Some Democrats claim voting fraud in this election. Voting fraud is a strange thing. It is easy to commit (in every election, there is a claim of fraud) but impossible to prove. No one is more capable and persistent than President Trump in charging the Democrats of voting fraud in 2020. But after four years of hard digging and bitterness, he could prove nothing.
It is understandable that the Democrats are frustrated witnessing what they maintain a suspicious result with the vice president got only 61 million votes while the polls had consistently showed a neck and neck running.
Venting frustration should be over now. They must focus on 2026. If they are obsessed with voting fraud, they can do their best to prevent it from happening from now on. For now, they should try to work harder to take back the House or the Senate, or both. They should try to balance between the demands of their liberal base and the concern of the majority, which elected Mr. Trump.
Government takes care of and address the interest and wishes of the whole citizenry including the deplorables, not just Democrats. They lost probably because they sympathize with the immigrants and the under dogs. Too sentimental. They blindly pushed their core liberal policies, and when they realized the white majority’s determination to push back against their immigration policies, they offered halfhearted measures. High minded progressive ideals are commendable, but it could only be achieved with good timing. A party is irrelevant without power.
The president and his allies will be very busy in the next one or probably two years to cleaning up the government, euphemism for remaking the government to their liking. As a businessman, Mr. Trump has not been successful in many enterprises that he had tried – except one, a solid achievement: the Trump Organization. Now he models his administration after the TO: a small group of obedient helpers whose job is to take orders directly from him and execute them strictly and un-hesitantly. He wants to reduce the job of any cabinet secretary so simple and easy to carry out that even Baron could do it. He is familiar and more comfortable with that format.
When Elon Musk was wooing Mr. Trump, trying to get into his inner circle, many were hoping that such a precise engineering and mathematical brain would effectively counter the excesses of the MAGA force, which is more a zealous revolutionary cabal than politicians in a political democratic system.
Mr. Musk argued when he joined Mr. Trump’s campaign that voting for Republicans would save Democracy. Americans who care for Democracy were optimistic that he would be able to influence the new administration’s domestic affairs such as economic issues, tariffs, import restriction, but also foreign policies dealing with Ukraine conflict, relations with China and Western Europe with the rise of racism. He could conceivably tamper the president’s dictatorial tendency.
However, Mr. Musk’s brain power seems to have worked against such hope, even against his own interest and plan. The MAGA Republicans may have the same scared feeling when one stands next to Mike Tyson: his sneezing could blow you off your chair.
Not only Mr. Must is not only relegated to a position, albeit a cabinet secretary, without portfolio, he is one of two guys, co-leaders, working together doing “non portfolio” things. In other words, he is not going to be able to do anything, let alone make decisions. The co-leadership appointment could be a slight to Mr. Musk. For a sharp and formidable executive who makes decisions when sleeping on his factory floor, he does not have a co-leader in anything.
Mr. Musk is a decider. It is difficult to absorb the image of Mr. Musk wandering in the hall of the West Wing. Upon hearing Mr. Trump calling him from the Oval Office, he would step in smiling broadly and ask, “Am I late for the meeting?” and the president says, “the policy discussion was over. Come in to say hi to everyone and have biscuits and tea.”
True to his character, the President has always given, and will give, the Americans an exciting show for the next four years. It will be mesmerizing to watch when the show adds Elon Musk to the cast.

JOHN P. LE PHONG, ESQ.

In 2020, even though the Democrats won the presidential election, the fact that President Trump received 74 million votes was, or should have been, a canary in the coal mine: The slogan “Take Our Country Back” resonated with 74 million voters. Not all of them were MAGA Republicans.

The same message was used by the Republicans in the 2024 campaign that just changed the form from “Take Our Country Back” to illegal immigrants flooding the country and committing crimes, illegal immigrants committing voting fraud, border crisis, and so on. They all led to the climactic shouting: the country is losing its identity. That was powerfully persuasive even to many Democrats. That explains the 69 million votes Kamala Harris received this election compared to Joe Biden’s 81 million in 2020; a sizable number of Democrats either did not vote for her or crossed the line and voted for Donald Trump.

The Democrats had been aware of the slogan’s power, but they were in between a rock and a hard place: they did try to be tough on immigration then they panicked when their base rebelled.

That was before November 5, 2024.

The question today is what will the Republicans do now that they gain total power: the White House, both houses of Congress, and a 6/9 majority in the Supreme Court? Will they wield this almost absolute power to clean up the immigration mess, correct and make America great again.

Or would they transform America into a dictatorial regime?

The 2024 election of President Trump runs the risk that MAGA’s extremist policies will be implemented, and the democratic political system will be tampered with. There is the risk that MAGA Republicans will try to do everything to maintain their political hegemony even undermining Democracy. And there is the risk that MAGA Republicans will become bolder to move forward with whatever sinister plan they have hashed. Four years of unchecked power could move the country into uncharted waters as the Democrats are completely sidelined. There is no counter force in sight.

Before November 5, 2024, there was hope that the so-called mainstream Republicans would have risen up to right the malaise of the party. That failed to materialize. Let’s just pray that the “I don’t like him, but I will vote for him” was their one-time tactic to preserve their options, not a sign of their losing the will to fight to protect the Constitution and preserve Democracy.
It is a daylight nightmare just to think that the prayer would never be answered.

JOHN P. LE PHONG.

Only one more day when Americans will decide if Mr. Musk will go to Washington.
Mr. Musk has contributed hugely to the American economy, automobile industry, and space technology. We have benefited tremendously from his successes. So, we say thank you Mr. Musk, we root for you, and we listen to you.
But that does not mean we agree with him on all issues. Many people including his followers on X, certainly do not agree with his concept of a traditional Christian family. But whether someone agrees with him or not, that would have no bearing on him; he has just made offers to donate his sperms to any woman who can overcomes her bewilderment and accept his offer.
But when it comes to his politics, Americans must pause to answer this question before they vote: will you vote for Donald Trump because Mr. Must supports him?
The prospect of Mr. Musk sitting in Mr. Trumps’ future administration is a serious matter. On the positive side of such an occurrence, Mr. Musk, as the minister of efficiency, would make sure that no non-efficient people such as someone named Trump except Donald J. Trump would talk loud in the White House to disturb the staff.
But the very thought of Mr. Musk’s joining Mr. Trumps’ government sends a shiver down the country’s spine.
Mr. Trump and his allies had tried for years to find ways to weaken the democratic institutions. They did not completely succeed, but the country is shaking.
Mr. Musk, the man who beat both the Automobile Dynasties and NASA at THE SAME TIME in only a few years, now supports Mr. Trump. Sitting in government, with such a brain, it would not take him long to dismantle Democracy.
When you go to vote tomorrow, think of Mr. Trump’s supporter in chief who is running $1,000.000/day sweepstakes in the swing states to support Mr. Trump, a clear sign that they want to turn the Democratic Unites States of America into a Banana Republic.

JOHN P. LE PHONG

We admire the billionaires for their achievements. But we must consider carefully their advice, especially on social and political problems, when Democracy, the safe and protective heaven for the ordinary people, is at stake.

Many billionaires support the former president. But that does not mean we will do the same. They think differently of course. But they pursue interests different from, and in many situations opposite to ours, ordinary people’s.

Billionaire Peter Thiel, an early supporter and advisor of former president Trump, has said that competition is for losers. What he meant is that one should not try to compete with an existing business but rather build something new and monopolize it. It sounds profound. But does it serve our society at large?

Had Mr. Thiel’s idea become a policy, the automobile industry would have been Henry Ford’s monopoly with no competition from GMC or the Japanese. It would not be too difficult to imagine that the Pintos (the car that exploded and killed Lilly Gray when it was rear-ended by another car) would be everywhere today on U.S. highways. Mr. Thiel’s friend, Elon Musk, would not have become ultra-rich by building another car, an electric one, to compete with so many other car builders who had already been in business. So, Mr. Thiel’s opinion may be good for him and some others, but definitely is not good for ordinary folks who want to own an affordable and safe car.

Mr. Musk came to the State of California and received the hospitality and support of its people and government. From this nurturing society, Mr. Musk’s businesses had sprouted up and thrived, not just one but six or seven (if you count X, formerly Twitter) hugely successful companies.

Then he got into fights with the state regulators, notably the County of San Mateo during COVID. He has been angry with California, just like he was angry with Delaware and threatened to change his incorporating state from Delaware when the court there ruled against his Tesla’s compensation package. He has acted compulsively out of anger and impatience.

In July 2022, Mr. Musk said this about Mr. Trump, “it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat and sail into the sunset.” He said that when he was in a calm mood and clear mind. Mr. Musk’s support of Mr. Trump therefore has very little to do with ideology or his favorable opinion about Mr. Trump as a leader but out of his anger and frustration with the Democrats’ regulations, meaning laws.

He and a few other billionaires endorse Mr. Trump, but that does mean we should follow suit and vote for him too. We must take the billionaires’ endorsement or statements relating to this year elections with a grain of salt when we enter the voting booth this November 5. We must vote for the candidate who will fight to protect Democracy. It has been made clear by no other than Mr. Trump himself that he is not that candidate.

JOHN P. LE PHONG

In a democratic society, a person’s fundamental rights are respected and protected, including the rights of the people who work AGAINST it. And those rights are earned, not given, by fighting hard for Democracy. American Democracy are inscribed in the Constitution. Once its constitutional democratic institutions are undermined, ordinary Americans will go back to being slaves at the beck and call of a few who are in power.

The people behind the Republican Party’s push for Donald Trump to win the presidency this year, 2024, are MAGA Republicans who are trying, one step at a time, to undo democratic institutions until Democracy is replaced by Aristocracy or another form of dictatorship.

Who are they? The followers and practitioners of an outlandish political doctrine called Traditionalism, formulated by a Frenchman who uncannily resembled Stephen Miller, the acerbic anti-immigration advocate, and his followers. Traditionalism dictates that white men rule the world, and other people including white women must be put in their place as white men’s subordinates. That was the tradition since Cro-Magnon men took women by the hair to drag them to their caves for copulation (it is doubtful they had anything resembling the concept of wife or marriage).

The former president and his supporters, MAGA Republicans and their allies want to restore that tradition disguised under the pretext of restoring Aristocracy that has a more romantic, therefore more palatable and acceptable to their supporters.

Racism has always been a negative force in society long exploited by its bad elements. But since the rise of world immigration, racism has become a political strategy – and a very effective one to gain political power. White people have flocked to the MAGA Movement in droves due to their unfounded fear that their culture, tradition, and even lives are about to change by immigrants. But change is the course of nature.

The compass and gunpowder were invented by China, a loathsome country to MAGA. But learning from it and adopting its knowledge opened the world, literally, to the Europeans. Adopting foreign ways of life and making good use of them has been the right course of progress, and, in light of the history of life on Earth (a very enlightening series on Netflix), is one way of saving mankind in the long run. If America just stays calm and thinks deeply about foreign cultures and enriches its people’s life by sensibly adopting them into its own culture such as using gun powder to clear the boulders to build the Panama Canal, but not for killing our fellow humans. Complaining about foreign culture is misplaced.

White folks support the MAGA Movement for another reason: its pursuit of white supremacy within a white nation. MAGA Republicans have been using it to build their grass root support to control Republican elected officials to make sure that they are in line with their grand plan to restore Aristocracy and from there to a white dominated world – to be exact, white men dominated world.

But is it in the interest of white people to support the former president and the MAGA Movement?

It is definitely not in the interest of white women, unless they want to be submissive to white men to caress their egos. The former president, to woo them, has soften MAGA’s position on abortion. But he has been known to change his position on many issues, opportunistically. Besides, even if he turned out to be “soft” on abortion and women’s rights, MAGA Republicans would not let him. There have been indications that he is the head of the Republican ticket because MAGA put him there, but MAGA themselves formulate policies and implement them.

The answer is the same for white men including Republicans. The pro-Aristocracy faction whose members have surfaced lately in debates in public forums, posits that Aristocracy is better than Democracy for America. They seem to be willing to debate Thomas Jefferson: Stephen Bannon versus Thomas Jefferson. America’s money, and trust, should be on and in Jefferson.

Younger generations of white Americans have politically experienced nothing but Democracy, so they are easily persuaded to try something new such as Aristocracy. A war against a dictatorship, WWII, was 80 years ago. All the horrible things committed by the German Nazi were just stories, boringly repeated that they might as well forget them.

But it should be remembered that their ancestors had been there and done that. For hundreds of years, ancestors of European and American white had fought not just tooth and nail but with blood and tears to get rid of Aristocracy, because it was bad, really bad, for them, for their well-beings and for their children’s development. They even migrated to America to escape the Aristocrats’ tight grip on their life. And after years of living in freedom and practicing democratic politics, they found out the political truth that Aristocracy had no place in America, in their lives, and the lives of theirs descendants.

Young Americans should be conscious of the horrendous ramifications when a dictatorship takes hold of a country, such as the German Nazi, the North Korean regime, and Putin’s Russia.

After Barack Obama was elected president, some of those descendants frantically searched for an antidote to what they perceived as the doom of the white men’s supremacy. Because they could not think of anything better to replace Democracy, they compulsively attacked, and continue to attack their opponents who are practically everybody who is not MAGA, bad mouthing their opponents, and readily and disdainfully labeling them “woke” whatever that means.

But their plan is now clear and in the open: they want a dictatorship that would make it more effective for them to control and easier to suppress the populace and exile their opponents.

People thought that the former president slipped his tongue when he said that he would be a dictator on day one. But he also said at a conservative Christian event in July that “Four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians.” So, it was not a slip of the tongue but deliberate declarations carefully calibrated so that the populace are conditioned to something that will certainly happen if he and MAGA win this year presidential and congressional elections: a dictatorship.

George Washington, a man who could not lie, fought against Aristocracy and upheld Democracy by serving as president for two terms then retired even though if he wanted, he could have been king or at least president for life. Donald Trump lost the election but fought and continues fighting with suspicious means (lying is one of them) to cling to being president. Now he plots to be president for life or emperor. His temperament is clearly in sync with dictators’. He is more comfortable with Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin than leaders in the free world. He has more kind words to talk about Kim, who put his uncle in a cage for the dogs to tear his body into pieces when he was alive, and Putin who eliminated so many of his billionaire cronies and political opponents that the number is uncertain when they disagreed with him. The former president has only disdain for leaders of the free and democratic nation.

Recently even before he could be back in the White House, the former president publicly called for the national guards or the military to “handle” his opponents. “We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left lunatics. And I think … they should be easily handled by … the National Guards or, if really necessary, by the military, because they can’t let that happen.” He even named California Rep. Adam Schiff as “the enemy within” who should be “handled” by the Guards or the military.

As he seems to be in no mood for political discourse, political debate, or political opposition, it is clear that the former president is deeply anti-democratic. That is probably a big reason why MAGA sticks with him and defends him despite his erratic and weird behavior as observed by many.

America, even though the best society in the whole world in many terms, still has social ills. Understandably, Americans want to address them. But the solution is definitely not voting for MAGA. A dictatorship or Aristocracy once established, would be there forever to carry out its natural mission: to enslave the multitude to serve a privileged few.

The first few years of a Trump MAGA administration after 2024 would be champagne and caviar for its supporters. Then in no time, Americans including MAGA Republicans would find that gun control would be semantic because they would have no right to own a gun let alone a concealed pistol. Twitter or X would go first among the media outlets and what’s left of it would be a propaganda tool working for the regime.

If a former president calls for a current congressman to be “handled” by the military, a dictatorial president’s security apparatus would “handle” not just Twitter but its CEO as well if it ran a post critical of him. All news channels, talk shows, and podcasts would be closed; a dictatorship would not need that many outlets because it would only need one to fawningly praise, 24/7, the “great leader” who was forever magnificent and wise even if he turned lies into a normal way of communication and, even though he did not say so, made false statements acceptable such that WWII was fictional, the Holocaust was fake, and there was no history of any race which had made sacrifices with sweat, tears, and blood to help build this country.

The former president has denied any connection with the Heritage Foundation Project 2025 (please read my previous post). He shifted his position many times on abortion to gain women’s votes. But he made false or misleading claims 30,573 times during his four years in the White House as counted by the Washington Post.    The historian Douglas Brinkley called Donald Trump a “serial liar”. The psychiatrist Donnel Stern declared that Trump “lies as a policy” and “will say anything” to satisfy his supporters or himself.

It is hard to believe a person of such lying caliber will keep his word on abortion, or not replace Democracy with Aristocracy or a dictatorship, or not jail his opponents, or not carry out Project 2025. With his belligerent attitude toward the lawful result of the 2020 presidential election and the January 6 riot, it would be naïve to trust him to uphold law and order.

Here are the two possible scenarios of the political landscape of the U.S. after the 2024 election:

Democrats won. Democracy would be preserved, the rights of the people, rich as well as poor, MAGA and non-MAGA, were protected. In four years, if they could not solve the country’s problems, voters could vote them out in 2028. Or,

MAGA Republicans won the election in 2024. There would be no chance for the people to change guards in 2028 or ever after. In four years since 2016, MAGA has learned from within how to manipulate and control the American security apparatus. Since 2020, with the help of the billionaires’ money and AI, they have developed even more sophisticated ways to impose a dictatorship on the country and tighten their grip on the populace. If modern dictators such as Putin and Kim could do it, Trump and MAGA could do it. Americans could go out and buy a hamburger and a beer then come back home to listen to the radio singing praise of the dear leader, but never ever could say the emperor was naked. Public opinion would be a forgotten political term. The country and its constitutional democratic foundation would be turned upside down.

Could the U.S.A. turn into a Hitler’s Germany, Putin’s Russia, or Kim’s North Korea? The votes in November will answer the question.

JOHN P. LE PHONG.

The title of this article expresses the hope that MAGA will disappear as the Trump era is coming to an end.

Watching the debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz, when he fudged Trump’s flip-flop position on the Iranian nuclear issue. a viewer could not help comparing Vance with the other also young, quick with words, and sophistic: Vivek Ramaswamy. But while Mr. Ramaswamy is a natural who eagerly and passionately practices the art of being a MAGA Trumpist, Senator Vance seems to be trying to be a MAGA Trumpist. That means he is not a MAGA Trumpist but only a loyal soldier who is for now following the line of the Party’s leadership, which has been dominated by MAGA Republicans.

There lies the real hope of a future Republican Party, which will not embrace the ugly Trumpist MO or MAGA’s policies. There are ways to be socially conservative, carrying out reasonable and compassionate immigration reform without being nasty, focusing on the American economy to protect Americans’ jobs, strengthen American competitiveness, preserve American technological edges without appearing to shoot from the hip.

JOHN P. LE PHONG

Katrina Cooke Brownlee and her children were living with her fiancé, a New York City Correction officer.

“I don’t remember not having a black eye. … Whether it’d been the right one or the left one. … it was a busted lip (sighs). It was always something. … that’s why shades became a signature for me,” she told 48 Hours. Each time she called 911 after he beat her, he would flash his badge to the police. “And every time he flashed that badge, they would walk away,” she said.

As she was powerless to fight back her sadistic fiancé, she made up her mind and was about to leave him.

When she came home, “He opened the door and he just had, like, a weird look on his face. It was strange. … And … he pointed a gun to me and said, “this is the day you die, bitch,” and he shot me in my stomach. And then he shot me again. And —”

As she was crying unable to recount further what happened next, the assistant district attorney, Keri Herzog had to do it for her, “He emptied the gun after the first five … reloaded and proceeded to shoot her again five more times…Each time he would say to Katrina, ‘are you ready to die, Katrina?’ Bang. ‘Is this the day you’re going to die, Katrina?’ … Bang. ‘You know you deserve this, Katrina.’ Bang.”

Was it an isolated incident? Hardly. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 1 in 4 women in the U.S. will experience severe intimate partner violence in their lifetime. Millions of women reported being physically assaulted or stalked by an intimate partner in a single year.

Worldwide? – 1 in 3.

Why has such horrendous crime gone unstoppable for ages?

Men are taller, heavier, and physically stronger. The disparity in power and reach has given them an advantage. They have known it, appreciated it, sickly treasured it, and refused to let it go even such “privilege” put their mothers, wives, and daughters at risk and in horrific harm. Even learned men such as politicians did not lift a finger to help. They did not care to certify the Equal Right Amendment to elevate the status of women and therefore provide them with more protection.

But do not just blame men. Women have never put up a real and effective fight against such injustice. Blame it on the Stockholm Syndrome. But the reality was that without the help from their fathers, brothers, husbands, and male children, they were helpless. They continued to fetch beer for “their men” who sat in their La-Z-Boy drinking beer and watching a football game while their women washed the dishes, cleaned the house, and put the children to bed. When the men left his La-Z-Boy to go to bed, their women had better be ready.

For good, or at least justifiable reason: men had to handle hard and dangerous tasks such as tilling the land, running cattle, killing wild animals, and fighting enemies. Women did not have physical strength to do all that and men over time assumed that they did not have brain either. And over time, they came to believe that they were the master, not an equal partner, and started to treat their wives like a possession doing to them whatever way they wanted – like a slave.

Such a master-slave relationship should not have existed between a man and a woman – or between any two human beings for that matter. It was against nature because, men and women came together to pursue common goals like security, safety, comfort, and chiefly to reproduce. But the moment men realized that they were physical stronger and could force women to comply with their wish, they did everything including using deadly weapons, to maintain such social orders.

Circumstances have allowed them to stay being the master and they were determined to maintain their status as the relationship afforded them more opportunities for comfort and the freedom to do crazy things.

It is worth noting that dictators and kings were the archetype of this kind of men: they had so low an appreciation of a woman’s worth that they never appointed a woman to any cabinet level position. During his long reign as the dictator of Germany, Hitler appointed NOT a single woman to his government. The women known to play certain important roles during his time in power were his consort who he married only a short time before their death, and a cinematographer. Kings were no difference.

But things have changed. The disparity of power is no longer significant. Women can work in the farm by using mechanical tools such as tractors, heavy jobs previously reserved for men. They fly jet fighters and space crafts. They head governments. They run mega conglomerates. The usefulness between men and women has been equalized. The reason for men to feel superior and behave bossily should disappear, considering that women are the only sex which solely carry, for nine months, the burden of guaranteeing the existence of men including those horrible men who heartlessly and brainlessly demand total control over women.

But women have had to overcome another hurdle very similar to hand-to-hand combat. In close quarter, in the house for example, the reach of men’s arms is longer that could still produce a punch with more force than women’s. That puts women at a real disadvantage. Their fight against bad and non-thinking men might be heroic but futile – unless and until they found strong enough allies. Happily, they have found one, quite unexpectedly.

The National Rifle Association, the terrific, fierce, and effective defender of the right to bear arms, especially concealed weapons.

The bully type would stop making demands when they know their women mean it when they say no. They would think twice before rashly acting out knowing that their partners practice shooting three times a week and they don’t know where their Smith and Wesson M&P 2.0 are.

It is about time for men to acknowledge and respect women’s power and rights. Heavy handed actions by men such as the Dodds v. Jackson decision (one might suspect that Justice Barrett joined the decision probably to show her loyalty rather than her inclination or reasoning. She was quite aware that her vote, one way or another, would not change the outcome, which had already been decided by the five male Justices), could transform a considered and peaceful evolution into a cantankerous and chaotic revolution – a shouting match between the sexes.

JOHN P. LE PHONG.

Through horrendous experiences, history has conclusively proved that Democracy is for the common men (a generic term indicating both men and women). No other political system can claim that status.

Democracy is a political defensive mechanism to protect the common men and their rights. Strong men are by nature aggressive and therefore hate democracy. There are strong men in any society. If society is unable to check them, they will let go of their follies. It is clear by now that there is no check and balance in any regime other than Democracy, which IS the best political achievement ever by and for the common men, arrived at by the hard work, sweat, tear, blood, and deep-rooted goodness of men. As Professor Francis Fukuyama says in “The End of History and the Last Man”, liberal democracy is the most viable political system in which men are satisfied with society as no fundamental changes will happen.

Did any common man ever feel free and independent in an autocratic or dictatorial regime? No. He felt that he had no choice but to do as he was told by stronger men and step on weaker men to survive. Did he ever feel the outrage and dare to stand up to point a finger at a strong man and say, “Have you no sense of decency, sir… have you left no sense of decency?” in response to a strong man’s tyranny?

Henry VIII just chopped off the heads of his wives simply because he wanted to chop off their heads. Napoleon woke up one day and decided to conquer Russia, riding his horse and taking thousands of his Frenchmen, who WALKED, traveling thousands of miles to a hellish corner of the earth, and for what? For nothing if not death and destruction to satisfy his crazy urge to conquer. He could do it because in the France they lived in, the common men did not know anything about Democracy (although, many Frenchmen such as Jean Jacques Rousseau and Montesquieu indeed wrote essays on democratic ideas). They followed their strongmen like lemmings follow their leader over a cliff in a Disney movie. Not long ago, a German strongman, whom his fellow countrymen blindly worshipped as their prophet and savior, and willingly and ferociously did his biddings, led them on an insane murderous crusade to dominate other people causing the death of between 6,6 to 8.8 millions of their fellow countrymen – and over 38 millions of others around the world. It is safe to say all of them but a few were common men.

In the U.S.A., Democracy supported, solidified, and strengthened by the Constitution and an elaborate system of law, has turned the country into the most humane society, the most prosperous economy, and the strongest country on earth in terms of fighting ability. It is a place where the common men’s rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are recognized as unalienable.

The U.S. has become what it is today because Democracy allows the common men to effectively fight the strong men’s inclination to try to get their way and, in the process, oppress, exploit, and even enslave ordinary people.

To be clear, there have been objections to Democracy. Thomas Hobbes did not like Democracy. Edmund Burke was skeptical of Democracy or at least “radical” Democracy. They preferred small and limited government. They believed that an affluent middle class would present a danger to political and social stability and therefore should be limited in their ability to acquire wealth or possess political rights. American Republicans have bought into their theories and made them their policy for quite some time without any evidence showing that non-democratic regimes serve the common men’s security and interest.

The late President Ronald Reagan imposed tax on the meager social security benefits mostly received by the middle- and low-income classes and cut the tax rate of the ultra-rich from 70% to 28%. The Bush tax cuts benefited the top 1% most, which had received a tax cut of more than $570,000 between 2004 and 2012 according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The tax cuts increased their after-tax income by more than 5% each year. The Center pointed out that the cuts did not improve economic growth or pay for themselves but instead ballooned deficits and debt and contributed to a rise in income inequality.

The Reagan and Bush administrations, or at least the presidents, acted in accordance with their sincere belief that their policies protected the country and Democracy by maintaining political stability. Nevertheless, the policies underline the fact that they were in favor of strong men, nowadays mostly billionaires, who are allowed to grow to their full potential – even sometimes do crazy things without consequences – but the common men’s ability to accumulate enough wealth (getting their full social security benefits, for example), to do some small things close to their heart such as send their children to colleges and still have some money left for a good vacation in the Caribbean islands, was limited.

The new crop of MAGA Republicans want to go further. They don’t just want to limit Democracy. They want to get rid of it altogether. And they have done it gradually, methodically, and discreetly at first. Now they do it publicly.

Upon assuming his presidency, former President Donald Trump privately demanded FBI Director James Comey pledge his loyalty to him. Then he unceremoniously sacked Comey when he refused. Only a few days later, the public watched an incredible display of fawning cabinet members, one by one from Vice President Mike Pence (“The greatest privilege of my life is to serve as vice president to a president who is keeping his word to the American people”, he said) on down, lavishly praising him then pledging allegiance to him.

A first sign of MAGA’s plan to erode Democracy from within.

The next four years saw them try to bend the Department of Justice into a concierge for the president, attempting to involve the military to quelch demonstrators. They disregarded the foundational principle of Democracy by denying the result of the 2020 presidential election. They resorted to violence to subvert the election process by attacking the Capitol.

But why do the Republicans (or any American), want to support such a plan considering that most of them are common men? Without Democracy, who or what they would become?

In 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump declared “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I would not lose any voters, OK?” That was a low IQ boasting that turned out to be wrong in 2020 when without having shot anybody, he still lost the majority of the voters after four years of his meandering administration.

But he may be right because he still got more than 74 million votes after he had done a lot to erode Democracy during his four years in the White House. It was an amazing statement in hindsight.

How did he know about that absolute loyalty in a Democracy? He was not just right about MAGA’s loyalty in 2016 but has continued to be right since then.

He has denied his election loss since 2020 and MAGA supports him.

He exhorted extremist groups, the Proud Boys and the Oak Keepers, to go to the Capitol to protest President Biden’s win. They broke into the building and chanted “Hang Mike Pence”. They vandalized the building, chased the people’s representatives running like ducks, robbed them of all their dignity, and got a security officer killed. Mr. Trump called them “patriots” and, according to Politico, he expressed support for hanging his VP as testimony before the House’s January 6 Select Committee indicates. MAGA supports him.

He was found guilty on 34 felony counts by a jury of his peers chosen not just by the prosecution but also with vigorous participation and selection by his legal team, a revered constitutional institution of the democratic American legal system. MAGA denounces the verdict as rigged and that he is persecuted. His supporters, including lawmakers in both chambers and lawyers, loudly and shamelessly smear judges and juries.

The big questions are: who are MAGA Republicans and what are they seeking?

Are they the followers of the Seasteading Movement wanting to live in autonomous, mobile communities on seaborne platforms? Are they soon going to move to the Red Planet and form a Kingdom there, away from this earth that has disappointed them profoundly because they are unable to dictate to the other earthlings? Do they disdain the rest of the world and get annoyed because the common men have too humble aspirations? Or because the common men are sympathetic and supportive of others who are also weak and disadvantaged?

Could the former president’s behavior, characteristic of an autocrat, be the reason why MAGA Republicans stick to him because they disdain Democracy? In a talk with an audience of Christians in West Palm Beach, whether carelessly or in a moment of intimate conversation, he confided to them, “You gotta get out and vote. In four years, you don’t have to vote again, we’ll have it fixed so good you are not going to have to vote.”

Did he perhaps speak cryptically and act like a pied piper to lead his followers toward a world that could be totally separate and different from the world we live in?

The former president did not seem confused or inarticulate. He meant it. There will not be any more voting after 2024 if Mr. Trump wins in November.

In any society, including a democratic society, citizens have grievances and complaints about the current state of national affairs. But we must not let ourselves be fooled by the dictatorship salesmen’s charismatic marketing skills with the illusion that billionaires are pursuing the same goals as ours, and a dictatorship would solve our grievances and be good for the common men.

Should we, out of blind anger, let MAGA destroy Democracy? The common men’s investment in Democracy is historic and huge. We fought hard and tenaciously and made horrendous sacrifices from the Magna Carta to the American Revolution, Civil War, the French 1789 Revolution, WWI, WWII, and then the Cold War to protect, build, and preserve Democracy. From every corner of the earth, people strain their necks, perk their ears to watch America, and get inspiration and wisdom to establish their own democratic society from Taiwan to South Africa. We have done extraordinarily well for ourselves and for the world. We should not and must not abandon it or expect something better just because MAGA says so.

We listen to the politicians exhort this and that, we must discern what they say and match it with what they will do to our wellbeing. All political rallies and conventions are sale events, and the candidates and speakers charismatic as they are, are just salesmen. We don’t buy their charisma. We buy the product, which is their plan. And we must choose before we buy (or vote).

To understand MAGA’s plan for the country if the Republicans win in November 2024, just read Project 2025. It is officially called “The 2025 Presidential Transition Project”. With more than 900 pages, it is a gigantic political guide that tries not to leave anything to chance. It is an Autocrat’s Handbook, which conveys the ideology and intention of the authors, The Heritage Foundation, and its collaborators.

The following is a short list of the changes, among many other changes that Project 2025 recommends to the next Trump Administration if he wins in 2024:

1. Putting the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Commerce, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Federal Trade Commission under the direct control of the president.
2. Dismantling the Departments of Homeland Security and Education. Doing away with or restricting public education.
3. Reclassifying tens of thousands of federal civil service workers as political appointees in order to replace them with loyalists more willing to enable Trump’s policies.
4. Sharply reducing environmental and climate change to favor fossil fuel production. Fund for climate research would be cut.
5. Cutting funding for Medicare and Medicaid.
6. Explicitly rejecting abortion as health care.
7. Eliminating coverage of emergency contraception under the Affordable Care Act and prosecuting those who send and receive contraceptives and abortion pills nationwide.
8. Removing legal protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
9. Terminating DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) programs and Affirmative Action by having the DOJ prosecute “anti-white racism”.
10. Deploying the military for domestic law enforcement.

The former president has denied that he is connected to Project 2025. The director of Project 2025, Paul Dans who used to work for Mr. Trump has just resigned. You may think that these are proposals by a conservative think tank, not by Trump and his team.

But keep in mind that in November 2016, the Heritage Foundation published the “Mandate for Leadership VII” and the first Trump administration adopted 64% of its recommendations. And Paul Dans was responsible for staffing the 2016-2020 Trump Administration with about 4000 presidential appointees and rooting out public servants deemed insufficiently loyal to Mr. Trump. Mr. Dans and people who worked for Mr. Trump during his previous administration and his close allies are the authors of Project 2025.

If implemented, these proposals, and more from Project 2025, would guarantee a Plutocracy, Oligarchy, Aristocracy, or any other form of dictatorship, to replace Democracy. Regardless of our political affiliation, we should not and cannot let that happen.

This American presidential election in November 2024 is pivotal because the country is at a fork and Democracy is at stake. With MAGA on the rise, Democracy is facing serious challenges. We may lose it. And once we lose it, it may be gone forever.

We all, Democrats and Republicans, must save and protect Democracy by voting against MAGA. Then, we can sit down, sort out our differences and grievances, and find the best solutions, if not this time, we try another time, if not this day, another day. But if our society were no longer democratic, we the common men would lose our freedom to think for ourselves. We will lose our power to provide security, safety, prosperity, and happiness for our families and ourselves. We will lose our society in which our dignity is preserved and respected.

JOHN P. LE PHONG