CARTOON: Trump's Empty Suit Morality
Such obscenity and betrayal of humanity is the only way the Trumps, Netanyahus, Orbans, Hitlers, Mussolinis, Pinochets, Mao Zedongs, Ceaușescus hold onto power.
“Zelensky a man without a suit. Trump a suit without a man.”
— Online comment
“He's a used car salesman. He could pick up a piece of cow manure and spray it with gold paint and tell you it was solid gold.”
— Larry Johnson, former CIA analyst describing Donald Trump (7/6/25)
Cartoon by Mark Taylor / DeMOCKracy.ink
For more Trump cartoons
One of the truisms of all fascist and totalitarian states is that the circle of the disapproved, unacceptable — heretics in the eyes of the ‘Dear Leader’ — always expands. One may be safe today, but tomorrow you could be on the shit list. It’s a feature, not a flaw.
By Mark Taylor
DeMOCKracy.ink (7/16/25)
Soon after Trump sent 238 immigrants — a minimum of 75+% with no criminal history or charges — off to the notorious CECOT concentration torture camp in El Salvador, I had a conversation with someone who thought it was a great idea to “get those damn drug gangs outta’ here.”
I pointed out that violating basic judicial due process was wrong and — ultimately and inevitably — a threat to everyone. They weren’t convinced and the conversation ended.
Later, I was mulling over the exchange and thought about how this person has two gay sons who have legal records of some fairly serious possession and minor drug selling issues when they were younger. Left unchecked, it’s just a matter of time before the dramatically expanded ICE Gestapo forces will begin targeting gays and — as with the immigrant round-ups — any legal history, going right down to a trivial jaywalking ticket, will be excuse enough for snatching people off the street and sending them off to disappear into concentration camps.
How will that person feel if their sons are sent away — or worse — with no legal right and no due process?
The only means
One of the truisms of all fascist and totalitarian states is that the circle of the disapproved, unacceptable — heretics in the eyes of the ‘Dear Leader’ — always expands. One may be safe today, but tomorrow you could be on the shit list. It’s a feature, not a flaw.
As we witness with Trump now, when the incompetence, grift and corruption of totalitarian rule becomes more apparent and support begins to crumble, the need to marginalize, demonize, arrest, intimidate and kill grows greater as the only means to retain power.
As part of that, cruelty and brutality are ramped up to terrorize and stifle any dissent. As author Adam Serwer makes clear in the title of his book, The Cruelty Is The Point (see below). As we see now with Trump and his Gestapo ICE gangs of masked, lawless, anonymous goons hiding behind their masks, cruelty is the point.
And — as we are also seeing now — accelerating humiliation.
Brutality.
Degradation.
Dehumanization.
Perversion.
Such obscenity and betrayal of humanity is the only way the Trumps, Netanyahus, Orbans, Hitlers, Mussolinis, Mao Zedongs, Pinochets, Ceaușescus hold onto power. And the rabid street gangs of goons who — like the ICE Gestapo now — find some illusion of meaning and giddy power in their degraded souls blindly carry out the evil mission of the tyrant.
With every day now, Trump and the ICE Gestapo cruelty accelerates.
This is not the time for obedience. As challenging as it may be to resist now, it will be tougher next week. Or next year.
Each of us must find our niche of resistance, non-compliance and gumming up the gears of fascism. Check out this Breaking Points interview with Joshua Aaron, a true resistance hero. A tech entrepreneur, Aaron created the ICEBlock App to alert people of nearby ICE raids so they can avoid kidnapping, which I included in a recent post.
Pass it along to anyone you know who may be in a targeted group.
Be sure to check out and — as a gesture and defiant sign of resistance — use and pass along to others the meme at the bottom of today’s post.
Resist
Persist
Don’t be complicit!
Legislators & Detainees Report Inhumane Conditions At Florida Everglades Concentration Camp
Trump administration officials threatening to expand militarized immigration raids
Work progresses on a new migrant concentration camp at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility in the Florida Everglades, Friday, July 4, 2025, in Ochopee, Florida. [AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell]
By Jacob Crosse
World Socialist Website (7/13/25)
Two weeks after President Donald Trump touted the opening of an immigration concentration camp located in the middle of the South Florida Everglades, numerous reports have emerged detailing the inhumane conditions nearly 1,000 people trapped in the facility are currently enduring.
The concentration camp, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” by Trump and his fascist allies, was hastily constructed on a rarely used airport in the Big Cypress Swamp. In hailing the opening of the concentration camp earlier this month, Trump threatened to fill it up not only with undocumented immigrants but also American citizens. “I think we ought to get them the hell out of here too,” he said. “You want to know the truth. So maybe that will be the next job.”
While the Trump administration has repeatedly claimed that the fascist mass deportation operation is targeting “illegal aliens” and the “worst of the worst,” the Miami Herald reported over the weekend that “hundreds of immigrants with no criminal charges” are being held at the Florida concentration camp.
Records obtained by the Herald indicate “more than 250 people” being held at the camp have “only immigration violations but not criminal convictions or pending charges in the United States.” The data showed people from roughly 40 countries, ranging in ages from 18 to 73, are currently being held on the site. One person in the camp is listed as being from the United States.
On July 9, CBS reported that inmates inside the facility said they were being denied access to water, medicine, food and lawyers. Leamsy Isquierdo (La Figura), a Cuban reggaeton artist currently in the facility, told CBS in a telephone interview last week, “There’s no water to take a bath, it’s been four days since I’ve taken a bath.”
He said the food was disgusting and insufficient. “They only brought a meal once a day and it had maggots. They never take off the lights for 24 hours. The mosquitoes are as big as elephants.” During the same phone call, another man at the facility told CBS reporters, “They’re not respecting our human rights. We’re human beings; we’re not dogs. We’re like rats in an experiment.”
The same man added he didn’t know why this was happening, “if it’s a form of torture. A lot of us have our residency documents, and we don’t understand why we’re here.”
On Saturday some Florida Democratic lawmakers attempted to tour the facility. Representative Debbie Wasserman-Schultz said conditions “inside this internment camp … were really appalling.”
While the facility is being run by the state, Wasserman-Schultz said they are taking directives from federal officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). She said people in the camp were “essentially packed into cages” and that there were “32 detainees per cage.”
For 32 people there are three tiny toilets connected to a sink. Wasserman-Schultz explained, “They get their drinking water and they brush their teeth where they poop, in the same unit.”
For meals she explained that the portions and quality for detainees and employees was much different. Employees had large sausages and pieces of chicken while detainees were fed “small gray turkey and cheese sandwiches and an apple and chips.”
She said 900 men were currently being held in the facility, which was sweltering and infested with bugs, including in the “new” portions of the camp. While Trump and immigration officials claim the camp is air conditioned, Wasserman-Schulz said a thermostat she brought with her showed many places inside the facility were at 83 degrees Fahrenheit (28.3 degrees Celsius) or hotter. …
CNN Data Chief Reports Americans Have 'Turned' Against Trump & ICE Gestapo — CNN’s chief data analyst Harry Enten on Monday used just one word to sum up Americans’ souring views on Donald Trump’s handling of immigration. “Oof!” said Enten in a segment with CNN’s Kate Bolduan. Enten pointed to five separate polls from mid to late June showing the president’s net approval rating (percent approval minus percent disapproval) on immigration ranging from -7 (Fox) to -27 (Gallup). He described the range of Trump’s net approval ratings as “bad to just downright terrible.” “The American people have turned against President Donald Trump on what was his best issue,” Enten said. The data analyst went on to point to how Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s net approval rating went from averaging 0 during Trump’s first term to reaching -17 last month. … Link to story
PERVERTS: House GOP Raises Money By Joking About Immigrants Being Mauled By Alligators
“Alligator Alcatraz is officially open, and we are excited about it!!” reads a fundraising email from the NRCC that hawks “ICE with a bite” T-shirts.
[Editor’s Note: So the deceptive ‘bait-n-switch’ Republicans are bare-ass open about at least one thing: Anyone who works in or supports their concentration camp cruelty has to be an inhuman, cold-blooded little reptile. — M. Taylor]
By Jennifer Bendery
HuffPost (7/14/25)
WASHINGTON ― In a new and disgusting development, the National Republican Congressional Committee is raising money by selling T-shirts that joke about immigrants being mauled by alligators at President Donald Trump’s so-called Alligator Alcatraz immigration detention center in Florida.
“That’s right! Alligator Alcatraz is officially open, and we are excited about it!!” reads a Monday fundraising email from the NRCC, which helps elect Republicans to Congress.
“So excited that we have decided to release a T-SHIRT!” it reads.
The email features an image of a T-shirt with an alligator wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap with ICE on it, which stands for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Atop the image, it reads, “Alligator Alcatraz.” Underneath, it reads, “ICE with a bite.”
The email reads: “Do you support keeping our nation safe from ILLEGAL CRIMINALS? Well, this is your chance to show support for ICE in their mission! Let’s make sure we keep our cities SAFE from criminal illegal aliens.”
'Unforgivable': FEMA Missed Thousands Of Calls From Texas Flood Victims After Noem Fired Contractors
Earlier this week, multiple officials within FEMA told CNN that she waited more than 72 hours to authorize the deployment of search and rescue teams and aerial imaging.
By Stephen Prager
Common Dreams (7/13/25)
Outrage continues to grow against U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem over her response to the deadly floods that ravaged Texas last week.
According to a Friday report from The New York Times, more than two-thirds of phone calls to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) from flood victims went unanswered after Noem allowed hundreds of contractors to be laid off on July 5, just a day after the nightmare storm.
According to The Times, this dramatically hampered the ability of the agency to respond to calls from survivors in the following days:
On July 5, as floodwaters were starting to recede, FEMA received 3,027 calls from disaster survivors and answered 3,018, or roughly 99.7 percent, the documents show. Contractors with four call center companies answered the vast majority of the calls.
That evening, however, Noem did not renew the contracts with the four companies, and hundreds of contractors were fired, according to the documents and the person briefed on the matter.
The next day, July 6, FEMA received 2,363 calls and answered 846, or roughly 35.8 percent, according to the documents. And on Monday, July 7, the agency fielded 16,419 calls and answered 2,613, or around 15.9 percent, the documents show.
Calling is one of the primary ways that flood victims apply for aid from the disaster relief agency. But Noem would wait until July 10—five days later—to renew the contracts of the people who took those phone calls.
Pretty horrific
"Responding to less than half of the inquiries is pretty horrific," Jeffrey Schlegelmilch, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, told The Times.
"Put yourself in the shoes of a survivor: You've lost everything, you're trying to find out what's insured and what's not, and you’re navigating multiple aid programs," he added. "One of the most important services in disaster recovery is being able to call someone and walk through these processes and paperwork."
"It's not really incompetence because they know what they are doing. They are intentionally breaking government—even the parts that help us when we are deep in crisis." — Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.)
The lapse is a direct result of a policy introduced by Noem last month, which required any payments made by FEMA above $100,000 to be directly approved by her before taking effect. Noem, who has said she wants to eliminate FEMA entirely, described it as a way of limiting "waste, fraud, and abuse."
Under this policy, Noem allowed other critical parts of the flood response to wait for days as well. Earlier this week, multiple officials within FEMA told CNN that she waited more than 72 hours to authorize the deployment of search and rescue teams and aerial imaging.
Following The Times' piece, DHS put out a statement claiming that "NO ONE was left without assistance, and every call was responded to urgently."
"When a natural disaster strikes, phone calls surge, and wait times can subsequently increase," DHS said. "Despite this expected influx, FEMA's disaster call center responded to every caller swiftly and efficiently, ensuring no one was left without assistance. No call center operators were laid off or fired."
This is undercut, however, by internal emails also obtained by The Times, which showed FEMA officials becoming frustrated and blaming the DHS Secretary for the lack of contracts. One official wrote in a July 8 email to colleagues: "We still do not have a decision, waiver, or signature from the DHS Secretary."
Democratic lawmakers were already calling for investigations into Noem's response to the floods before Friday. They also sought to look into how the Trump administration's mass firings of FEMA employees, as well as employees of the National Weather Service (NWS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) may have hampered the response.
Following The Times' revelations, outrage has reached a greater fever pitch.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) called it "unforgivable and unforgettable" and an "inexcusable lapse in top leadership."
"Sec. Noem shows that dismantling FEMA impacts real people in real time," he said. "It hurts countless survivors & increases recovery costs."
In response to the news, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) simply wrote that "Kristi Noem must resign now."
Others pointed out that Noem has often sought to justify abolishing FEMA by characterizing it as slow and ineffectual. They suggested her dithering response was deliberate.
"She broke it on purpose," said Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) in an interview on MSNBC. "So that when it fails this summer, she can say, 'Oh, see, we told you—FEMA doesn't work.'"
"It's not really incompetence because they know what they are doing," said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). "They are intentionally breaking government—even the parts that help us when we are deep in crisis."
Link to story and 4-minute audio
Author Adam Serwer: In Trump's America 'The Cruelty Is The Point'
All Things Considered
NPR (2/27/21)
NPR's Sarah McCammon speaks with Atlantic staff writer Adam Serwer about his new book, The Cruelty is the Point: The Past, Present and Future of Trump's America.
The Cruelty Is the Point: Why Trump’s America Redefined Power & Morality — The Cruelty Is the Point: The Past, Present, and Future of Trump’s America by Adam Serwer (2021) is a searing exploration of power, morality, and the American psyche in the age of Trump. In this in-depth audio analysis, MindfulMoments: Nourish Your Mind on the Go unpacks Serwer’s provocative thesis: that cruelty isn’t an unfortunate byproduct of political movements, but a deliberate feature shaping America’s social and political landscapes. 18-minute audio
COMPLICITY & COWARDICE: Democrats’ Limp Response To Cutting ‘Head Start’ Programs
The Trump administration’s sweeping attack on immigrant children and public education has been met with deafening silence from the Democratic Party and the major education unions. Far from mounting any serious opposition, Democratic leaders have confined their response to lawsuits, token statements, and electoral posturing.
This unwillingness to fight reflects their complicity in the escalating war on immigrants, public education, and social programs as a whole. Even as Trump moves to strip millions of basic rights and services, the Democrats refuse to mobilize working people against these policies, exposing their fundamental agreement with austerity, privatization, and the scapegoating of immigrants for the crises of capitalism.
— Jane Wise, Trump Bans Undocumented Children From Head Start
Rock Band Rips Kristi Noem’s DHS For Using Its Song With 3-Word Demand
By Lee Moran
HuffPost (7/15/25)
The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club issued a blistering condemnation of the Kristi Noem-led Department of Homeland Security, alleging the unauthorized use of its recording of “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” in a government-produced video.
The rock band told the DHS to “go f... yourselves.”
The track, a folk-gospel song popularized by Johnny Cash, was featured in what the San Francisco rock band slammed as a “propaganda video.”
In a scathing public statement directed at the DHS, the band wrote on social media:
“It has come to our attention that the Department of Homeland Security is improperly using our recording of ‘God’s Gonna Cut You Down’ in your latest propaganda video. It’s obvious that you don’t respect Copyright Law and Artist Rights any more than you respect Habeas Corpus and Due Process rights, not to mention the separation of Church and State per the U.S. Constitution.”
The group continued:
“For the record, we hereby order @DHSgov to cease and desist the use of our recording and demand that you immediately pull down your video.”
And it witheringly concluded:
“Oh, and go f... yourselves.”
NEW HIT SONG - Trump’s Releasing The Files!
Mr. Newberger’s AI Funnies (7/13/25)
3-minute video
Meme Of The Week, Pass It On!
I can't imagine how tough it must be to be American right now. We desperately need systems change.
In the spirit of Erich Fromm, author of Escape Fromm Freedom where in 1941 he described the sociological/ psychological ways we escape freedom to authoritarianism /fascism, I salute you Mark!