germany. The clear aim is that the American people are being given no choice but to live as part of a white Christian Nationalist state. Under MAGA’s version of Christianity, the promised land is only open to white, racist, misogynistic, homophobic bigots. Their values are the antithesis of the teachings of the bible. Theirs is an exclusive hate club that would detain and deport Jesus if he walked among them today.

For centuries, religion has been the opium of the masses; it has been used as a control mechanism of populations across the world. Some of the most devastating acts of violence and cruelty have been perpetrated in the name of religion. This insidious iteration of Christianity is being force-fed to vulnerable and uneducated Americans in a calculated attempt for the ‘chosen few’ to rule the many. For me, Hakeem Jeffries, for all his failings, made the most profound contribution to the debate on the budget when he quoted Matthew 25-40

“Where Jesus talks about the importance of standing up for the least, the lost, the left behind. The poor, the sick, the afflicted, the homeless, the people who are confined. Strangers in a foreign land. That when you know the Gospel, when you’re charged with trying to live the Gospel, it cannot be the case that one goes to synagogue, or one goes to mosque, or one goes to church as I do. That one goes to church to PRAY on Sunday and then comes to Washington DC to PREY on the American people the rest of the week.”

This, my friends, is Trump’s new America, and this bill cements the centrepiece of a banquet of extortion, suppression, marginalisation and subjugation of Americans whose only crime is to be the target of MAGA greed. Congress has now provided an opportunity to open the floodgates that will make Trump rich beyond his wildest dreams and give corporations the green light to rape and plunder America’s precious natural heritage.

There is no off-ramp; this is now a test of stamina and commitment for every American who believes in upholding the Constitution and the rule of law. For those digital activists among us, this is the beginning of a very long uphill struggle that I, for one, am not looking forward to, because this game is rigged against us. The opposition we face live in a world where political rules of engagement have been abandoned in favour of political violence. This is likely to pose a threat to us all, not just physically, but also mentally. We will find it extremely challenging to overcome the level of lies, deceit, and misinformation that hard-right propagandists will flood the zone with.

I can confidently predict that this war to save the soul of America is going to be fought on a whole new battlefield where the odds are going to be stacked against us. The quicker we accept that and stop using the same old strategies, the better. It is hard to overestimate the value of the MeidasTouch Network and similar voices in the year ahead, and I urge everyone committed to the cause to get behind voices like The Bulwark and numerous other voices that represent the voice of reason. It is these grassroots advocates for freedom and democracy that will lay the groundwork for the enormous amount of work that needs to be done to make this battle even competitive.

The key to supporting these advocacy organisations is that they deliver more for your buck. I know people like supporting candidates because they feel a personal connection to a race or, in the case of national figures, the wider Democratic cause. I am not criticising that approach, but investments made in new media networks and advocates provide wider opportunities for distributing key messaging. It’s about capitalising on talent and becoming a stakeholder in a bigger picture effort.

Those interested in politics come to Substack to engage on an intellectual level, share their views, and learn along the way. I have met and engaged with more independent and swing voters on this platform over the past three months than on any other platform where I have a presence. The reason The Media Network is here is that they recognise the unique nature of Substack as a hybrid platform that serves as both a social media platform and a blog space, as well as a vehicle for video output. For me, it's the sweet spot gaining in popularity every day.

The battle for the 2026 midterms is poised to be an insurgent war against a formidable opponent who controls the levers of state and has a significant presence on social media. I cannot emphasise how important YouTube is going to be not just for digital advocacy groups, but also for candidate campaigns. Please DO NOT attempt to fight this battle from BlueSky. By all means, use it as a rallying point for organising, but reaching voters from there is a lost cause. It has low reach, and just as X has a reputation for hard right bias, BlueSky is like Custer’s last stand for liberal voices.

Regardless of what you might think, Trump IS vulnerable, and he will become more vulnerable as the fantasy he has sold his base begins to disintegrate. As the cost of living increases, jobs are lost, along with access to healthcare and welfare programs, the natives will become restless. We need to be in the spaces they inhabit to capitalise on this. It is beyond essential that we DO NOT become trapped talking inside a liberal echo chamber.

This will be about campaigning smartly and strategically. It will be about reaching voters where they are and selling a vision and NOT the usual ‘Vote for us because the other guy is a fascist’ It’s about focusing that anger not just to attack Trump, but to put pressure on Democratic leadership to do better. I’m sorry to say that’s going to need a fresh and more committed team. It’s going to be about constituents holding Democratic members’ feet to the fire as well as giving no ground to Trump and his lies.

Over the next three days, I will create a series of ads to showcase the type of video messaging I believe will resonate. Short, direct, and emotive messaging that resonates. It’s a matter of establishing the most efficient distribution mechanism to maximise reach and develop a hub to which people can get short, visually driven, factual information. As I’ve said in the past, every paid subscription to Truth Matters fuels the fight. The more stakeholders we have on the team, the more content can be produced. It’s a win-win for anyone who enjoys reading my work; you'll hopefully get a good read while simultaneously contributing to powerful open-source visual messaging used to take the fight to Trump.

I’m off for an early night now, I’m absolutely shattered.