THE CASH COMMENTARY FOR MAY 21, 2026

                                                                  CASH MICHAELS

        TRUMP’S GILDED AGE OF IDOLATRY

          By Cash Michaels

Congratulations, America! Finally, we have a president who admits he truly does not feel our pain. A narrow-minded leader who could give a tinker’s damn about the rising rate of inflation or how the soaring cost of living (due of course, to his starting a never-ending war he got suckered into) is affecting our families.

Now you know me. I always come with the receipts. I have Trump quoted right here, right now, word for word about how much he even cares that the country he’s supposed to be leading, is struggling:

"Not even a little bit. I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing: We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That’s all. That’s the only thing that motivates me."

Unless he’s lying like a three-dollar bill (and he usually does), I for one, believe him. Donald Trump truly doesn’t care… about anyone, but himself, and his low poll numbers show the American people know it!

Still, Trump is spending hundreds of millions of dollars of our money honoring himself and on what he personally wants, whether we like it or not! 

Of course, I’m talking about all of the disgraceful vanity projects the “Emperor of Gilded Idolatry” is having either constructed or created in great tribute to himself and his criminal dynasty all around OUR nation’s Capitol.

It’s an impressive list if you’re into self “arse”- kissing. A billion dollar ballroom, a giant arc, a renovated National Mall reflecting pool, gold commemorative coins, etc.

And here’s the thing - absolutely none of these projects have anything to do with nuclear weapons, meaning that in fact, contrary to his stated preoccupation, something else really does motivate Donald Trump.

Namely, Donald Trump.

Let’s start with his audacious golden remodeling of the Oval Office, shall we?

To be fair, every president gets to remodel the Oval Office when they’re inaugurated. You know, personalize the place some so they feel more at home while they’re starting World War III (GOD forbid).

Those refinements are generally patriotic in nature, and are usually a reflection of each president’s devotion to duty and serving all of America.

But Trump’s Oval Office is very, very different. Outside of a painting of Ronald Reagan and a sculpture of Winston Churchill, the rest of Trump's Oval is a gold-embroidered monstrosity, reflecting this president’s daily devotion to not serving, but actually screwing all of America. The man literally lives to fleece us another day!

Trump’s gold-accented Oval is a daily reminder to him that he serves the rich and powerful, not us. So it should be no surprise that he would leave other indelible reminders behind that will last long after he’s gone (he hopes) that it’s the wealthy of America who have dominion over this country, if not the world.

Clearly Trump’s family carries that flag too, given the way they’re cashing in like fat rats on all of his government "snatch and grab" grift, like his recently disclosed pharma and tech stock purchases.

Besides, we already know that Trump had previously referred to the White House, a.k.a. the “People’s House,” as a “s—thouse,” which partially explains why he took a wrecking ball to the historic East Wing. He also had the Rose Garden cemented, turning it into a hard-surfaced patio for his rich friends and heads of state to mix and mingle in.

        In addition to Trump’s fetish with gold, comes that new $400 million Air Force One he’s been bragging about. According to a recent USA Today story:

The U.S. Air Force announced that flight testing has been completed on the controversial $400 million luxury jet donated by Qatar. The new jet, which has been described as a floating palace with lavish furnishings, will serve as the interim Air Force One to replace the current pair of aging presidential 747s.

USA Today added, “The jet will be repainted in a red, white, blue and gold color scheme approved by Trump".

This will be the most valuable gift a US president has ever accepted from a foreign government, and clearly a violation of the US Constitution's provision known as the Emoluments Clause, that bans such transactions.

But did Trump care?

"I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer," he told reporters recently. "I could be a stupid person and say, ‘No, we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane?” 

        So, apparently, every other president in modern US history was a "stupid person," right?

        Save us, Lord!

Beyond the golden Oval O and gifted $400 million luxury jet, Trump has also started:

- the construction of a $1.4 billion White House "Marie Antoinette" ballroom (which was originally touted to cost $400 million in private funding until Republicans in Congress decided to sponsor a bill raising the price tag almost three times and stiffing taxpayers with it. But the Senate parliamentarian ruled against the legislative language used to secure that funding late Saturday night. So Senate Republicans changed the language for the $1 billion, and tacked it onto an immigration funding bill Tuesday, hoping at press time that would do the trick. In the meantime, Trump has demanded that the Senate parliamentarian be fired.

         Also on Tuesday, Trump went to the construction site, telling reporters that the ballroom is "all paid for by myself" and a "gift" to the American people, with "no taxpayer money" going into it, which obviously makes no sense if the Senate is in the process of jumping  through hoops to pass funding. He added that both the military and Secret Service were also directing construction of special security measures for the building Trump says is his "gift" to us...that we're paying for!

        This from WRAL-TV’s Politifact:

An architectural expert told PolitiFact that separating security features allowed under the legislation from the ballroom would be tricky.

"Security measures must be integrated into the structure and envelope of the building," said Sara Bronin, an architect and a law professor at the George Washington University Law School. "Unless Congress places clear constraints on the way this money will be spent, taxpayers may end up footing most of the bill."

        Thanks, Politifact. For a minute there, I truly thought Trump and Senate Republicans assumed we weren’t paying attention.

        Other self-aggrandizing Trump projects include:

- renovating the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to be an American flag blue, to the tune of over $13 million paid to Trump’s N.J. golf club  “pool guy”; 

                - construction of a 250-foot “Independence Arch” (just under half the size of the towering 555-ft Washington Monument) across from the Potomac River;

- a 250-statue “National Garden of American Heroes” in West Potomac Park featuring some of Trump personal heroes (though, surprise, surprise, the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan isn't listed as one of them); 

          - changing the renamed John F. Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts, which saw Trump rudely add his name in front of our beloved late president's a few months ago after taking over the board, and announcing that the once cherished facility will close for two years as of July 1st for $200 million in renovations after performers immediately began cancelling their bookings in protest.

        Forbes Magazine reports:

The Trump administration is expected to spend at least $162.5 million on projects at and around the U.S. Capitol, in addition to the $1.4 billion ballroom—though the actual cost is likely to be much higher.

        Ya think?!!!

By the way, let’s see just how high that Independence Arch will actually be built to. I read that at 250-feet, it could interfere with the flight path of some of the air traffic on final approach into Reagan Airport, and Lord knows the sky there is too congested already.

No, we haven’t forgotten the 22-foot golden statue of “Don Colossus” raising his defiant fist that was recently dedicated at the Trump National Doral Miami golf course. We don’t know who paid for it, but since we strive to stay accurate around here...!

        Now if you truly want a poison pill chaser to go with that hemlock, then don’t forget that beyond wanting to add his name and face to everything at our expense, “Emperor” Trump, using the White House's official communications apparatus, issued images online of him portraying himself as the Pope and Jesus Christ, suggesting a sickening and disgraceful sacrilegious superiority complex there seems to be no end to.

Hey, you hardheaded MAGA folks, have you read enough? Apparently your gas, food and cost of living are a lot cheaper than it is for the rest of us! Watching you vote the way he told you to vote in recent GOP primary election races made clear that you don't want to think for yourselves, and that's a damn shame.

Don’t forget your MAGAmaster’s infamous words about him “caring” about you: "Not even a little bit. I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody.”

How’s that for his MAGA loyalty to you? 

So what’s the point of bringing up Trump’s expensive penchant for self-flatulence, most of it on the public dole? 

Simple. Symbols are deeply cherished by Americans, especially when it comes to defining what freedom, liberty and democracy have always meant to us as a 250-year-young nation. Our flag, various monuments to historical figures and events, the naming of important buildings in tribute to those whom we choose to honor after they’re gone, carry deep patriotic meaning for us as a nation. 

All of this is very important because we, the people own this country, no one else. We bestow these honors as a grateful nation to those who have bravely, and unselfishly served us, sometimes giving their last measure. Sure several presidents have instituted various renovation and construction projects in the past, but absolutely nothing on the size or scale of what Trump is pulling, and certainly nothing to pay tribute to themselves.

So when a convicted criminal like “Don Colossus” comes along and insidiously claims ownership of our country by plastering his name, face and memorials all over Washington without the people’s consent (at least three federal buildings currently feature extremely large banners with Trump’s 2023 criminal mugshot on them; there is the limited edition Trump passport, again with his mugshot image; and passes to our national parks also sport his dower mug for entry); in addition to him renaming the U.S. Institute of Peace; becoming the first president in history to have his signature on American currency; and a "Trump-class" of naval battleships named after him; that calls into question what the hell is next.

I mean, no one is stopping Trump. The man could build himself a diamond-studded bridge from the White House to the U..S. Capitol at this point, and our elected officials who are supposed to stop him, wouldn’t lift a finger.

And yet, that’s exactly the reason why all of this insane Trump self-idolatry is happening - because no one is even trying to stop him. Certainly not the Republicans, and Democrats have little power right now to do it. And he knows it! Trump is not going to cease this mess until, and unless, he wants to.

That’s NOT the way this country is supposed to work! 

We have laws, rules and restrictions built into our democracy and system of government to prevent exactly what we see happening right now, and the courts overall are too slow. But those guardrails can’t work unless we make them work.

Yes, Trump is doing any damn thing he wants, but it’s our fault that he’s able to even think he can.

This craziness is what happens when we don’t vote in numbers that make a real difference. Certainly we should always vote for the type of government we want and need, but we should also vote against the crazy foolishness like we have going on right now to ensure that we never again get the kind of power-hungry ”Master of the Universe” in office we clearly have in there presently.

Donald Trump is not a joke, though there are times when there are obvious questions as to exactly how much off his rocker he actually is. He may act crazy frequently, but believe me, a good deal of that act is his way of keeping the rest of us off-balance while he’s making his next move. Before you know it, he’s done something else that wasn’t even near anybody’s radar, let alone on it, like that shifty deal Trump just cut between his Attorney General and his IRS to "forever" and "preclude" his or his family's taxes from being officially reviewed, audited, or any Trump be prosecuted for tax problems ever again. The rest of us have to pay our fair share, but if your name is Trump, don't worry about it it.

        If that isn't walking on water, I don't know what is!

Trump wants monuments built honoring what he actually is, a master criminal, someone who has not only corrupted the system, but rewritten the rules to conquer the greatest nation in the history of the world, and doing so by violating every societal norm in the book. Somehow, we, the people, must weigh-in to stop this madness! Trump is out-of-control, and handing us the bill for it!

         I wholeheartedly agree with what Trump’s vice president,  J.D. Vance, told folks recently during a speech somewhere earlier this week: "If you want to rebuild the American dream for the next generation, vote against the crazy leadership in Washington DC.”

Frankly, when a Republican accidentally tells the truth these days, I quite honestly don’t know what else to say.

Trump indeed deserves an edifice named after him alright, and if I had my way, he would start building it right now… with taxpayer money no less!

And when it’s finished, he can call it the DONALD JOHN TRUMP CORRECTIONAL CENTER FOR THE CRIMINALLY INCLINED.

In fact, I invite him to be the very first inma...I mean "occupant" of the place, and be locked up in a 14k gold prison cell for the rest of his natural life, with a platinum-plated toilet bowl right next to his luxurious mink-covered double-bunk bed (in case one of his enterprising family members has also been convicted of illegally getting rich off of some of Daddy’s conflict-of-interest government "weasel deal" schemes,  and would like to share a cell with him).

        Gold, platinum and mink. Why all of that, you ask?

        Because as long as it keeps Donald Trump locked up and off the streets, no matter what it's made of, it's still a prison.

What a special honor and tribute that would be… for ALL of us!!!

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THE CASH STUFF FOR MAY 21, 2026

                                         

        Raleigh police say at least 20 dormitory windows were broken by vandals on the near-vacant campus of embattled St. Augustine's University in Raleigh. The private HBCU recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors. 

AS SAU DEALS WITH

BANKRUPTCY, PROPERTY 

IS VANDALIZED

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

While St. Augustine’s University (SAU) in Raleigh deals with the reality of  Chapter 11 bankruptcy and giving up its fight to reclaim its academic accreditation, vandals have caused at least $10,000 worth of damage to buildings on the deserted 160 year-old campus, Raleigh police say, including 20 broken windows.

All of this occurring while the embattled private Episcopalian HBCU is reportedly interested is selling off some of its 105-acre property in order to stay afloat.

As reported previously, along with the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing several weeks ago, the Self-Help Ventures Fund, a Durham-based nonprofit group that helps underserved communities with financing challenges, agreed to loan SAU millions to meet many of its outstanding obligations, provided the school cut ties with two of its board members who previously served as chairman and vice chairman.

The school also had to give up its legal battle to retain its eligibility for permanent accreditation. Without accreditation, SAU cannot receive federal student financial aid. Thus, SAU has implemented teach-out agreements for current students to finish their studies at other schools, like Shaw University across town. That, along with non-degree nursing and technical certificates, and apprenticeship programs.

According to published reports from a May 12th bankruptcy hearing in federal court, an attorney for SAU reiterated that the school owes between $50 million to $100 million in debts to well over 300 creditors. “There are some initial thoughts that there will be some sale of real and personal property that the university does not need at this point,” Atty Clara Rogers told the court about the early stages of a plan under consideration. “The hope is, of course, to be able to keep the core campus of the university and maybe sell some of the periphery.”

Currently, SAU is bringing in at least $10,000 per month from the rental of some of its apartment property in the neighborhood, and revenue from some other small properties owned elsewhere.

However, parts of the SAU campus are listed on the National Historic Registry, which would complicate any potential sale, Atty Rogers added.

One eyeopening fact that was revealed in bankruptcy court was that the new interim SAU president, Verjanis Peoples, who took over before the school’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, earns $125,000 a year in salary.

Upon hearing that, given SAU’s documented financial struggles, bankruptcy administrator Brian Behr told the court, “It’s not a number that shocks the conscience, but I guess it depends on the conscience.” 

It was also revealed that SAU has not filed its 2024 or 2025 tax returns yet, and needs to borrow another $2 million from Self Help to continue current operations. That was inclusive of $95,000 in payroll by May 15th, $82,000 to meet a subsequent payroll by May, 31st, in addition to $29,000 in utilities, $22.000 for tech services and $18,000 for repairs and maintenance.

The bankruptcy judge authorized an initial $200,000 of the $2 million request.

The next bankruptcy hearing is scheduled for May 27th.

Meanwhile, people living in the neighborhood of what was once a thriving, vibrant black college campus, have voiced concerns about its future amid reports of vandals taking advantage of boarded up buildings, empty classrooms, destroyed fencing and broken windows.

And nearby residents and alumni say it hurts to see the home of the Falcon nation in such failing disrepair.

“I hate that it’s come to this,” Ms. Gail Scheck, who lives across the street from the campus, told WRAL-TV. “I would give anything for some powerful people with a lot of money to come in and save the school and bring it back to what it was and what it could be.”

Only a handful of staff  and faculty members have frequented the campus since SAU went to virtual learning months ago amid it’s financial and accreditation challenges.

Reportedly, only one security guard out of a force of five is on duty generally, the school's attorney says, which may contribute to vandals invading the property and causing damage.

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BLACK DEMOCRATS DROP

REDISTRICTING LAWSUIT 

AFTER VRA RULING

By Cash Michaels

In the aftermath of the stunning U.S. Supreme Court Louisiana v. Callais ruling that essentially crippled Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA) and further outlawed racial gerrymandering, two NC African-American Democrats - one a state legislator - have voluntarily dropped their federal lawsuit appeal against the state and NC Board of Elections.

Rep. Rodney Pierce (D- Halifax) and Moses Matthews, a second African-American plaintiff dropped their federal lawsuit appeal against the NC Republican-led legislature that claimed its 2023 redistricting map diluted Black voting strength in the northeastern part of the state, commonly known as the “Black Belt.”

The appeal, which was pending in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, specifically targeted the redrawing of state Senate districts 1 and 2, which plaintiffs Pierce and Matthews alleged was deliberately redrawn by the NC General Assembly to deny black voters their choice of representation, as previously assured by Section 2 of the VRA.

A federal judge had dismissed that claim in a ruling last September, and that decision was appealed subsequently.

But less than two weeks after the Louisiana v. Callais decision was rendered on April 29th, weakening the Section 2 of the VRA, the two plaintiffs in the North Carolina case filed a “stipulation of dismissal” with the 4th Circuit appellate court.

In turn, that court issued an order of dismissal of the appeal “with prejudice,” meaning that Rep. Pierce and Mr. Mathews cannot ever refile their lawsuit or appeal. The plaintiffs also have to assume some of the costs of their litigation.

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THE CASH COMMENTARY FOR MAY 14, 2026

                                                                   CASH MICHAELS

                                         OLD JESSE WOULD BE PROUD

                                                       By Cash Michaels

Boy, oh boy, Sen. Jesse Helms must be smiling wide from the grave, crooked glasses and all, right now.

Especially after the recent ruling by the US Supreme Court in the Louisiana redistricting case effectively killing the Voting Rights Act, and the Trump administration’s overall bad attitude towards Democrats, liberals and black people…all of Old Jesse’s pet peeves.

In case either you don’t recall, or just don’t know, Sen. Helms was the one-man wrecking ball of Republican Party politics back in the day (he spent 30 years in the US Senate starting in the 1970’s). One thing about the man from Monroe, though, you always knew where he stood on the issues, and he didn’t give a lick what you thought about it, or him.

That was especially true of his stand on racial politics.

To say Jesse Helms had a serious problem with the ’60s civil rights movement, which he opined was filled with communists and “moral degenerates,” is an understatement. All one had to do was listen to some of his infamous hot button editorials on WRAL-TV in the ’60’s to realize that “We Shall Overcome” was NOT one of his favorite tunes.

Jesse even called liberal UNC at Chapel Hill "The University of Negroes and Communists.” Bet THAT went over well with the alumni association.

While most of the world thought highly of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his courageous leadership in trying to end racial segregation in the South through nonviolence, Helms blatantly tagged Dr. King as a “communist sympathizer”; alleged that King dishonestly used nonviolence “as a provocation;” unsuccessfully attempted to block passage of the MLK national federal holiday, while openly supporting the racist white separatist regime in South Africa; and had the gall to say that “Too often, racism is used as a smear word.”

To put a nice ribbon on this certainly incomplete Jesse Helms racial politics package, “Senator No,” as he was so affectionately known as, infamously filibustered against renewal of the 1965 Voting Rights Act in 1982 “until the cows [came] home,” he then blustered.

In his fundraising letters to conservative supporters, Helms plainly admitted, "I'm not going to get any black votes, period." 

Clearly just by this very limited list alone, Jesse Helms certainly had no love for, or interest in, bettering the lives and civil rights of African-American citizens in this country, and proudly made that no secret.

Just like the aging, out of control Republican narcissist we have in the White House today.

I agree with respected NC Spin columnist and former advisor and political consultant to Gov. Jim Hunt, Gary Pearce, when he wrote in a January 2024 column, “Helms would be perfectly at home in Donald Trump’s Republican Party. Like Trump, Helms was a racist.”

Like Trump, Helms was devoted to stopping black political and social progress at any cost.

As Mr. Pearce astutely asserted then, Old Jesse would have been right at home today with what’s going on in our country, and pleased as punch that we’ve turned the clock back to before the 1965 Voting Rights Act even existed.

Indeed, it would take someone with Old Jesse’s brazen opposition to racial equality to pat themselves on the back after the Supreme Court’s stupefying ruling demolishing the VRA, effectively diluting the voting rights of African-Americans in this country, especially throughout the South. But that’s exactly what we saw and heard from at least one gleeful Republican last week.

Guess who?

“The kind of ruling I like,” bellowed a grinning Trump, who is pushing as many red states in the South as possible to start redistricting for the upcoming midterms to hopefully keep control of Congress, using black voting rights as a doormat to do it.

For example, the ruby red state of Tennessee, which last week was the first to redraw its only black Democratic majority-minority voting district in Memphis, is now adding insult to injury by, as of this writing, preparing a “…change to the law that may make it harder for many of these [black] voters to cast their ballots. Republicans are pushing to remove the requirement that [black] voters be notified when their assigned polling places change, a move which will likely cause confusion and prevent eligible [black] voters from casting their ballots,” according to Blavity News and other news outlets.

Tennessee officials claim the move is to “save money” by not having to inform black voters about where their new polling places in Memphis will be, but political scientist Norman Ornstein, a contributing editor to The Atlantic magazine, called the proposed change in the law “Jim Crow on steroids.”

I bet Trump will like that ruling too! Old Jesse certainly would!

Let’s be fair here, and also check Trump’s record on shamelessly weaponizing race against black people, starting with his war…not against Iran, but diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

Since taking office for his second term in 2025, Trump has used his power of executive orders to outlaw DEI in federal agencies across the government, and also to force colleges and universities, private corporations and state governments like North Carolina to also drop and prohibit their DEI policies that ensured workplace equity, proper research funding, and educational programs that promoted black history.

Those anti-DEI orders also put a stop to programs like workforce training and equity-focused grants that directly helped black communities. Trump’s anti-DEI orders also cut the federal workforce by an estimate of some 342,000, many of whom were African-Americans. And a considerable number of  those were women, particularly in the Dept of Education, which was ultimately dismantled.

One of the most prominent black terminations, and there were many, was Ms. Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress, the first woman and first African-American ever to hold that distinguished position. Published reports say she was fired by email for being perceived as “woke.”

Over at Trump’s “Dept. of War,” his secretary in charge, Pete Hegseth, has made no secret of his disdain for blacks and women in the upper ranks, firing as many as he can get away with, even during an ongoing war, and apparently with his boss’s approval. 

That included General Charles Q. Brown Jr., Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a four-star general with over 40 years of service as a fighter pilot, among others. 

Needless to say, Trump hasn’t said a word about the sharp rise in black unemployment on his watch. When he took office in January 2025, it was 6.2. Last November, 8.2. And just last month, 7.3.

Think those unemployed African-Americans can even afford to look for work with gas prices now staring at five dollars a gallon, and the cost of living overall going up?

Back at the White House, published reports note that “ Trump has overturned an executive order signed by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965 to jettison a requirement that federal contractors must enforce rules against segregation in their workplaces”

Yes, you read that right. LBJ issued an executive order in 1965 that required federal contractors to ensure rules against segregation in their workplaces, and Trump threw it out, meaning if a private company being paid with your tax dollars decides to allow whites to use a certain bathroom, and forces blacks to use another, like back during the days of Jim Crow, that would not be illegal. It could start a movement to undo decades of anti-discrimination laws per the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and in states with similar civil rights protections across the country.

The ACLU condemned Trump’s pro-segregation order, saying it “is not only undoing decades of federal anti-discrimination policy, spanning Democratic and Republican presidential administrations alike, but also marshaling federal enforcement agencies to bully both private and government entities into abandoning legal efforts to promote equity and remedy systemic discrimination."

None of that can happen, you say? The Trump Administration has already ordered the Departments of Homeland Security, Commerce, and the National Institute of Health to notify staff “…overseeing federal contracts that they should begin instituting the changes outlined in Trump's executive order,” according to The Independent and other news outlets.

Trump knows this will eventually end up in a federal court someplace, and most likely his conservative-led U.S. Supreme Court one day. We’ve already seen where the high court majority’s heads are at, so don’t think right-wing geniuses like Roberts, Alito and Thomas couldn’t, again, justify giving Trump just what he wants. We’re already headed down that road.

Besides, Trump is on record telling The New York Times last January that as a result of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, white people, and white men particularly, were treated “very badly.” So he’s game for bear.

Several opinion writers beyond yours truly have been tracking what Andrew Greene of NewsBreak said best, “…the fuller picture of Trump’s second term [has come] into focus. It is a picture of targeting. A picture of erasure. A picture of a president who ran on “law and order” but has systematically dismantled the laws designed to protect Black Americans from discrimination, and the people who enforce them. The verdict is not subtle: Donald Trump has waged a war on Black Americans unmatched in modern presidential history. From his first day back in the White House, he has used the machinery of the federal government to target, remove, and silence Black leadership, erase civil rights protections that stood for decades, and accelerate an economic reversal that is leaving Black families behind.

By the way, it is by no accident that the same man who was charged with racial discrimination by the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development way back in the late 1970’s when both he and his Ku Klux Klan father, realtor Fred Trump, refused to rent apartments to black people in NY, has now ordered an end to federal enforcement actions based on racial discrimination housing complaints, thus deliberately undermining the Fair Housing Act of 1968. 

Shamefully, I could go on and on with further, documented evidence of President Trump’s disdain for black people, from openly saying stuff like certain less desirable people from  “s--thole countries like Haiti” who come here, are “eating the cats and eating the dogs”; to posting artificial intelligence memes portraying Barack and Michelle Obama, the black former president and First Lady of the United States, as apes, and refusing to apologize for it.

But you get the picture. All of this racist stuff, part of Trump’s MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN mantra and movement, is actually making America a disgrace. But as I said before, if Old Jesse Helms were here, he’d take one look around, and then turn to Trump and say, “Donald, I just love what you’ve done with the place! And to whom you’ve done it to!

There was a refreshing difference between Helms’ tenure during the 70’s - 90’s, and Trump’s tenure of disaster now, however.

During Helms’ time in the U.S. Senate, even though he was raising all sorts of hell trying to make life tougher for black people, he was usually yanked back by moderate Republicans like senators Howard Baker, Lowell Weicker and Ted Stevens - reasonable people who joined with Democratic senators like Teddy Kennedy and yes, Joe Biden, to make good, sound public policy, like the 1982 renewal of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act - considered the most important piece of legislation in American history because it gave both teeth and empowerment to the citizenship status of African-Americans before the U.S. Supreme Court chiseled most of it away.

Yes, back when conservative dinosaurs like Jesse Helms and Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina roamed the Earth, we had societal and political protections in place, like moderate, principled Republicans who had the good sense to put country before party and obey the Constitution.

Not anymore!

Today, we’ve got lily-livered right-wing GOP’ers like Speaker Mike Johnston who wear the pinkest panties imaginable when it comes to standing up for the Constitution, and standing up to Donald Trump, letting him get any damn thing he wants, including possibly a billion dollar White House ballroom now, while Americans are suffering from sea to shining sea.

There are no moderate, principled Republicans willing to even show their faces in public today. That would require real courage and class. Nothing to reliably pull us back from the brink…unless ALL people of good will get out there and vote to save this country this November!

        You know, I’m kinda surprised that Helms and Trump didn't meet at a campaign fundraising event something, like during the 1970’s, when Trump was going to all of those Jeffrey Epstein parties. But I’m pretty sure Old Jesse has never been to one of those. Not his style. His segregationist buddy Strom Thurmond may have, however. He liked young girls. After all, didn’t Strom father a child with his black teenage housekeeper in 1925 or something? And we didn't find out about Strom's biracial daughter until 2003, long after he died, did we?

I tell ya, these loudmouth racists with their high moral hate and better-than-thou pseudo-"Christian" values,  sometimes can’t even stick to the script, can they?

Anyway, with the coast clear now for conservatives, someone just like Old Jesse is having the time of his life as long as he wants to with his angry, ugly racist policies. 

        And someone just like Old Jesse, in fact, is!

Hey, shhh! Keep the noise down, or else you’ll miss hearing Old Jesse down under. He’s stopped smiling.

In fact, I can hear him laughing out loud now.

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