“As with mosquitoes, horseflies, and most bloodsucking parasites, [Donald Trump] was spawned in stagnant water. “ – James Carville

This stopped being a cautionary tale long ago. It has been 9 years of seeing and hearing this plague of a man wherever we go. His bloated, painted face is everywhere, his glowering stare flickers with tell-tale hints of dementia. But as he sits next to Elon Musk in the Oval Office, it is he who looks like a made man, not Musk. This is what accepting $288 million dollars in campaign donations from the world’s richest and most successful parasite looks like. But this is peanuts compared to his debt to Vladimir Putin, the alley rat who ate Russia. What is the actual cost of winning two presidential elections with the help of Vladimir Putin and the Russian Mafia? And what’s the “vig”? Whatever the final number is, what we are observing in helpless horror is the real cost of the “Other People’s Money” Trump used to finance the overthrow of the United States.

“It’s called OPM. I do it all the time in business. It’s called “other people’s money”. There’s nothing like doing things with other people’s money because they take the risk — you get a good chunk out of it, and they take the risk.” – Donald Trump, 2016

Americans would be better served by going to Mafia School rather than law school to come out of this one on top. But we knew that, didn’t we? The Mueller Report painted a pretty good picture of the Russian interference in Trump’s 2016 campaign and election. But Trump won, so nobody thought they could speak out.

And Trump was impeached for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress on December 18, 2019, but no Republican wanted to convict him. So, Trump won, and nobody thought they could speak out once again.

And then Trump was impeached again on January 13, 2021, this time for incitement of insurrection. And once again, the Republicans refused to convict him, so again, nobody thought they could speak out.

And by 2024, Trump was set to go on trial for 91 felony charges in 4 states prior to his election in November.

But Republicans elected him. So, Trump won, and nobody thought they could speak out for the last time.

Sound familiar?

While Democrats spent about $6.7 billion and Republicans spent about $7.6 billion on the 2024 presidential election, it is impossible to know precisely how much money and services Russia spent or what Elon Musk’s final invoice was. And it’s not unreasonable to assume that a guy sporting 91 felony indictments, two impeachments, and accusations of tampering with Georgia’s election results in 2016 - might have given Republican governors in red states a friendly call on election eve – asking them to “give him a break” once again. Of course he did, just like he personally called Supreme Court Justice, Samuel Alito, regarding Presidential Immunity on the eve of the SCOTUS ruling. It’s what he does. He cheats.

Watching as these Republican traitors reverse 80 years of American foreign and domestic policy is an astounding betrayal of our country. Watching Marco Rubio repeat Donald Trump’s Orwellian nonsense, and J. D Vance and Pete Hegseth - Donald Trump’s flying monkeys - make fools of themselves on the international stage, reflects a special kind of crookedness. They are, to a person, weak and corrupt. But never let it be said that all these Republicans are not made men. They made an oath of omertà, and they can’t go back. And now the Republican Party can honestly say without irony: “Trump’s a son-of-a-bitch, but he’s our son-of-a-bitch”. They bought Trump in order to win elections. And now they own his debt. And it is they who will have to pay the bill for Trump’s criminal use of OPM. Their guy needed the money for only one purpose: to stay out of jail. And now to keep this 91-count felon out of prison, they must succumb to the leveraged buyout of America. And that’s what’s happening.

If this isn’t an example of “waste, fraud and abuse” on a historic scale, I don’t know what is. Forget about the daily outrages. Forget about Hegseth’s swastika tattoos and RFK Jr’s insane rantings about vaccines. They are just contestants on Donald Trump’s reconstituted The Apprentice: Armageddon 2025. Instead, march in every city every day. Call every Republican legislator in the country and tell them that they are traitors to their country for what they have done. Tell them that it is their fault. Make Republicans ashamed to show their faces anywhere. Confront your Republican neighbors with questions about their patriotism. Tell them that if they didn’t vote to kill social security, and they didn’t vote to fire every federal employee, maybe they need to change their party affiliation. Become an activist. Teach your children to participate in the defense of democracy. Tell them that this is every citizen’s responsibility. Tell them to defend the rights of minorities because if they don’t, they’ll be next. And stop watching The Apprentice. We’re at war.