THE CASH COMMENTARY FOR JAN. 22, 2026

 

                                                                  CASH MICHAELS

                       FRUIT OF THE IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY

by Cash Michaels

We are IN it now, my fellow Americans!

This is what the tyrant in the gold-studded White House wants - to see the “little people” suffer under his great power while he brazenly tells the rest of the world where to get off. No compassion, no decency, and certainly not even a hint of humanity.

Just being the best tyrant a secondhand Nobel Peace Prize can buy. 

        What's next? Demanding that "Sinners" director Ryan Coogler hand over half of his record breaking 16 Academy Award nominations because no one should be allowed to make more history than Trump?

        Being an imperial tyrant allows him to create a "Board of Peace" (whatever the hell that is) which requires a $1 billion membership fee, has invited the murderous Vladimir Putin to buy a seat and allows Trump to serve as chairman for life; use tariffs to punish our friends and allies who refuse to go along with his crazy musings; feel free to erase our history (especially black history) right before our eyes; and target American cities as places where the U.S. military can go to practice invasion dry runs? 

        And do all of the above, and much, much more, with the straightest of faces!  

        Recently, The NY Times reported,"A review by the editorial board relying on analyses from news organizations shows that Mr. Trump has used the office of the presidency to make at least $1.4 billion. We know this number to be an underestimate because some of his profits remain hidden from public view. And they continue to grow.”

What we’re living under is known as an imperial presidency, where the man elected to the highest office of our land decides to put his God complex on full display. Recently he told The Times that the only restriction to the power he wields is his “own morality, own mind.”

That’s reassuring.

For instance, sprucing up what’s supposed to be public housing - OUR White House - with 14k gold; knocking down a whole one third of it for the expressed purpose of building a gawdy ballroom as a permanent monument to himself (he damn sure isn’t going to name it after Biden or Obama); and putting his name where, by law, it doesn’t belong  - like the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the U.S. Institute of Peace.

And all of that is just the cherry. The icing is ignoring international law, and illegally taking over governance of a sovereign nation like Venezuela by military force for its oil; threatening to invade another sovereign state, Iran, militarily, if leaders there don’t stop persecuting demonstrators and protesters - you know, like the kind Trump persecutes here.

And of course, the warning heard around the world that he wanted to grab NATO ally Greenland from Denmark for "national security" against China and Russia, despite the fact that we already have several military bases there. Reportedly the Imperial One, who began dropping ten-ton warning hints about Greenland because Norway would not give him his own Nobel Peace Prize, has now reached the "framework for a a deal" for "the block of ice" after foreign leaders gave him hell at Davos. Apparently the Danish aren't impressed, however, and for now, at least, reject any "deal" that violates their sovereignty, and rightfully so.

         Whatever ultimately happens,  there’s nothing like a little saber-rattling to make a tyrant want to wake up in the morning and start plotting and planning on what else he can grab that rightfully belongs to other folks.

Needless to say, Mexico and Columbia are paying close attention.

In the world of imperial presidencies, Donald J. Trump has certainly conquered the cherry and the icing. But the cake he’s still striving for …is us. How do you make America come to heel? How do you make America’s strict adherence to the rule of law irrelevant? How do you conquer your own country in front of everybody’s eyes and get away with it?

This is where that toxic brew of Trump’s imperialistic instincts along with the white supremacist cravings of Stephen Miller, J.D. Vance, Pam Bondi, Kristi Noem and a host of other documented hatemongers in Trump’s Administration are proving to be a force we socially sleepy Americans simply weren’t ready for.

Thus we have what’s shamefully going on in Minneapolis. No, I’m not talking about the billion dollar fraud scheme there that officials are still cleaning up after, but the Petri dish civil war zone Minneapolis has provided Trump to send over 3000 federal agents to, with the threat of sending an additional 1600 military troops under the little used Insurrection Act.

         DHS Sec. Kristi Noem is now warning that everybody must have their "papers" handy to be shown because her ICE agents will be checking them. Kristi must think this is East Germany or something. What American carries identification papers proving their citizenship?

The stated pretense here is that Minneapolis’ large Somali community is crooked, violent and hurting “real Americans.” So if they won’t leave on their own, federal Immigration Customs Enforcement officers are officially tasked with raiding the city, finding not only Somalis, but anyone else who might be in the country “illegally,” and removing them.

Gee, what could go wrong?

These agents of Trump’s federal government have been given the green light to achieve this task, as Malcolm X once famously said, “By any means necessary,” which apparently, based on the Renee Nicole Good fatal shooting case, includes killing innocent people who are considered in the way.

But the real sight to see has been what has been happening in the streets of Minneapolis - the mass confrontations; people being forcibly grabbed and dragged out of their cars and homes (one was a grandfather in his underwear and slippers grabbed from his home covered only with a blanket in the bone cold who happened to be an American citizen) after agents have broken windows and doors to reach them; flash bang grenades to scare crowds; tear gas used against peaceful demonstrators; people being kidnapped off the streets; agents raiding hospitals and schools; people being kicked and beaten on the ground as agents handcuff them; ICE vehicles ramming cars and SUVs driven by ordinary citizens; arrestees being denied legal counsel before they’re shipped off to some other state; using five-year-old children as bait to lure parents out of their homes.

         And here's the one I found really interesting - off-duty black police officers being pulled over by ICE agents, having guns pulled on them and being asked for their "papers," but once those local black police officers whipped out their badges instead, the ICE agents reportedly left them alone. 

        It doesn't take Einstein to figure out what would have happened to any of those off-duty black officers who didn't have their police ID with them. Be beaten or shot first, never get to answer any questions later.

A federal judge had to finally order ICE -who all wear masks, are heavily armed, and many poorly trained - to stop using excessive force and tactics. The only way that can happen is that they left the city and state entirely.

But this is what Trump and Co. want to prove - that any large American city, if not state - particularly and especially if it has voted Democratic against him - can be conquered.

Make no mistake, there are always the administrative levers of cutting federal money off to Democratic states and cities, and then you have what happened this week, which is the Minnesota governor, state attorney general, and three local mayors, all served with grand jury subpoenas in a federal criminal investigation...all because each one spoke out against the tyranny being perpetrated against their citizens.

        Once again, weaponizing the criminal justice system to crush your enemies. The mark of a true imperial president!

Thanks to the US Supreme Court, the Imperial One feels he has Carte Blanche to do anything he wants as long as he dresses it up as a national security matter. That gives him enormous latitude to create the kind of chaos he saw in his native New York City back in the sixties and seventies when radical groups like the Black Panthers and Young Lords roamed the city streets shouting revolution and battling the police every week.

No doubt Trump cheered every time there was a deadly police gun battle, and members of those groups were killed or captured. I’m sure young Donald and his racist, Ku Klux Klan member dad, Fred, watched it all on the news, buttered popcorn and beer in hand, as those gun battles played out on their TV screen.

But I say all of that to point out that Trump’s always been about using the great power of the federal government to crush the little guy, especially if the little guy looked anything like me. You know, quiet as it’s kept, the Somalis in Minnesota are black, and Trump routinely calls them “garbage.” 

Thanks to a recent New York Times interview, Trump has made clear how he feels not just about Somalis, but black people and the civil rights movement, and how the whole thing has caused white people, even now, to be "very badly treated" - what he calls “reverse discrimination.”

What’s different and scary about the sinister ICE turmoil he’s created in Minneapolis right now is that the white people there, along with everybody else, are being "very badly treated" because of him.

Even an innocent, white, 37-year-old mother of three who needlessly lost her life because she feared being manhandled by three masked ICE agents coming at her, trying to pull her out of her car, and eventually shooting her to death. The administration of the imperial president says it won't even bother to investigate this tragic loss of life because the ICE agent who killed  her committed no crime.

         But she did, apparently!

When you think of Renee Nicole Good and all of the other innocent people in Minneapolis and throughout this country who have, and are being victimized by Donald Trump, think of them as victims of a growing imperial presidency.

People who love their country, but are labeled as “terrorists” and “agitators” because they refuse to sit down and shutup when faced with injustice, especially from their government. An imperial government, I might add, that is quick to rewrite the narrative with boldface lies anytime something has gone wrong, or is done wrong. And according to Trump, yes, his people have made mistakes. Translation - they haven't learned to lie like he does yet!

America is a country split down the middle now - RED, for those who voted for Trump, and BLUE, meaning those who sensibly voted against him.

Those in the BLUE states are condemned to suffer Trump’s wrath. And what is shamefully happening in Minnesota is a stark message to California, Illinois, New York and yes, even North Carolina (even though we’re considered purple and voted for Trump, though we also voted for a Democratic governor) can happen…and WILL happen if we don’t drop to our knees, and worship the imperial president with his warped God complex, we're warned.

And don’t fool yourself. There’s more calamity from the imperial presidency to come, beyond your federal government telling you to eat more chicken pieces, broccoli sticks and corn tortillas to save money and get through the day. 

        Folks are literally expecting Trump to play games with the 2026 midterm elections so that he can’t lose his House Republican majority. Like cancelling the midterms by causing lots of mayhem on the ground in various BLUE vicinities.

Wait and see what happens. He’s going to try something. He may have already started.

Now if I’d wrote any of the above a year ago - when Donald Trump was officially being sworn-in for his second term as president - you would’ve laughed, shook your head, and dismissed me as suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome or something.

Well, what’s up snowflake? It’s now a year later.

I don’t hear you laughing?

        It's about to get REAL serious up in here!

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THE CASH STUFF FOR JANUARY 22, 2026

 PREPARING FOR THE 

2026 MARCH PRIMARIES

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

According to most political observers, the upcoming midterm elections are expected to bring about a dramatic change in congressional, statewide and local offices. Democrats are expected to do well because of voter frustration with the Republican Party, and the policies of Pres. Donald Trump in particular.

Plus, historically, midterm elections usually spell bad news for the administration in the White House at the time, with a dramatic loss of congressional seats, thus weakening the president-in-power’s agenda.

But regardless of what midterm elections have traditionally meant, they can’t mean anything unless voters are properly registered to vote. And make no mistake, midterm elections are extremely important because those are the elections where the party’s general election candidates for November are selected to run.

So it is vitally important for voters to participate in choosing their general election candidates for the fall so that their voices are heard.

        This year, registered North Carolina voters will be ultimately choosing 14 congresspeople, a U.S. senator, a state Supreme Court Justice, three appellate judges, and all 170 legislators in the NC General Assembly for November. Many incumbents indeed face primaries in March.

VOTER REGISTRATION DEADLINE FOR MARCH PRIMARY

According to the NC State Board of Elections, the deadline to be properly registered for the March 3rd, 2026 primary elections is Friday, February 6th at 5 p.m..

If, for some reason, you miss the February 6th deadline to properly register for the March 3rd primary election, you will still have an opportunity to register and vote (or make changes like updating your name or address within the same county if necessary) when you vote in-person during the early voting period.

To be properly registered to vote, you must reside in the county where you are registering for at least 30 days prior to Primary Election Day, in this case Tuesday, March 3rd , 2026.

You can early vote/same day register at any early voting site in your county.

According to the NCSBE, “Same-day registrants must attest to their eligibility and provide proof of where they live. A voter attests to their eligibility by completing and signing the North Carolina voter registration application (available in English or Spanish).”

Registering at an early voting site during the early voting period requires voters to provide proof of residence, including a North Carolina driver’s license; any government -issued photo identification card that displays your current name and address; a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck or other government document that displays your current name and address; documents from  a college (public or private) with the student’s current name and residential address. College documents must also be accompanied with appropriate photo ID. 

The in-person early voting/same-day registration period begins on Thursday, Feb. 12th and ends at 3 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 28th.

        In many counties across the state, there will be no Sunday voting during this period, thus eliminating "Souls to the Polls" Sunday voting for black churches. 

        For more information about preparing to vote in the March 3rd, primary elections, please go to https://www.ncsbe.gov/

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FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER IN NC,

REPUBLICAN VOTERS OUTNUMBER

DEMOCRATIC VOTERS

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

For the first time in North Carolina history, there are more Republican registered voters than there are registered Democrats. And if that startling political change isn’t notable enough, there are now more registered unaffiliated voters than either Republicans or Democrats in the state.

According to the North Carolina State Board of Elections, a survey of the state’s 7.7 million registered voters shows that 38.89% are affiliated, 30.24% are Republican and 30.21% are Democrats. 

That translates to 2,976,558 as unaffiliated; 2,315,067 registered as Republican; and 2,312,990 as Democrat.

The numeric change can be attributed to many younger voters who decided in recent years not to join either established political party, even though they still want to remain politically active and viable to cast a ballot.

Andy Jackson, director of the Civitas Center for Public Integrity at the conservative John Locke Foundation told Carolina Public Press, “So to the extent that Republicans have been able to have their brand be appealing enough for people to stay Republican — and disproportionately compared to Democrats, become Republican — that speaks to some success that they’ve had in the state,” he said. “But this is really a story about the demise of the Democrats, as far as registration goes, more than the rise of the Republicans.”

Western Carolina University Political Science Prof. Chris Cooper says “It wasn’t that long ago really, where we talked about the solid South and that meant the solid Democratic South. And I think what this sort of milestone moment means is, look, that day is gone, dead and buried, right? It is no longer a Democratic South.”

History shows that Democrats formerly dominated North Carolina voting ranks in the 1970s and prior, with Republicans gaining ground in the 1980s and 90s with their direct appeal to white southerners. Independent unaffiliated voters have been steadily gaining ground since 2000.

Prof. Cooper explained the lure of being unaffiliated.

“You get to choose your own adventure. You can choose a different adventure every cycle based on what’s the most competitive or the most interesting, or the one where you think your vote means the most."

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THE CASH STUFF FOR JANUARY 15, 2026

REPUBLICANS ON STATE

BOARD OF ELECTIONS

INTENT ON STOPPING

SUNDAY VOTING

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

When the five-member State Board of Elections met for it’s first session of 2026 last Tuesday, it was clear that the Republican majority was still intent on eliminating Sunday early voting in counties across the state. 

It did. By a party-line vote, the GOP-led board voted to eliminate Sunday voting for the upcoming March primaries in those counties where the issue has not been decided, in addition to eliminating on-campus early voting sites at NC A&T State University and other Guilford County campuses.

Students from NC  A&T demonstrated with protest signs at the meeting even before the controversial decision was made.

When it came to Sunday voting, it was also clear that African-American voters who looked forward to what has become known over the years as “Souls to the Polls,” where black churches  would load up their church vans with congregants after service, and take them to the nearest early voting site so that they could cast their ballots en masse, were intent on protecting what they see is their right to legally  vote on the day of their closing.

But because most black voters are Democrats, Republican lawmakers have tried to kill Sunday voting.

During the SBOE meeting Tuesday, early voting plans for the March primaries were being reviewed when Sunday voting, once again was raised. Republicans have tried to eliminate Sunday voting in the past because of its popularity in black churches, but their efforts to stop the practice were always stymied by court orders that determined those efforts to be racially biased and unconstitutional.

Republicans, in turn, have tried to argue that poll workers deserve a day of rest given an already mandated six-day early voting schedule. But advocates, like SBOE Board members Jeff Carmon and Sioban Miller - both Democrats - countered that the right to vote to African-Americans, especially in the South, was precious, and should be maintained, especially on Sundays if that allows black citizens to execute their right.

"My father, a Vietnam vet, fought for this country — and, he reminded me last night, came home to a country where he still was treated as a second-class citizen," Carmon told his fellow board members. "So he charged me to come in here today and fight."

Carmon then challenged the SBOE Republican chairman.

"At our first meeting with you as chair, you stated you want to have a fair election, make voting easy and make sure the law is followed and make sure that there is trust in the election system,”Carmon told SBOE Chairman Francis De Luca. De Luca  didn’t respond.

But fellow Republican SBOE member Stacy Eggers IV then answered Carmon, saying, "I agree with your sentiments, but we reached a different conclusion.”

The SBOE’s the Democratic member, Siobhan Miller, then made lear that per her personal knowledge, the public has accepted Sunday voting, so why should Republicans want to end it.

"I got 222 emails just yesterday, and I've gotten over 1,000 in the last couple of weeks, and I didn't hear from anyone that said we shouldn't have more voting sites, we shouldn't have Sundays," Millen said. "Every single one, from people that reached out and used their First Amendment right to petition their government, wanted to keep college voting, wanted to keep Sunday voting."

But in the end, when the vote was taken, Sunday voting was defeated.

Spectators at the SBOE meeting also knew that on-campus early voting sites would also be voted down, and loudly let Republicans on the board hear their displeasure. They were warned by SBOE Chairman DeLuca to quiet down, but Democrat Carmon spoke up in their defense.

"I think they should be able to hold their signs up, as long as it's not blocking someone's view," Carmon said. 'We don't have public comment. And they are here, and they want us to know why."

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                                                                 BRIAN BOULWARE

JAMES PERRY

FORMER ST. AUG. BOARD

CHAIRS NO LONGER

SERVING, ACCORDING TO

REPORT

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

A Raleigh television station has reported that two former chairmen of beleaguered St. Augustine’s University (SAU) in Raleigh are no longer members of the trustees board of the small historically black Episcopalian institution, as a condition of a loan agreement to cover its outstanding debts.

WRAL-TV reports that as of  January 7th,  both former St. Aug. Trustee Board chairmen James Perry and Brian Boulware were “ousted” from continued trustee board membership “…as part of a deal with an investment group providing a financial lifeline…. that also offers protection to the school’s valuable Raleigh property against debt claims.”

That investment group is reportedly Self-Help Venture Fund, which, according to WRAL-TV, agreed just within the last two weeks to “…to take over millions of dollars in debt owed by the university, which has been grappling with falling enrollment amid a battle over its accreditation and findings of weak controls over financial reporting."

This reporter confirmed that both Perry and Boulware were no longer listed on the school’s trustee board webpage. WRAL reports that change was made “as of Wednesday (January 7th).” The webpage did not indicate why they were no longer listed, or when they were removed.

The removals are notable because both Perry and Boulware led the university’s trustee board during a controversial period when SAU fell into serious financial and management difficulties, resulting in millions of dollars in lawsuits and failure to pay numerous obligations, including federal back taxes, that made for unpleasant headlines, and led to SAU losing its permanent academic accreditation twice, along with an 81% reduction in campus enrollment by the beginning of its 2025-26 school year.

SAU has had to employ remote learning online in order to cut costs and maintain any student enrollment, after having a graduation class last May of just 25 students. The school also had to win a court injunction to hold onto its academic accreditation while it fights in court to permanently retain it.

According to WRAL-TV, the new financial loan agreement reached between SAU and Self-Help Venture Fund, “…is expected to help address immediate financial obligations and help pay employees, according to messages from university leaders obtained by WRAL. As a condition of the deal, the lender asked for the removal of former Board of Trustees chairmen who were still serving on the board in emeritus roles, according to financial proposals obtained by WRAL”

Reportedly, James Perry told the TV station that he’s no longer serving on the SAU Trustee Board because his term had expired. Brian Boulware said that “…he hasn’t been notified of any removal and was trying to get answers himself.”

SAU’s current trustee board leadership consists of Chair Sophie Gibson of Atlanta, Ga., (the first female chair in the school’s 157 year history) and Vice Chair V. Lynette Mitchell of Williamstown, NJ, the first woman to ever serve in that capacity. Both were elected to board leadership in August 2025.

The school is still fighting to permanently retain its academic accreditation membership in Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.

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HOW BLACKS IN NC

LOST GROUND IN 

2025 (PART 2)

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

As 2026 proceeds, this is Part 2 of a look back at 2025 that raises important questions for African-Americans in North Carolina about how much social and political capital was lost last year, and whether much, if any, can be regained in the coming year.

According to a new study from UNC researchers, one-in-four Black middle school students have had thoughts of suicide, 1-in-6 “made plans to take their own lives, and 1-in-10” actually made a suicide attempt.

In 2025, the Trump Administration moved to permanently close the U.S. Dept. of Education. Maurice “Mo” Green, Democratic state superintendent of NC  Dept. of Public Instruction, issued a statement on X saying, “Dismantling the U.S. Department of Education raises significant concerns for our state’s schools, as federal funding represents nearly 11% of our education budget and supports over 14,000 public school positions.These funds are critical for all of our students, particularly our most vulnerable such as those with disabilities and from low-income families.”

On May 3rd, a class of only 25 students at embattled St. Augustine’s University (SAU) in Raleigh received their diplomas, amid controversy over lost accreditation, and a long expected lawsuit filed by a former president Meanwhile the outstanding debt at the small HBCU continued to mount, forcing SAU to start the 2025 semester totally with remote classes on online. Its interim president left, and questions about SAU’s future grew.

Now that President Trump’s so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” has been passed by Congress and signed into law, political observers, even here in North Carolina, say those living on the margins, especially in the black community, will suffer most because of the largest spending cuts ever, approximately $1 trillion, to the nation’s social safety net.

Dr. Charity Oyedeji, a black Duke University School of Medicine sickle cell anemia hematology researcher, told media outlets across the nation that she received a letter from the federal National Institutes of Health on June 16th, informing her that her $750,000 grant was being slashed. That was bad enough, but the language used in the missive as to why, citing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), was “racist.”

In 2025, the world lost several black notables whose contributions to American life were undeniable.

Black Mountain, NC Grammy Award winning singer Roberta flack passed away at the age of 88. She ill forever be known for the classic ballads “Killing Me Softly with His Song” and “The First Time Ever I Saw His Face.”  

Noted Charlotte defense Attorney James E. “Fergie” Ferguson II, who co-founded North Carolina’s first integrated law firm, worked to successfully desegregate public schools in Charlotte and across the nation, and served as defense attorney for the later exonerated Wilmington Ten, among other noteworthy accomplishments, died at the age of 82. 

He was an inspiration to many young black civil rights attorneys, like Democratic NC Supreme Court Associate justice Anita Earls, who was sadly diagnosed with breast cancer as 2025 ended, but announced that she will continue her reelection bid in 2026.

Another important figure in North Carolina history was U.S. Air Force Major Gen. (Retired) Joseph McNeil of Wilmington at age 83. McNeil, along with three other students at NC A&T University in Greensboro, jumpstarted the stalled civil rights movement in 1961 by violating racial segregation laws by having lunch at an all-white lunch counter in Greensboro in February 1961.

Black voters in North Carolina’s northeastern “Black Belt” counties lost their case against being racially gerrymandered by the NC General Assembly, and with it, the First Congressional District when the Republican-led state legislature redistricted to create a majority GOP district to give Pres. Trump a solid majority in Congress.

The NY Times reports reports that black joblessness rises for the first time in two years because of Trump Administration anti-DEI policies. Black unemployment also rises because the 43 day federal government shutdown.

During that shutdown, millions of poor people suffered when their federal SNAP benefits are cut.

State Rep. Cecil Brockman is forced to resign from the NC General Assembly because of child sex crimes allegations. He is replaced by a white High Point city councilwoman, cost the NC Legislative Black Caucus one member, diminishing its power.

Republican-led county boards of election across the state vote to do away with Sunday early voting that is popular with black “souls to the polls” voters. In Greensboro, the county BOE also votes to do away with early voting sites on the campus of HBCU NC A&T State University.

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