Politics – Page 6 – P.S. A Column On Things

Trump

November 16, 2025

“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.”
–Probably not Sinclair Lewis

“When fascism comes to America, it will not be in brown and black shirts. It will not be with jackboots. It will be Nike sneakers and smiley shirts.”
–George Carlin

Posted at 10:44 pm Permalink 1 Comment

Hungry Federal Workers

October 27, 2025

Help me before I post again. I didn’t want to send another all points email, so instead I am doing an interstitial post that people who read the column on Tuesday or later will see.

A lot of federal workers are just working stiffs, for whom a month without pay is difficult,

Support federal workers struggling with paying for food after a month. A donation of $1=2 meals.
https://www.capitalareafoodbank.org/donate/
Charity Navigator says this foodbank is 100% legit

Posted at 6:01 pm Permalink No Comments

Don’t Fail To Miss It

October 26, 2025

Yes, I know that joke from a half-century ago is wearing thin. For those of who who find part of this column tl;dr, how about not too long;list? Or you can pass this link on to some podcast person so they can hear me out. No More Kings Special Podcast.

Posted at 9:27 pm Permalink No Comments

No Kings: No Matter What MAGA says, important.

October 22, 2025

This is a Dragnet commentary. Just the facts.

I was infuriated when I accidentally read a commentary on Yahoo: It was the largest protest in US history. It was also embarrassingly irrelevant by Paul du Quenoy of the Palm Beach Freedom Institute.

I was gnashing my teeth, which is why, once again, I am doing an interstitial post and flagging it for readers. Events just seem to call for it.

First of all, it was generous of him to admit it was the largest protest in U.S. history: four of the five largest protests in American history have been aimed at trump.

duQuenoy called the demonstration feckless and compared it to Vietnam protests, about which he was dubious. I wouldn’t usually bother responding, since most of you haven’t seen the commentary, and bringing attention to it may increase, rather than decrease, its circulation. However, I am rebutting it because I strongly dislike analysis that is missing important facts. If you bake a cake without the eggs and milk, you are leaving out important ingredients and the end result will be quite inedible. Same goes for leaving context out of commentaries.

Every point he made has been made vociferously by MAGA politicians and analysts. He may even be MAGA himself. Pernicious ideas spread. As Winston Churchill said, paraphrasing ancient wisdom, “A lie is halfway round the world before the truth has got its boots on.” Let’s get our boots on now.

duQuenoy called No Kings protests pointless and compared them to Vietnam protestsm which he also considered pointless. I was there; the protests drove Lyndon Johnson out of office and pressured Richard Nixon to keep his promise to end the war, which he did years later.

He criticized the protests as a forum for old people. Turns out old people outvote young people 70% to 40%. As they say in politics, “Old people vote.”

Pointless? Hope is worth something. Many angry people now know that they are not alone, and that there are so many of us that trump’s Black Masks cannot arrest all of us. He complains there are no leaders. True of the Vietnam protests as well. You see Paul, when there are no leaders, there is no one to arrest.

Was there a single agenda? No. Was there a single motivation for the protests? Yes, trump. Did they allow millions to blow off steam with healthy free expression? Yes. duQuenoy stands for free speech! He should be applauding. Unless, as so many do, he means “free speech for people who think like me.”

Missing completely is the 3.5% rule, a postulation by historians. You’d think that as a history professor he would be familiar with the concept. If 3.5% of the people actively revolt against a regime, the regime is finished.

Well, here we come with that silly context again. In this case, we are talking about 267 million Americans over age 18. The demonstration included 2.6% of the relevant population. Even more if you count people with lives and soccer games, people who had to work that day because of a rapidly failing economy. Those groups may push us to 3.5% already. Is there anyone who went to No More Kings day who doesn’t know at least one person who wanted to be there, but for one reason or another, couldn’t attend?

We may even be doing better than 3.5%. When I worked in newspapers and television, it was believed that every letter or phone call represents 10 more people that hold the same opinion.

This analysis stems from the same frustration that begat PSACOT during the Clinton impeachment; I found that shouting at the newspaper, the TV and the radio wasn’t enough. I felt my opinions were worth spreading, and I am doing so again today. If I relieve just one person from a little of their frustration and anger, using a fact-based approach to determining the value of the protests, I have done God’s work.

Pernicious ideas spread. This commentary collected all the things about No Kings I think are wrong. I will not demonize or dehumanize the author, just because we disagree. Unlike trump, I do not wish to arrest him or destroy the Palm Beach Freedom Institute for disagreeing with me.

FACTS ABOUT THE AUTHOR

It is left as an exercise to the reader to determine where the Palm Beach Freedom Institute stands on the political spectrum. It says DEI is anathema and is destroying American life and academia. It celebrates “the exceptionalism of the American experience.” Just ask the National Park Service and the Smithsonian how that works out and where it comes from.

I am not making this up, nor quoting it out of context. Check out their website, although I’d rather you didn’t, since it would increase their traffic and raise them via the Google algorithm.