MUCH ADO ABOUT THE WRONG THINGS

There has been so much talk, analysis, and criticism in the media about the indictment of Director James Comey and the appointments of President Trump’s personal lawyers to head U.S. Attorney’s offices (Lindsay Halligan in the Eastern District of Virginia and Alina Habba in the District of New Jersey).

When Mr. Comey was in power, he investigated people he believed to be wrongdoers and referred their cases to the prosecutors. Now the people he investigated, the president and his advisors among them, are in power, they investigated and now indicted him. Politically, his prosecution may not look good for the government, but legally, it is our cherished, normal American way of life.

The American Grand Jury can indict a ham sandwich? -Blame the grand jury institution not the prosecutors. The prosecutor in the case of Mr. Comey, a former insurance lawyer, has no prosecutorial experience? -Good for Mr. Comey as the case may not go past the U.S. District Court level. Prosecutors and lawyers read the same book, study the same case law and precedents. There is no reason why a lawyer cannot be a prosecutor.

These topics have taken so much writing and TV time, and the public is distracted from scrutinizing other matters in the news that may fundamentally affect our life: why does Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth summoned hundreds of generals to a meeting in Quantico with no agenda provided to them? Why does the government continue sending military forces to cities all over the country when there is no emergency requiring such deployments? Why does the president claim Portland is “war-ravaged” so he wants to send military troop there? Local leaders say it is “unnecessary”, and the city is “safe and calm”. Is it domestic war game or urban warfare exercise preparing the military for things to come?

Those are questions more important than whether a lawyer can act competently as a prosecutor.

JOHN P. LE PHONG                                                                                         (This article appears on X, Facebook, and thelephongjournal.com)

SYMPTOMS OF THE DECLINE OF DEMOCRACY (Or The Incompetence of Its Defenders)

The U.S. Military struck Venezuela’s two boats, killing 14 people. What is the reaction of the Democrats: “We don’t know if it is legal”.

ICE men wrestle a Democratic U.S. senator to the ground at a rally because “he looked like one of them”. Democrats’ reaction: “we don’t know if it’s legal”.

The federal government moved military personnel into Los Angeles, then D.C., and soon Memphis, New Orleans, and Chicago. “We don’t know if it is legal”.

ICE men executed a raid on a Hyundai’s factory, arrested, handcuffed, detained many South Koreans who were working there legally. The Democrats’ reaction: a bewildered silence.

The government exerted tremendous pressure on the supposedly independent Federal Reserve to change its policies to its liking and now tries to fire one of its governors. “We don’t know if it is legal.”

So, what do you know?

That’s an indication of how weak the Democrats are. They have probably misunderstood politics and how it works in modern times.

After the shooting of a Democratic state senator seriously injuring him and his wife, the same man, a short while later, shot and killed a former Democratic Speaker of the House of Minnesota and her husband. The shooter was described by multiple sources as a Republican. The Democrats chose to play decent politicians and refused to take the low road of exacerbating the already muddy political water. They looked noble. They thought they were showing high-browed statesmanship – until they saw how MAGA Republicans reacted to the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Witnessing his memorial in Arizona attended by 90,000 people in State Farm Stadium with a capacity of only 63,000, Democrats must have murmured “Eureka”: that was real politics. That’s how you take a bad situation and bend the wind to blow your way to the fullest without creating chaos. You must show passion and enthusiasm like when Vice President JD Vance heatedly blamed Governor Gavin Newsom for … the shooting at a Dallas ICE facility.

In a world where even moral principles and religious tenets do not sway the voting population let alone chivalry and gentlemanliness, what do you have to persuade people to vote for you but your passionate belief in what is right and what is wrong?

Politics in America is no longer about ideologies, or symbiosis living togetherness in a utopia. It is a cold chess game between two sides: Democrats versus Republicans, who have been extremely well organized and effectively pushed by MAGA. Any talk about values, ideologies, taking the country back, rampant immigration, etc. is only secondary. The first and most important task is to win the game and of course understand what it is and how to win it.

The game can be succinctly summarized in one word: money – how to accumulate it and how to use it. A Katana sword was a piece of metal to most of us, but in the hand of a Samurai, it was an effective weapon, winning battle after battle for their bosses. Money for most people is really good for a hamburger, a car, or a house. But in the hands of the financiers, it is the ultimate tool to control people and even countries because they control, totally, the financial system. Since J.P. Morgan, they have never loosened their grip on the money system, as differentiated from money itself, therefore their power on national and now world politics. Owners of billion-dollar companies don’t necessarily have any decisive say in this control system or are members of this exclusive club. Unfortunately for Democrats and probably Democracy itself, this Club seems to think that democratic norms and moral decency must now be set aside, and an American Monarchy or Oligarchy should replace it.

When people have power, they wield them until they meet a counter force. Uday Hussein would just stop his car in the street to snatch women at will. Horrible, but everyone knew he could do it in Iraq and nobody expected him to restrain himself from behaving abominably.

In a Democratic society, we take for granted that our check and balance mechanism works effectively to prevent such abuse of power. Democracy affords everyone freedom of speech, political rights, law and order, etc. But another function of utmost importance for Democracy and its defenders is to protect itself against attack not just from the outside but also from the inside. Democrats don’t seem to find an effective counterforce to protect themselves and Democracy from gradual but relentless attacks against them and the Democratic foundational institutions. They should have copied a few Republican down-to-earth tactics. Instead, they love their high horse and look ridiculous for being out of touch with American political reality.

The political game in the U.S. is played by two players, Democratic Party and Republican Party, both vying to outdo the other to gain power, and both staying or should have stayed vigilant against the other’s scheme to obtain absolute power. It was not like the Republicans stealthily came out of a shadow to take Washington. They have never hidden their agenda. They even published a manifesto, Project 2025. Given the American White Revolt, the Democrats may be afforded some leeway when they are judged against their total failure in 2024. But they should not escape their responsibility for not being diligent and skillful enough to detect the mood of the voting population and strategize accordingly.

The will of the people counts only in a Democracy as the effective force against abusive political behavior. If the people do not favor democratic virtues and institutions but support and welcome dictatorial behavior or even a dictatorship, it will be hard for the Democrats to survive with a humble life, let alone triumph. They should have thought, definitely with the aid of AI, of this possibility years ago, long before 2016. Now, they should not wait for the Republicans’ excesses to turn the people’s sentiment against them. They must come up with their own plan to win the hearts and minds of the people.

That plan must include a consideration that MAGA Republicans, assisted by the supposedly best AI, may have charted their way forward 50 years or even 100 years ahead of time, with a chapter detailing their anticipation of the Democrats’ planned actions and their own plan to preempt them..

JOHN P. LE PHONG

(This article appears in thelephongjournal.com, on Facebook, and X)

EXCERPT FROM A PERFECT PRESIDENCY – CARROZZA

Carrozza stepped out of the limousine to face a young attendant in a black suit.

“Madame, please follow me.”

She turned to look at her luggage being piled neatly on a cart to make sure that her large skin care and makeup bag was among them.

“Thank you, young man.”

“You are welcome. The Chief Usher will be here at any moment. Oh, here she is.”

Chief Usher Betsy Adegoke formerly Betsy Freeman walked toward Carrozza with a broad smile in long and purposeful strides, “Welcome to the White House, Ms. Carrozza.”

Carrozza discreetly glanced around but did not see Aurora. Well, she said to herself, she is a busy high-ranking government official, she cannot run down the stairs to meet an old friend.

The Chief Usher clarified the matter, “The First Lady will return tomorrow. She is aware of your visit and has sent her greetings.”

“Where is she?”

Ten seconds had passed before Adegoke said, “I am not privy to the First Lady’s schedule. I was told only that she would return tomorrow. Would you please follow me?”

They took the elevator to the second floor. Adegoke went ahead to open the door to the Lincoln Bedroom. The free-spirited Ms. Carrozza had been silent since leaving the elevator. She was in awe: she was actually walking in the White House on the second floor where the president of the United States of America was living. She followed Adegoke through the door into the Lincoln Bedroom and felt her knees were about to buckle. The room, part of a guest suite that included a sitting room, was even larger than her sumptuous bedroom suite at her mansion in the Hamptons. It was redecorated by First Lady Laura Bush in exquisite taste with light brown patterned wallpaper, emerald and gold geometric designed carpet, rich silk brocatelle window hangings, and a cornice over the bed.

Adegoke’s voice woke her up from a daze, “The president has a cabinet meeting, and the First Lady is not in residence. You can have dinner outside. There are many gourmet restaurants in D.C. One of my staff can assist you with choosing a good one. Since you’ve just arrived, I suggest that you order your meal from the White House kitchen so you can have more time to relax and rest. The White House’s chef is one of the best in the country. It’s my opinion.”

“Thanks Betsy, I take your offer. I am sleeping in the White House, why not take a White House bath and eat the White House food, right? Right?” Ms. Carrozza giggled. She stopped when she saw the erect Chief Usher’s face unmoved with her hands clasped together.

As Adegoke was leaving the room, Carrozza mumbled to herself, “That’s why the weasel is not here to greet me.” She meant Richardson. She closed the door and went straight to the bathroom.

 

THE WAR OF THE POLITICAL AIs

For a long time before the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton was a star.  She looked beautiful, poised, confident, intelligent, clear-minded, decisive, and decent, an American lady, a sweeter and more approachable version of Margaret Thatcher. When the Democrats nominated her to be their candidate for president, she was considered a sure bet to be the first female president of the U.S.

Then something unusual happened: a technologist, Peter Thiel, who was not a politician was asked to give a speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention. Then, remarkable things were revealed: the technologist was the force behind the demise of Gawker Media, the lead in the move to kick Elon Musk out of Pay Pal and replace him as CEO, and a contrarian thinker. His probably most important achievement was founding and chairing a then little-known company named Palantir Technologies, which specialized in collecting and processing information. There were several other companies collecting and processing information such as IBM Watson, Oracle, SAS, for businesses and governments but not politics. Palantir filled the gap. It has accumulated more information, at least in the political field, than any other organization and created a Laplace’s Demon, not the perfect one as imagined by Laplace, but strong enough to influence the future of American politics.

The defeats of Hillary Clinton should arouse suspicion, true or not, that more than human works alone was involved in political enterprises, smacking of IT and AI.

The Democrats, late comers, have since played catch-up as they failed to see the formidable potential of IT and AI organizations whose tools could help political campaigns or organizations by charting strategies and designing operational tactics.

Democrats are faced with this reality: the central government is in the hand of MAGA Republicans, both chambers of Congress and a 6/3 majority Supreme Court with three or four justices young enough to outlast a few more presidents. Locally, MAGA has tried to solidify their power including supposedly unconstitutional and illegal measures, such as redistricting effort by MAGA in Texas to add five more Republicans to the House. There is little doubt that they have marshaled their IT/AI power to expand or at least maintain their advantage.

To win back its relevancy, the Democratic Party should look for a Palantir counterpart. It is already extremely hard for them that two of the best brains have already worked for the Republicans. Unlike the Democrats, MAGA Republicans would not look benignly upon turncoats. So, there is little hope that Mr. Musk, regardless of how upset he has been with the MAGA crowd, may help the Democrats for the love of Democracy. They must look somewhere else.

One suggestion: ChatGPT.

The war of the political AIs probably is here.

JOHN P. LE PHONG                                                                                        (This article appears on Facebook, X, and thelephongjournal.com)

THE MALAISE OF MANKIND THAT WON’T GO AWAY (Excerpt from A Perfect Presidency, A Political Novel)

THE MALAISE OF MANKIND THAT WON’T GO AWAY
(Excerpt from A Perfect Presidency, A Political Novel)
Since the meeting was called, as he now understood, to discuss the Movement’s campaign, Le expected the others to respond to the secretary’s question. But they all looked at him as if he were invited to this meeting to respond to such a question. He had the information to answer at least partially the secretary’s question. But that information came from his research paid for by the Russell campaign. He felt a little awkward either to answer or ignore it. After a long minute, he decided to reveal what he had found: if it somehow helped this group of Republicans to fight the Cook campaign’s racism, it would certainly help the Russel campaign as well.
“Racism is inherent in the nature of men, in fact of all animals. God imbeds in every one of us an inherent sense of being suspicious of anything we are not, or less familiar with. It starts out as a defense: defending yourself, your family, then village, nation. Even when there is no defensive need so serious that you have to combat to death against others, many members of society still feel the urge to fight, meaning to find a target.”
Maven felt a little itchy. He did not want a lecture on racism. He wanted an answer to the Movement’s exploitation of racism. But he stopped himself from cutting in as he realized that his friend, Senator Hill, had no intention of interrupting Le who was his guest.
“The white folks do not monopolize racism. It is in every society. The Vietnamese loathed the French because they looked ‘weird’ when they first met. Only big cannons sending big explosives inland helped the French to stay in Indochina for a long time. Kings and rich people discriminated against peasants and poorer people, getting them to gather food and other goods for them. Slavery in America could be explained as privileged white people from Europe suddenly discovered another people, the black, who were less familiar to them than another white guy, so they enslaved the black to do menial works for them instead of the underprivileged white. Suddenly, they found a formula to enhance their profits and their own security when they installed the underprivileged white as their slave drivers and reinforced in them that primitive urge to discriminate – racism. Then, the underprivileged white not only forgot who their oppressors had been but identified with them.
“Even when societies developed to a certain point that forced labor was not needed and members of society understood one another and were not suspicious of others, discrimination would not disappear. It is the perquisite of power. And power is celebrated all the time, everywhere including the U.S.
“So, racism, a form of discrimination, is, for a lot of people, probably irradicable. Presently, it is a fact of life or politics. We can only try to manage it through legislation and education. In this country we have been relatively successful in controlling it. People have been mostly politically correct. Racism, racist language or behavior was still taboos. Until now.” He paused for his listeners to absorb the information.
“The problem that concerns you tonight, I assume, is not that racism exists in this country, but that a faction of the Republican Party is weaponizing it to win this election, or worse for a more nefarious purpose.”
He addressed Davendorf, “Mr. Davendorf…”
“Call me Jeff.”
“Thank you, Jeff.”
But the secretary cut in, impatiently, “So, I understand that whoever controlling the party want to adopt a racist strategy to win the next election. But what changes? What have they done? What can we do about it?”
Le continued where he left off, “Jeff said that just one official of the Movement is racist; the rest of the Movement or at least the leader is not. That doesn’t matter. The Movement approves the weaponization of racism that means they support it whether they are racist or not. You must acknowledge that fact before you can determine what countermeasure to take to fight back. But before you take countermeasure, you must understand why the Movement decides to use racism in taking over the government. Jeff has just mentioned: to win the election. If so, they would stop flaming racism after the election. What if they would not, and winning the election is just one step in a more elaborate scheme?”
Davendorf sounded a little defensively, “The party is now absorbed into the Movement. Willie repeated many times to the Republican leaders at the meeting that racism is just a strategy not a platform.”
Le said calmly, “The situation in the Republican Party, as far as my research can determine, is very uncertain. I think that when Mr. Wilcox agreed for Mr. Richardson to adopt the white nationalist, the term I believe Mr. Richardson prefers to racist, Mr. Wilcox deferred the decision to Richardson and did not anticipate or probably did not have enough time to think where that strategy would lead to. Now, the national campaign adopts such a strategy, it is possible that he and his friends may have lost or would lose control of the campaign, the Movement, and ultimately the party.”
“It is difficult for me to think that my party, the Party of Lincoln has turned into a racist party,” lamented Secretary Bennett.
“It’s sad indeed, Mr. Secretary,” Le said. “But racism has never disappeared in this country, or anywhere else for that matter. They can be in subtle form such as a grocery store clerk looks past a colored, a weird designation because ‘white’ is also a color, and greets a white man behind him ‘may I help you’, or white people keeps looking at and talking to one another, ignoring another member of the same group who is ‘colored’. Or much more brutal though more sporadic, such as killing a black kid for smiling at your girlfriend, or a father-son team baseball batting a Japanese-lookalike Chinese man to death because they were angry at the Japanese auto manufacturers for causing them to be jobless, or tying a black man behind a truck and dragging him through the city streets. Sporadic incidents. What should be a concern for all of us is the degree or scale of racism and for us to determine if the sporadic incidents would in fact the tip of an iceberg. Hundreds of years after its defeat in the Civil War, racism is prevalent in the Southern states.”
“The immediate issue is the Zachary Cook campaign exploiting the racist base instinct of the voters,” Maven wanted the group to refocus on his immediate concern.
Hill knew that his friend was impatient. He understood his concern about the conservatism that he embraced being usurped and drastically changed by an extremist faction of the Republican Party. He and Davendorf were desperate in reaching out to outsiders for a solution, not a lecture on racism that he believed he knew what it was. But Hill saw Le, as unexpected as it was, a deep source of information on racism. He did not think the Republicans had ever spent enough time to ponder on the issue. Le seemed to have something to say about it.
The senator wanted to explore more on what Le had said. “It is indeed an urgent issue, but it is an issue that needs to be analyzed and examined and understood further. I think that racism has been a taboo in our society for so long and has therefore never been talked about in a meaningful way. Like Dinh said, it is right in front of us, but we have looked away without taking an in-depth examination of its cause, its danger, and possible ways to prevent it from acting out. We do not have a lot of time now for such an extensive discussion, and this is not the proper venue anyway, but I think Dinh can use his research to shed some light on the problem to help us all. Frankly, Tim, Jeff, and Joshua, this is not just a Republican problem. It is a national problem. Everyone, Democrats included, needs to pitch in to deal with it.
“But now, we would like to hear from Dinh about the state of racism in our country, what is the Republicans strategy, and how they plan to carry it out.”
“I will try. I will say that we start to go through a perfect political tsunami. But the metaphor actually is an understatement of the havoc racism will inflict on Democratic America and the world.”
Secretary Bennett, “Is it your finding, or your opinion?”
Le decided to treat it as a serious, not a sarcastic question, “It is happening, and the outcome is not yet completely clear, so this is just my projection, which is based on the facts that I will try to summarize tonight for you.
“Racism has so far been just a knee jerk reaction from an animalistic feeling of a few individuals or groups of such individuals whose understanding of things are limited. Racist violence was sporadic, isolated, and mostly inorganized. Until now.
“Many segments of our society are deeply dissatisfied with one aspect or another of the state of the nation. We have the anti-globalists, anti-abortionists, anti-immigrants, the small-government advocates, the pro-independence Southern old-timers, the old money resenting the new wealth of the young technology tycoons and deeply offended by these new billionaires who make and accumulate money so easily that they seem to make a mockery of the old fashion way of making money.”
“So how all that is connected to racism?” asked the secretary.
“Racism was not exploited because the other side of the equation was the Democrats, who were also mostly white. So, the Republican political attack always seemed dull and routine, directed at their nemesis using a worn-out label: the liberals. But the majority of the population did not buy the arguments that globalization was bad, immigrants were bad, or abortion as a woman’s right was morally wrong.
“Then the catalyst presented itself: the meteoric rise of China.”
JOHN P. LE PHONG
(This excerpt appears in Facebook, X, and thelephongjournal.com)

A PERFECT PRESIDENCY – 2023, Excerpt from Chapter 17

Richardson was stunned by Komarov’s bold and direct approach. But he must admit that Komarov was correct. This was the right time to position himself for one of the top jobs. He knew what that position would be, but he wanted to hear from Komarov.

“It is a little too early for anyone to jockey for a place in the Cook administration. I do not even know which position Zachary thinks is suitable for me.”

“It is not important what Mr. Cook thinks but what Mr. Wilcox will choose. I would prefer for you to be Attorney General, but you do not have a law degree.”

Since he had been in direct contact with Komarov, Richardson started having a second thought about his relationship with the Russian president. He had worked hard to get a direct line to Komarov believing that they had pursued the same goal of white dominance. He had wanted and thought that they were equal partners. But he became aware that Komarov had been more preoccupied with getting the U.S. sanctions off the book and tried to play him by dangling the white supremacism carrot to get him to do his bidding. An extremely smart man of little patience, he had thought of dropping Komarov and the Russians. But a reality check overcame his hubris: He had no firm belief that the Movement would back him up and he had no one else he could call comrade in his pursuit of white dominance.

He breathed in and out a few times to clear his mind. The cards had been dealt. Everyone would play with their hand and the smartest would take the top prize. From the time he knew how to think critically, he had never thought for one moment that he was not the smartest in the room. He would just have to improve his hand. Whether Komarov knew it or not, he had just reinforced his hand by giving him Bart Hightower, the SOB that for a long time he had thought he had nothing in his head but coal. Richardson felt calm and relaxed.

“The other choice is the White House chief of staff,” Komarov said and before Richardson could wrap his head around Komarov’s new proposition, he added, “But you have to work much harder to get it because you have a formidable rival.”

“Who?”

“Aurora Cook.”

“But she is not a politician or even an administrator. She has no experience running anything,” Richardson blurted out laughing.

“But she has something that nobody in your circle has.”

“What’s that?”

“Mr. Cook’s trust.”

“I can handle Zachary,” said Richardson confidently and, to Komarov’s alarm, dismissively.

“I am a politician for a long time in an arena where there are no gentlemen, only hyenas. I know a few things. American politics may be more gentlemanly and civilized than Russia’s, but one thing is true regardless. A man can turn into a totally different creature when he or she has some power, exponentially so when the power is your White House. If Mr. Cook were elected president, he would have power over you and your Movement, not the other way around. If you and your friends are not prepared for that reality, you will be in for a big surprise.” Komarov paused for Richardson’s brilliant mind to take control of his arrogance.

“As I just mentioned, the ideal place for you is the Justice Department, where you can focus on dismantling the security apparatus and replace the current crop of security personnel and law enforcement with your own. That is where you start to implement your plan, step by step, to create a new nation for you and your fellow white supremacists.

“Since the justice department is not available to you, you must find a way including pushing Mrs. Cook aside, to get the chief of staff position. In this endeavor, I believe you will find many allies including Mr. Hightower and Mr. Wilcox.”

Richardson woke up from a nightmare that he, the brain of a supreme conspiracy to create a white world encompassing North America and Europe, was being lectured and guided by a former communist albeit one who was now the president of Russia. He knew that this was a risky relationship, but he had always trusted his instinct and intelligence; he had always come out on top.

“Before I say good night, and I apology for keeping you awake, I need to explain why I decided to talk to you directly. Sergei is not just working with you but with others in your Movement. Certain things should not be shared with others. If he conveyed this message to you himself, he might inadvertently leak it to the others. I am not sure it would be good for you and your plan as I do not know how much you have shared with the others and who are your true partners in your, eh, project.”

“Thank you, Mr. President.” Richardson also wanted to end the conversation; he was tired.

“Good night Mr. Richardson. This is the telephone number you can call whenever you want to talk to me personally.”

After Komarov hung up, he did not feel like going to bed. He went to his desk, pulled out a drawer, and reached for the watch box. He lifted the tray containing six watches off the box and took a small plastic bag from the bottom. He poured the white powder onto a piece of white, clean paper. He took another piece of paper to make a straw. He inhaled the stuff. With strict discipline, he indulged in recreational use of cocaine for a long time without developing dependence. He pulled his laptop to set it straight in front of him, turned it on, and started typing.

JOHN P. LE PHONG                                                                                        (This article can be found on Facebook, thelephongjournal.com, and X)

A PERFECT PRESIDENCY, A Political Novel, (2023 – Excerpt from Chapter 8)

“The majority of the voters have feelings about the issues, but they are passive and unsure as to what is the right attitude. We need to push them hard into making a choice between us and the Democrats. We need to pull them to our side. To do that, as pointed out by Clint and the French professor Paul Bellamy, we need to stir the people’s emotion. Just to say immigration, religion, globalization is not enough because there are a lot of people who want to be reasonable.

“How do we get the voters out of their     homes and vote Republican? The most effective and proven way is to insinuate that our race is being threatened.”

Xander’s eyes were fixed on Wilcox, “Not the voters but the white voters.”

“Pardon me?”

“You mean to get the white voters out to vote Republican.”

“Yes.”

“Do you think we can win an election with only the white votes?” With his unfathomable face, no one was sure if it was Alexopoulos’ subtle disagreement with Wilcox’s method or just probing further its effectiveness. It did not matter to Wilcox; he did not ask or look for subtle disagreement. If anyone disagreed, he had to come out and speak clearly.

“Yes, we can, and we will,” Elrod answered Alexopoulos’ question, feeling the need to compensate Wilcox’s habit of talking little. This audience was not the campaign staff. They were, like Wilcox, his core supporters, his comrades in arm.

 

For many years, Elrod and his “people” had felt angry. They were mad at the way the country was moving, in their belief, in a wrong direction and more importantly out of his and his people’s control. He, his family, his friends, and his friends’ families were the heirs of the greatest fortunes ever created on this earth. They had had total control of all the money circulated in the United States and in the world. The politicians and the generals had their say, but the final decisions – whether to buttress the Shah of Iran, to fight the British and the French over the Suez Canal, to carve up the Palestine to give the Israelis a tiny sliver of land minus the huge West Bank making Israel more like a quaint village in the middle of a sea of Arabs, or to stay or withdraw from Viet Nam – had been in their hand. Their power had been absolute because they had monopolized the very means of power: money.

A few decades ago, they started seeing the erosion of their power, at first minuscule. But in a short period of time, they saw money were accumulated at a dizzy speed by people not related to them in anyway or known to them, by countries, which had heretofore been considered backward natural resource suppliers, and by kids who used to take their coats at the entrance of some club or fetch coffee at the snap of their fingers.

They were shaken because for the first time in generations they were suddenly faced with an unfamiliar and threatening aspect of life that these newcomers did not answer to them. It had been said, people worshipped money. But not Elrod and his friends, because worshipping implied a certain ignorance or mystery, something beyond understanding. They did understand and knew for sure that money was supreme and the power it afforded was absolute. That sacred source of power was now shared by others. At the current rate of their wealth accumulation, in a few decades if not a few years, their power would surpass theirs. They deeply feared that the threat to their position and status as the ruling class was real and imminent.

Elrod and his friends had decided to fight, which they now realized could not be left to others. They still had money. They could still fight and win because they knew how to control politicians. The next step would obviously be the control of the institutions.

To achieve this goal, just like any lofty goal, they needed allies. They needed a common purpose.

JOHN P. LE PHONG                                                                                      (This excerpt can be found in Facebook, X, and thelephongjournal.com)

A PERFECT PRESIDENCY, A Political Novel – Excerpt from Chapter 3.

(Excerpt from Chapter 3 of A PERFECT PRESIDENCY, A Political Novel)

Waiting for the Cooks to step down from the podium to take their seats, Wilcox’s mouth formed a rare smile. Then, he spoke, “Daniel, we need to start the strategy meeting.” A very simple statement that came out like an order. And Richardson clearly understood it: no more campaign style talks, no more boasting or hyperbole.
“A few political facts need to be ascertained before I go into policy and strategy.
“First, the American people are not as benign and generous as the Democrats especially the liberals have maintained. Their understanding of the voting populace is deeply flawed. Thankfully, they do not know it. But we do, thanks to our sophisticated research undertaken by Clint and his associates at the McPherson Group. Many of you may not be familiar with Clint and his Group; they are the best in their respective specialties. It is now an open secret that his company rivals the National Security Agency as the best information collector and data processor. They have demonstrated their powerful capability for defining political trends and predicting the outcome of a political campaign. Their contribution to our victory in the primaries was tremendous and is acknowledged by us all.”
Everyone in the room dutifully clapped their hands.
“Second, without power, a politician or even a political party is absolutely irrelevant. It may sound philosophical, but I want to emphasize here that that is a hard fact.
“Third, sometimes in politics, the end justifies the means. We believe in conservatism, Republican Conservatism. We believe it will save the country from the excesses of the liberals over the past several decades. To implement Republican Conservatism, to do good, we must have total power, not just control of the House of Representatives, or the Senate, or the White House, or the Supreme Court. Each win is just a step, or to be perfectly clear a means to reach the end, the ultimate goal: we are working to gain total power, the control of all four branches of the U.S. Government.”
Maven was shaken. He glanced at Davendorf who was staring in the other direction at Richardson. He had suspected Richardson’s extremism but believed that he was just one voice within the Movement. He had trusted Wilcox, Thalberg, Peterson and many others in the Movement to keep a tight rein on the extremists such as Richardson. They would let him speak his mind but never allow him to take the organization on a risky, and off the mainstream politics, adventure. Tonight, he was obviously the spokesperson for the Movement. His statement had no doubt been cleared by the other senior members.
“Fourth, the American people demand change. They want the U.S. government to take care of their citizens, not foreigners. They do not want immigrants. They want to preserve the Christian traditions, to live in accordance with Christian tenets and teachings. They want to preserve Western culture and civilization untainted by harmful ideologies. They do not want their society, built by their ancestors with sweat and blood, to be colored and changed by globalization. They want the liberal policies reversed.
“These are facts.
“We have done our own in-depth research for the past several years. These factual findings match the findings of our conservative brethren in Europe. And they are solidly supported by the data collected and analyzed by the McPherson Group. The findings will be essential planks of our platform…”
Bobby Reed did not wait for Richardson to finish, “The Republican Central Committee has commissioned several studies and polls too. We did find these trends among the public, but they are held by a minority. In fact, the people who express such feeling comprise only 10 or 15% of the population at the most, and mostly white…”
Richardson was blunt. He did not want to get into a frivolous argument. “Well Bobby, our candidate won the primaries; yours lost. That says a lot about the thoroughness of your polling experts and your candidates’ ability to take the pulse of the electorate.”
He heard Wilcox clearing his throat and knew that he needed to move on. “As I am speaking, our platform is being drafted to incorporate these findings.”
The room turned raucous with the participants vying to ask questions. “Who are writing the platform?”, “Why are we not consulted?”, “On what authority is it drafted?” Several participants pushed the chairs away and stood up.
“Please one person at a time,” the baritone voice of Wilcox rose above others’ and calmed the little storm in the Thalberg Library. Again, Richardson was acutely aware of the power of Wilcox’s personality and again, was reminded to tread carefully.
“Daniel, let me answer the questions. The Steering Committee has selected Republican conservatives in each field of society, politics, businesses, industries, religions, and many special interest and advocacy groups. The Steering Committee is finalizing the makeup of the group and will report to us. We have made our suggestions known to several members of that group, albeit incomplete, for their thoughts. The actual drafting of the platform will begin as soon as the group officially receives our approval.”
Maven heard no more protest or objection even though the platform was as unclear and obtuse as before Wilcox’s statement. He did not understand whom Wilcox meant “we” or “us”. All Republicans? The Movement? Or his Steering Committee? Or only a few of his close allies such as Hightower, Thalberg, Peterson, and Richardson? What suggestions? Who was “the group” that the suggestions had been made known to?
“My apology Daniel. Please continue your representation,” Wilcox yielded the microphone after making sure that Richardson would not veer too far from the main subjects, and the audience would not interrupt again.
“Thank you, Willie,” Richardson was back in charge.
“Our analysis of the electorate does not classify them into conservative, liberal or moderate,” he paused. All eyes were fixed on Richardson.
“That classification is outdated and misleading. It has in the past led us to designing wrong strategies. Our target is no longer the voters but the important issues of the days that we choose. It sounds confusing but it will be clear to you in a moment. Of course, we court the voters. But we work the issues and pull the voters to us,” he paused again walking back and forth as if he were a teacher in front of a blackboard trying to lead the class from the simplest point to his more complicated strategy.
“We look for ways to catch the voters’ attention. We look for a common theme that powerfully bonds the voters regardless of who they are. In grouping the voters into conservative, liberal, or moderate we forget that they are making choices not always about the topics but about their emotion. Let me clarify that with an example. Immigration. If our strategy is to attract conservatives, we would say we are against immigration. What would we get? I am sure not the majority of the votes to win us an election. If we want to woo the liberals, we will say we are for immigration because that is what they have been advocating. Again, we do not get the majority because we would lose the conservative votes. How do we win the moderate votes? Would we say an immigration policy should be human but…? Or immigrants have affected our society in many cases in harmful way, but …? Then again, we may get their votes but lose the conservatives and the liberals.
“So, we must work around the topic and go straight to the emotion of the voters. Therefore, framing the messages is the strategy. Framing, say, the immigration issue in such a way as to touch the emotion of all the voters, that is what we look for, the same emotion, in the conservative, liberal or moderate.”
Maven already knew where Richardson was heading, and he thought that Richardson needed to be confronted. But he was a member of the Steering Committee and a colleague of Richardson, he could not do that. Davendorf could. He turned his head to look at Davendorf, who seemed to be deep in thought.
“A political party especially the leadership does not just follow the mass’ desire and wish. It must lead …,” Reed did not have a chance to finish his thought.
“I get your point Bobby. But I want to paraphrase the motto of our good friend, the French professor Paul Bellamy, you cannot lead if you do not have power. In the longer term, we will lead. We will implement our political agenda. But the immediate goal is to win the coming election, which requires all our energy and skills, not just a political skill but a campaigning skill.
“They are probably the same, but I want to make this little distinction so that what I will present tonight will be clearer. We have a mandate from our Party’s membership to implement immigration reforms, uphold Christian values including the abortion issue, turn the country back inward to look after its citizens, its cities, its social problems. Political skill identifies the issues important to the people. But to win an election, we need campaigning skills.
“So, what is it? It is the skill to make the voters identify with us, accept us as them, trust us to represent them. In short, to give us the votes. We are all Republicans. All the candidates in the Republican primaries are Republican, that means they know and understand what the Republicans wants. But our campaign skill was superior. That’s why Zachary is now the Republican nominee.
“Our political skill is straightforward: doing thorough research, identifying the most important concerns of the people. Campaigning skills are more flexible. Our opponents, Republican as well as Democratic, call it by many names, manipulation, exploitation, or misinformation. I call it ‘nuance’”.
“Can you elaborate more on the nuanced campaign strategy of yours?” That was from former president Roger Wood.
Of course, senile old timer, Richardson silently said to himself. Out loud, he said, “Mr. President. I can summarize it in six words: ‘Birds of a feather flock together.’”

JOHN P. LE PHONG (This piece can be read on Facebook, X, and thelephongjournal.com}

A PERFECT PRESIDENCY – Chapter 39

Chapter 39                                                                                                        THE OVERTURE                                                                                 (Excerpt from A PERFECT PRESIDENCY)

Richardson wasted no time. He was acutely aware that the Cook administration had only four years. Either his scheme was to succeed within those four years or never. He had the advantage of being ahead of his opponents. He took his cellular phone out and touched the numbers.

“Sergei, can we talk?”

“Daniel? Of course.”

“I have just got the authority to centralize our intelligence and security apparatus.”

“What do you mean? You would violate too many of your laws if you tried to do so.”

“I know. First thing first. Before nominating a secretary or head of an agency, we will make sure that they pledge allegiance to the president. They normally file regular reports to the supervising ministry but now they will also submit a copy to the White House. We will be working with Congress to enact a law to allow the White House to absorb the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The FBI reports directly to the Attorney General who is a loyalist and reports directly to me.”

“Congratulations.” Semenov could not refrain from making a sarcastic remark, “You are coming close to us here Daniel.”

Richardson deadpanned, “Yes, we have learned something from you. I always believe the president must have absolute power over national intelligence and national security.”

He changed the subject, “We have been working together for some time. Now, I want the European Union to get involved. I can only touch on the general subjects, those we have to deal with as soon as possible. I ask that you bring our proposal to President Komarov and get back to me in three days with his answer.”

“What proposal?”

“President Cook wants Russia to join NATO.”

Semenov was stunned, “Are you….”

Richardson raised his hand as if to stop Semenov at the other end of the line. “Let me continue – with the condition that you will withdraw your divisions from your borders with the Baltic and East European countries.”

It took Semenov quite a long time to stop staring at the phone and found his words, “And you just command the European Union and NATO to go along with your proposal?”

“It’s hard work. But we will be there. Right now, we have work to do in the U.S.”

“You have an ambitious agenda, but you are time constrained.”

Richardson did not seem to hear what Semenov said, “I am about to have total control over the security apparatus. I need your advice, discreetly of course, how to organize it into a coherent and effective agency.”

“I think you already have very good agencies to fight crimes or espionage. I doubt that our agencies are better than yours.”

“You are right.” He paused for ten seconds before continuing, “What I need is your expertise in dealing with internal unrest, political opposition…”

Semenov tried to hide his surprise, “Isn’t it an inherent element of your political system?”

Richardson’s voice hardened, “I don’t think it should be. Opposition is counter-productive and hinders progress. The country needs to be governed by the elites and the people need to be guided by wiser, better men.”

“Do you have a second thought about popular vote and a government by representatives?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Are your friends and President Cook of the same mind?”

Semenov detected Richardson’s imperceptible hesitation, “Of course. They approved my proposal to give total control of all security and intelligence operations to my office.”

“Are you going to abolish the FBI, the CIA, the Office of National Intelligence?”

“No, I don’t because of the hurdle of going through Congress, something I don’t want to bother for now. I just need the power to collect information and direct security operations. Now I want to use my power to reverse course.”

Semenov asked, slowly, “Reverse course as in abolishing Democracy and going back …, going back to what?”

Like a prophet being asked to explain his vision, Richardson suddenly found his euphoria, “Democracy does not work, at least in the direction that we thought it should. You can see that with so many efforts, it does not work anywhere in the world except in the U.S. Even here, we have seen abuses, and the system can’t seem to cure or prevent them from getting out of control.”

“Are you talking about immigrants and the so-called damages they have done to your traditional Christian values?”

“Nothing ‘so-called’ about the damages, which are real, huge, and deep. At the pace that things have changed during the last few decades, we must act now. You, I also mean your president and your country, agree with us that the world is no longer divided along the ideological fault line but inexorably moves toward regrouping its countries and population into large spheres of influence. We must acknowledge that race is the foundation of our choices: The white people in Europe, Russia, and North America, the Asians led by China, the Blacks in Africa, the Arabs in the middle East, and the rest will ally themselves with whoever happen to be their friends of the moment. It is now that Russia acknowledges this fact and allies itself with the European Union and joins NATO.  You make the overture, and we will push them behind the scenes.”

Semenov was intrigued, “You don’t say it, but does that mean Russia will inevitably withdraw from its alliance with China, North Korea, even the ‘stan’ countries?”

“Not necessarily. But you jump the gun here, Sergei. One step at a time. A white block does not mean purely white. Even you and I are no pure blood. We are discussing dominance, not pure blood. That is the focal point. If we don’t take steps now to position our white power, the dynamics of world affairs may drift away from our grasp and control.”

“I see your point. I am sure we will have a robust debate at the Kremlin.”

True to his nature. Richardson cut Semenov off as if he were his underling, “Nothing more to discuss. I don’t think you and president Komarov should bring the issue to the Duma to be discussed or even among his advisors. We must start now and start preparing what to do next.”

Semenov cursed under his breath, damned Yankee arrogance, but kept his voice calm, “If nothing else, please on President Komarov’s and my behalf, say hi to Willie and the people we know.”

“Sure. I will be in touch.”

JOHN P. LE PHONG                                                                               (This excerpt can be read on Facebook, X, and thelephongjournl.com)

 

A PARTY AND AN ASSOCIATION

That is the current state of American politics: A party competes for power against an association. Just by that short sentence, the reader can venture a guess as to who wins and will win in the next few election cycles, if America will still have political election.

The Democratic Party is nowadays, or probably has been for some time, a non-profit association rather than a party. It has no absolute, meaning focused, power and therefore lacks discipline and control. Its members are free to debate and disagree. Many members, after enjoying and exploiting the support of the party, nonchalantly jump ship to the other side for fame and/or financial gains without any consequences. Many of them ostentatiously declare themselves to be independent as if they were working for a nobler cause. Democrats seem more friendly, gregarious, inclusive, and benign. That probably is the main reason why their party attracts more diverse constituencies and opinions, the root cause of being inefficient and ineffective. The party does not seem to be a party but more like a philosophy or an ideology. After the election losses in 2024, they bickered among themselves to the near death of their party. They are still bickering at the DNC.

The MAGA Republican Party is a completely different political animal, and the contrast can easily be noticed during the last few decades in the real sense of a political party (as in Communist Party): strictly disciplined, top-down orderly. Speaking at the White House on June 24, 2025, the President said “They (the Israelis and the Iranians) don’t know what the fuck they are doing.” A bombshell! But no bickering among MAGA. Only a few hours later, the Vice President showed his middle finger and kept it up there in the air long enough for the world’s cameras to unmistakably record it. That was the teamwork spirit!

The discipline is ruthless, but it focuses and concentrates its energy like a laser. Every statement of any official of the Administration always consists of two indispensable parts: the first part praising the president and the second stressing how idiotic and incompetent the Biden administration (by implication, the Democrats) was. But that is not enough. MAGA blends politics with a twist of modern day’s capitalism, combining politics with financial gains and pursuing it unabashedly, a practice adopted by Vladimir Putin and is now copied by MAGA. It is meant to monopolize political power and win at all costs that includes the destruction of the democratic institutions within which it has existed and thrived for centuries, and Democracy itself. That was how they bulldozed the Democrats like corn stalks in 2024.

The Democrats and many others believe that the vote would cure the malaise suffered by Democracy. They trust that the voters would cast their votes rationally and with their understanding that Democracy is meant for them.

For a long time, MAGA has moved sometimes subtly with some trial balloons but more often decisively and relentlessly to consolidate their power and expand their grip on the country’s federal, state, and local political structures. Their grip permeates all political levels, and like under a communist regime, bullying pressure helps them take control of the voters. MAGA has already run the country like a monarchy with the president acting as a benign king treating his government and Congress like a patriarch treating his family members tolerating even the most incompetent and unruly. In return, he gets their absolute loyalty.

The telling sign is the way MAGA treats its opponents, arresting judges, indicting or openly threatening political opponents with arrest, usurping state power using military forces. Democratic institutions and rules of democratic politics are already out the window.

In totally dominating American politics, MAGA has found the formula to gain absolute power and move the country toward a dictatorship or a monarchy, which is the doctrine of “Us versus Them”. It had been put into practice before by hardline Republican politicians but why it didn’t stick until now? The answer is the white population’s sentiment. Not that their material life has not improved (it has robustly, thanks to China’s production) but the sense that their dominance, and therefore their security, is being threatened, and their control of things getting out of hand. The rise of China whose people were formerly considered by white Americans as no good at anything or even worth owning a little tiny bit of land in America, except for providing inexhaustible coolies, and the influx of immigrants are symptomatic of the changes that they perceived negatively affect their life. That is when they find MAGA’s propaganda not to be rude, coarse, uncivilized, and against human nature or even nature, but making sense.

There lurches the danger, not to MAGA or the Oligarchs or billionaires but to common people.

MAGA has no intention of gaining power just for cleaning up immigration and other social issues they dislike, and going through the democratic election cycles and, if they lose, relinquishing it as dictated by the democratic process. They want permanent power so that they can reshape the country into a white only, simple, and isolated nation, as simple as the old regimes in feudal Europe, more easily governed and controlled: The king and his family on top, coexisting with and supported by the billionaires who will lord over the functionaries such as executives, technicians, government workers including cabinet secretaries. The current U.S. government has already had that makeup with members of Congress and the courts are being treated no differently than subjects of the king’s court and they, willingly or under pressure, remain passive and alarmingly silent.

The caste system has worked beautifully for thousands of years in India. Even though it has constitutionally been outlawed, it is still alive and well in its society. Why not adopting a thing that has worked successfully for so long, MAGA asked themselves, and in a moment of Eureka, gleefully applied the system to the American society after modifying it to show a veneer of humaneness: Immigrants, the modern-day Shudras, cannot be citizens but only be guest workers. The esteemed Arabs have perfected their guest worker system that allows the “guests” to work for minimum wage without ever being naturalized or given basic human rights let alone the right to vote.  It is a solid and desirable system to keep the social order with the billionaires being the Brahmins.

The common men, regardless of their skin color, will realize, hopefully not too late, that they are being swallowed into the system like the submarine being swallowed by Karl Stromberg’s humongous tanker Liparus. If they don’t make their choice with their votes carefully now, they would all be Shudras with no right to their name and no power over their lives and their children and grandchildren’s lives. They would have no say except moaning “we are sorry”.

In a Democracy, one party fights another party as an adversary or opposition, but they cooperate and even consult each other in governing. They always treat each other with respect. So far, MAGA has treated the Democrats like pariahs calling them “idiotic” or deliberately smirking, disdainfully calling him “Jose Padilla” because U.S. Senator ALEX Padilla is a Mexican American, (JOSE Padilla is a convicted terrorist still serving time in federal prison). The fact that they can be petty, obscene, and laughing about it in public give them a pervert satisfaction that they are powerful and untouchable.

It is not just a strategy to sideline the Democrats to get an advantage for the next election cycle. It is an assault on an opposite party, the democratic institutions, and the very foundation of Democracy. MAGA treats the Democrats with outright disdain, the ENEMIES to be eradicated. It puts down or threatens the Democrats whatever way it can, relentlessly, ceaselessly, never stops even when national tragedies happen.

The case in point was its reaction to the assassination of a Minnesotan Democratic state representative and her husband, and an assassination attempt on a state senator. Don’t let off, don’t apologize, don’t sympathize, criticize the Democrats even if it’s a lie, is their motto. The president at first rightfully condemned the assassination. But he changed his tune a few days later as if he had got an earful from MAGA. Many other MAGA figures started loudly and in coordination accusing and criticizing ad nauseam the Democrats even though there is evidence that the shooter is a MAGA supporter.

Such MO is consistent with MAGA’s plan to clear the political landscape so that in three and a half years, America won’t have an inauguration of a new president but the coronation of a king. With a quick and steady pace as we have seen, four years would be long enough for MAGA to find ways to intimidate the courts and Congress to bend to its will to amend or even abolish the Constitution. The next step would be the establishing of a monarchy, or an oligarchy depending on who among MAGA would then have the upper hand.

If Democracy were lost, the common men would lose big. The Democratic legacy fought hard and sacrificed dearly for centuries by the people who had suffered under monarchs and dictators, would be gone. And then, the common men would have to fight and sacrifice again for the freedom and the rights they have possessed up to this point, if they would still remember how these rights, freedom, and happiness were intertwined.

It sounds dramatic, but not farfetched if the common men are distracted by other factors and fail to protect the most precious things they have ever possessed: their Freedom and their Rights protected by the U.S. Constitution.

Don’t your children, grandchildren, and descendants deserve the same things?

JOHN P. LE PHONG                                                                                (This article is posted on Facebook, X, and thelephongjournal.com)