The Democrats woke up on November 6 to find that they have been just guests on the planet of MAGA, bewildered and lost. The MAGA made the presidential victory in November look so easy, a Democrat would be tempted to exclaim AI did it. That is a cry in the wilderness because they are out to the pasture for at least two to four years.
American politics now is a battle between traditional Republican Establishment and MAGA Republicanism. Republican Establishment – Reaganism with big tent ideal comes to mind – seems to attract only older guys and gals whose energy and cunning is nowhere near the MAGA Republicans, younger and smarter. MAGA Republicans are representing themselves as battling the excesses of the liberal left. But in victory, they will go overboard without an effective counter force. Some of them have already stated their intention to undo or at least weaken Democracy.
The reverse revolutionary – turning Democracy back to Autocracy or another form of dictatorship – previously seemed to be unachievable because the hurdles looked insurmountable. After the 2024 election, such reversal does not seem to be impossible not only because the Republicans had all four power branches under their control, but they are also boosted by the huge energy coming from the billionaires.
For ordinary citizens, Democracy is the sole guaranty of freedom and happiness. The modern billionaires are rich and privileged right after graduating from college or even high school before they experience any hardship or injustice in life. They don’t appreciate what Democracy offers because they don’t see how it is better for them while a dictatorship offers even more privileges, and pomp and circumstances as bonuses. Their support for such scheming may also have something to do with their tendency to look for something different, a laudable habit of making life richer for everyone. But tampering with Democracy such as giving more power to one person or shutting down watchdog agencies is clearly not the same.
Even though Matt Gaetz has taken himself out of the run for US Attorney General, the new administration’s nomination of such flawed and controversial characters to run the country signals its intention. Why are men who have absolutely no experience and no knowledge of the businesses of the gigantic departments nominated to run them?
Firstly, the president wants to show the Party and other Republicans who is the boss. A democratic boss relies on consensus and persuasion. A dictatorial boss wants their underlings not just to pledge allegiance to them but to prove their loyalty. If he doesn’t get his way, he retaliates. If they don’t do what he tells them to do, he will remember. We have seen for the last four years that MO of controlling the Republican Party and its members including respectable Republican leaders who have just lost their mettle.
The new AG nominee, Pam Bondi, has stated that she would prosecute the Department of Justice’s prosecutors and investigate the investigators because they had the audacity to carry out their job duties of investigating and prosecuting the then former president for wrongdoings. It’s hard to think of anything more anti-democratic than that statement. Some commentators dismiss it as rhetorical. But if her boss tells her to do just that, will she not do it?
Let’s hope that those comments are not wishful thinking.
Secondly, those nominations are early signs of a dictatorship in the making. When a leader has around him only yes men, there will be no debate, which means contrary opinions are also seriously considered. Or vice versa, he has yes men working for him because he doesn’t want any debate on his decisions.
Again, let’s hope that the Republicans can manage to prevent such reversal from happening.
JOHN P. LE PHONG.

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