Trump Versus Reality

January 2025

[Rant Warning]

This country, this America that I live in, is bigger and more important than I am. I think most Americans feel that way. But Donald John Trump does not feel that way. By his words and by his actions, repeated not just during the four years when he held the Oval Office but throughout his life, he has shown us this clearly over and over again. Trump cares only about himself; he has no sense of duty or responsibility. He demands loyalty from others but will not give loyalty to others. He does only what he thinks will advance his interests.

"I have an Article 2 where I have the right to do whatever I want as president."

Trump said that in June 2019. It is an exact quote; you can look it up. However, that is not what Article 2 says. Trump lied.1

Date	Action	Likely Result	Public Reaction
1/20/25	Trump pardoned Enrique Tarrio, head of the Proud Boys, who had been serving a 22-year sentence for seditious conspiracy. Fourteen offenders had their sentences commuted. This included Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, also convicted of seditious conspiracy. All others, some 1,550 rioters who stormed the Capitol on 6 January 2021, received a blanket pardon. The Justice Department was ordered to make out certificates of pardon for them, and to dismiss with prejudice all pending indictments related to January 6 conduct — "with prejudice" meaning those charged cannot be re-indicted. The Federal Bureau of Prisons received explicit orders to implement all Justice Department instructions regarding both the releases and the dismissal of pending cases. As of 21 January 2025, 6 Republicans in Congress have condemned Trump's pardons. But they aren't pushing back.	Trump's actions free what amounts to a covert, private militia. These people will not stand down; they will do his bidding, just as they did when he called them to the Capitol to "fight like hell or you won't have a country any more." Trump knows the drill. He will not explicitly order them into action. His rhetoric will be the trigger, just as it was for Cesar Sayoc and others. This is how stochastic terrorism works.	Public reaction to the pardons has been markedly unfavorable. 77% of voters in the top 43 congressional battleground districts opposed pardons. This includes 57% of Republicans and 63% of current military and veterans. 78% opposed pardons for those convicted of using a deadly or dangerous weapon, including 59% of Republicans and 70% of current military and veterans.

Since his reelection in 2024 (by only 49.7% of registered voters — no mandate), Trump has:

Fired 17 or 18 of the inspectors general in government departments.
Fired the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and replaced him with a lower-ranking general who (according to Trump) told him "I would kill for you, sir." He also fired the Chief of Naval Operations and the Vice Cheif of Staff of the Air Force.
Fired the senior JAG officials in the Army, Navy, and Air Force.
Issued an executive order ending birthright citizenship -- something the Constitution guarantees.
Fired the head of the Office of Special Counsel, the agency that protects whistleblowers, and asked the SCCOTUS to vacate a lower court's order reinstating him.
Fired 18 immigration judges.
Ended government security protection for Dr. Anthony Fauci, Gen. Mark Milley, John Bolton, Mike Pompeo and Brian Hook
Fired the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and ordered the CFPB to stop most of its work.
Moved to dismantle USAID, reducing its workforce from 10,000 to 290.
Disbanded the task force that prevents foreign interference with US elections.
Revoked security clearances for former President Biden.
Fired the nation's archivist.
Paused enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Sought to expand presidential power over agencies Congress made independent.

There's a whole lot more to say about how Trump would handle domestic policy. I've barely touched on his foreign policy. And I haven't even mentioned the many crimes he's been charged with — about which shelves full of books have been written.

What do all these actions add up to? What is Trump's goal? It can only be ending protections for the poor and middle class (the "forgotten men and women" he promised to help) and purging anyone who can hold him accountable.

The mainstream news services cover all of this extensively. I've compiled some useful information.

LEARN

THINK

VOTE

References

Pardon of January 6 United States Capitol attack defendants (Wikipedia)
Republican opposition to pardoning violent January 6 offenders persists (Rachel Goodman & Grant Tudor, Protect Democracy, 13 January 2025)
Fauci, Bolton, Pompeo: Full List of People Who Donald Trump Revoked Security Details For (Jesus Mesa, Newsweek, 14 May 2025)
Survey finds cross-partisan opposition to January 6 pardons (Protect Democracy, 25 June 2024)
Cesar Sayoc Pleads Guilty to 65 Felonies for Mailing 16 Improvised Explosive Devices in Connection with October 2018 Domestic Terrorist Attack (Office of Public Affairs, USDOJ, 21 March 2019)
Full List of Republicans Breaking With Trump on January 6 Pardons (Sonam Sheth, Newsweek, 21 Jaunaru 2025)
Republican senators are mostly quiet on Trump's sweeping pardons of Jan. 6 rioters (Mary Clare Jalonick, AP News, 21 January 2025)
Trump fires 18 inspectors general overnight in legally murky move (By Yamiche Alcindor, Vaughn Hillyard & Laura Strickler, NBC News, 25 January 2025)
Trump fires chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and two other military officers (Tara Copp & Lolita C. Baldor, AP News, 21 January 2025)
'It's time for fresh blood': Trump purging military JAG lawyers so they won't be 'roadblocks to anything that happens' over next 4 years, Hegseth says (Chris Perez, Law&Crime, 23 February 2025)
All of the Trump Administration's Major Moves in the First [n] Days (Karen Yourish, Eric Rabinowitz, Ashley Wu, Lazaro Gamio, Aishvarya Kavi & Minho Kim, New York Times — a constantly updated compilation)

1 I hope no one is shocked by this revelation.

2 Here is The Washington Post's final tally.

3 This long game is too complex to describe here. But see my documentation of some aspects of it. And have a look at the lists of books I have compiled.