OK, WORLD! OVER THE COURSE OF MY LIFE AS A SPORTSWRITER AND A JOURNALIST I HAVE WITNESSED A COUPLE THINGS THAT I BELIEVE REFLECTS MUCH OF THE NEWS WE HEAR: I HAVE SEEN PEOPLE GO FROM RAGS TO RICHES AND I HAVE SEEN HOW THE ACQUISITION OF WEALTH CHANGES THEIR PERSPECTIVES TO THE COLOR OF MONEY...

You see, money does more than make people more confident and self-assured.

It also puts them in a higher - or different social class, one with access to those on that social strata - and it affects the stories they tell.

And it transforms how they see the world and those who don’t live in the same one that they used to reside in.

You see, they are no longer like us.

Whom I will refer to as the have-nots.

Or the have-less.

Because they are no longer concerned with the things that concern us.

And WE, THOSE PEOPLE, become product.

That helps keep them wealthy.

And separate from us.

And what touches us - like affordability of life itself - does not touch them.

But so many of us who worship them don’t seem to realize this.

As we place them on pedestals and overvalue their opinions, oftentimes, more than our own or the people in our own lives.

Think The Kardashians.

The Royal Family.

Elon Musk.

Most of our politicians and judges.

Jeff Bezos.

Mark Zuckerberg.

Oprah Winfrey.

The Obamas.

The entire family of Donald Trump.

Dead Charlie Kirk.

The Widow Kirk.

And almost ALL those in broadcast media.

Like Stephen A. Smith.

Everyone at Fox News.

Most on liberal media, too.

Actors and models.

Singers and rappers.

Athletes.

And most of the famous people we know.

Now, consider this:

So many of us, who have little or next to nothing, look to those who have EVERYTHING for guidance and advice.

On how to live.

Despite the fact they don’t share our struggles.

And my question is why?

I’d like you to do a little experiment:

Watch a day’s worth of television and note all those famous faces selling you something.

Food, cars, clothes, prescription medicine, healthcare plans, insurance and even who to vote for.

What qualifies ANY of them as experts on the subject?

MONEY.

FAME.

FORTUNE.

That WE don’t have.

And yet, we listen.

And buy.

Whatever they sell.

Because Shaquille O’Neal said so.

Now, because so many are fighting each other today - against immigrants, Blacks, gays and transgenders, and now Muslims - I’d like you to THINK about who is telling us they are the enemy.

Famous people with money.

Because we, relatively poor people, are a captive and rapt audience.

Now, with this said and understood, check out what the biggest purveyors of trash television and the podcast world are worth:

Sean Hannity: $250 million

Dan Bongino (Former host): $150 million

Stephen A. Smith: $45-$85 million

Bret Baier: $70 million

Tucker Carlson: $30-50 million

Megyn Kelly: $45 million

Laura Ingram: $40 million

Greg Gutfeld: $28 million

Neil Cavuto: $25 million

Bill Hemmer: $14 million

Jesse Watters: $10 million

Martha McCallum: $8 million

Harris Faulkner: $8 million

Candace Owens: $5 million

Dana Perino: $6 million

The Trump Family: $6.5-$7.5 BILLION

With this said, I’d like to add that MOST of these people have Trump on speed dial.

They may get to dance in his 90,000 square foot ballroom.

Which YOU will not.

Because YOU don’t live where they live.

And YOU can’t tell the stories they tell.

Because You are NOT the color of money.

#michaeljameswrites

#DonaldTrump

#MAGA

#USA

#America

#foxnews

SO, WORLD! AS THE FIRST NIGHT OF SEPTEMBER 2026 FALLS ON NEW YORK CITY AND AMERICA IS IN FREE FALL UNDER THE DONALD TRUMP REGIME, I KNOW I AM NOT ALONE WHEN I SEE A MOVIE OR TELEVISION SHOW FROM THE 1980s or 90s - AND IT FEELS LIKE I’M WATCHING ANOTHER COUNTRY FROM ANOTHER TIME. THE BIGGEST SHOCK I’VE COME ACROSS TURNS OUT TO BE A PROPHETIC - OUT OF PLACE SONG - FROM 1986 CALLED “THE WAY IT IS.”...

This track, for those who remember, pretty much predicted this fascist, dystopian time we are living in today and was released just over 41 years ago by a band called Bruce Hornsby and The Range.

When considering the music of the mid-1980s - which was ruled by big hair rock bands, Michael Jackson and Prince - it really didn’t fit in at all.

It was not about money or fame or love gained or lost like many songs of that time were, and it was supposed to be a B-side at best.

Because it was about social justice, inequality and racism.

You know, y’all, just like what we are looking at today with Donald Trump and the MAGA movement.

It was NOT supposed to be a hit.

But it hit - and cut - deeply.

Beginning with that unforgettable piano.

And Hornsby’s hard-to-pin-down voice and delivery that was not quite country and not quite pop.

What it was, in fact, was certain.

And KNOWING.

It told of the way things were/are.

And that they would NEVER change.

Turns out, as evidenced by today’s headlines, that Bruce Hornsby was right.

But don’t take my word for it.

Check out the lyrics:

The Way It Is

Song by Bruce Hornsby and the Range ‧ 1986

Overview

Lyrics

Standing in line, marking time

Waiting for the welfare dime

‘Cause they can’t buy a job

A man in a silk suit hurries by

As he catches the poor old ladies’ eyes

Just for fun he says, “Get a job”

That’s just the way it is

Some things’ll never change

That’s just the way it is

Ah, but don’t you believe them

Said, “Hey little boy, you can’t go where the others go

‘Cause you don’t look like they do”

I said, “Hey, old man, how can you stand to think that way?

Did you really think about it before you made the rules?”

He said, “Son

Well, that’s just the way it is

Some things’ll never change

That’s just the way it is”

Ah, but don’t you believe them

Mm, yeah

Well, they passed a law in ‘64

To give those who ain’t got a little more

But it only goes so far

‘Cause the law don’t change another’s mind

When all it sees at the hiring time

Is the line on the color bar, no, no

That’s just the way it is

Some things’ll never change

But that’s just the way it is

That’s just the way it is, it is, it is, it is

Bruce was right, folks.

That’s just the way it IS.

Some things have never changed...

#michaeljameswrites

SO, WORLD! HAVE ANY OF YOU BEEN ASKED TODAY BY AN OUTRAGED YAHOO WHAT A WOMAN IS? WERE YOU SURPRISED THAT WE ARE AGAIN BEING DRAGGED THROUGH THE TRANSGENDER QUESTION BY MAGA AS ELECTIONS APPROACH?...

Well, don’t be surprised.

You see, because MAGA seems to all think EXACTLY the same way and parrot the PRECISE talking points of right wing media and Donald Trump, they believe that liberals and Democrats do the exact same thing.

Which we don’t.

Because there are many more independent thinkers among us.

And because, unlike with MAGA, our entire worldview is not us versus them, left against right, Democrats facing Republicans.

But you just cain’t - which means cannot and are not - convince a MAGA member that we don’t do what they do.

Which is why, seemingly out of nowhere, MAGAts all over social media started demanding to hear my explanation of a woman.

To which I finally said, simply, “YOUR MOTHER.”

Which sounds like a schoolyard insult once guaranteed to start a fistfight, but which is my actual belief as to what a woman is.

In my mind there is NO ambiguity.

A woman is ONLY ONE THING.

Anything else is something else.

But this still did not seem to satisfy MAGAts - because I, to their shock and surprise - believe what they, gulp, believe.

So, there was really nothing to fight about.

Which changed the question to,”Well, what about Obama…”

Or something like that.

Anyway, I told you this story today because the Trump administration is constantly on the lookout for issues and topics which will enrage its base - and guarantee a Republican vote come midterm elections.

And the gender argument - involving gays and transgenders, particularly transgenders in biological female sports and locker rooms - incites MAGA (men) like few others.

Which led me to have to research to see what reignited the “What is a woman?” question from the enraged right.

Seems there were two incidents.

According to Da Google, the first was Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham stating in a July ESPN interview that she opposes the inclusion of transgender women in female athletics, saying she wants to “protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”

The second has been ex-New York Knicks player, Enes Kanter - who for most of his 34 years identified publicly as a man - but who recently added Freedom as his last name, now claims to “identify” as a woman and desires to play in the WNBA.

That is The Women’s National Basketball Association.

Um, ok.

And, again, according to Da Google, and the Da Innanet, Freedom attended a Chicago Sky versus Indiana Fever game at Wintrust Arena wearing a shirt that read “WOMAN noun. adult human female” - started a commotion and got booted out.

And the very next day, all over America, people who have no interest in the WNBA, Enes Kanter, or gender, were being accused of agreeing or somehow supporting some LGBTQ-plus/Democrat/Liberal agenda to force biological women to accept transgenders into their sports.

Which I don’t support at all.

And I suspect most of the people reading - regardless of political affiliation - don’t agree with transgenders in biological female sports or locker rooms.

No matter HOW or WHAT they identify as.

Now, here’s the interesting part:

The right knows what an appetizing piece of red meat it is to have a hot, young blond like Cunningham enraged and standing up to the PERCEIVED left on this argument.

They know equally as well just how Enes Kanter Freedom is presenting election season manna from heaven by being a nearly 7-foot-tall, hulking example of the physical and biological differences between MEN AND WOMEN - which easily shows MAGA, and any sensible person, why BIOLOGICAL WOMEN ALONE should be able to decide this issue.

Which is really not political at all.

But it plays well, politically, for a mostly uneducated MAGA base that sees EVERYTHING as political.

The mind-blowing thing?

Many of those in MAGA land have no healthcare.

The need food assistance subsidies.

They can’t afford rent or gas.

They support a man who has said publicly multiple times that he does not care what they cannot afford.

And they STILL will vote for Donald Trump and his Republican cronies come November.

And all because they KNOW what a woman is.

And they THINK we don’t.

#michaeljameswrites

#BLOCKMAGA

#DonaldTrump

#MAGA

#USA

#America

OK, WORLD! HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN A SITUATION WHERE SOMEONE DID NOT LIKE YOU OR DESPISED YOU WHOM YOU BARELY KNEW OR HAD NEVER MET OR EVER TRANSGRESSED? WHAT DID YOU DO ABOUT IT ONCE YOU REALIZED THERE WAS NOTHING YOU COULD DO TO CHANGE THEIR MINDS? DID YOU KEEP TRYING OR DID YOU EVENTUALLY JUST WALK AWAY?...

I ask you this question with the old adage in mind about the definition of insanity:

To keep trying the same thing hoping for a different outcome.

And this is where we are, y’all - with Donald Trump and with MAGA.

We cain’t change them.

Which means we can’t and we ain’t gonna change them.

With Trump, see, we have a LIFETIME of evidence.

He has always been a liar.

Always been a cheat.

Always been a thief.

Always been a con man.

Always been a bully and an abuser.

And for the last decade he has been MAGA’s champion.

Where NOTHING he does - however criminal, however illegal, however immoral - is a bridge too far.

Yet and still, so many of you have CONTINUED to try to change MAGA.

Because they are your family.

Because they are your friends.

Because they are your coworkers.

Because they are your neighbors.

Because you live in a town FULL of them.

So, you keep trying to change them.

But you cain’t.

Which I have told you what that means.

Since there MUST be SOME way, you keep trying, anyway.

Which is INSANE.

The very definition of insanity, actually.

And I am here to tell you - with midterm elections approaching, with September dawning, with just two months left before this all-important election - to STOP trying.

And to focus on yourselves.

And what YOU can do to try to defeat MAGA and Trump.

So, I am asking and offering you a solution.

Today.

In the form of a hashtag I want you to adhere to and spread:

#BLOCKMAGA.

Across ALL social media.

And I don’t care who they are.

Because you have to preserve your energy and defend your peace against those who know nothing.

Who just want to talk.

Or insult you.

Or hurt you.

Or keep Donald Trump in power.

See, it’s getting late in the game, folks.

If a DECADE of Trump hasn’t changed them...

If the past 17 months have not changed them...

NOTHING will.

So, I ask you to stop trying.

You see, if all MAGA hears is the sounds of their own ignorant voices, it is time to leave them alone to talk among themselves.

If we all #BLOCKMAGA - which I did not invent, but am merely passing along - we won’t hear anything but the sound of their silence.

Which is what the world needs now.

More than ever.

#michaeljameswrites

* DO NOT JUST READ. LIKE AND SHARE *

#BLOCKMAGA

#DonaldTrump

#MAGA

#america

#usa

#midterms

OK, WORLD! EACH AND EVERY DAY I REALIZE I AM NOT AS NICE A MAN AS I USED TO BE, NOT AS CARING, NOT AS OPEN, NOT AS CONCERNED FOR CERTAIN PEOPLE AND THINGS AS I USED TO BE. MOST SHOCKINGLY, I DON’T SEE THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA OR WHITE PEOPLE OF A CERTAIN PERSUASION THE WAY I DID EVEN A FEW MONTHS AGO…

Because their hatred is out on full display - with the permission of Donald trump - and I never really noticed it to this degree before.

When I see all those wrinkled faces of white MAGA men and women with untold and incalculable miles of life etched into their skins, I once wanted to believe that we were at least a bit the same, that they felt the same about life, liberty and freedom as I did.

But every single day that I write to inspire people to resist this toxic, incendiary, virulent, hateful, fascist, ignorant and racist administration, I am confronted with an undeniable truth:

So many white Americans are chock full of hate and disdain for ANYONE and ANYTHING not just like them.

And, emboldened from the safety and sanctity of the Internet and relative anonymity, they say the absolute most foul things one can imagine across social media.

Things many of these old folks would NEVER have the courage to say to our faces or in public.

But here’s the thing:

It’s who they REALLY and TRULY are.

So, in the interest of self-protection and self-preservation - like the Israelis, Jews and Zionists always like to say - I am starting to look at many whites with a wary and cautious gaze, which I never did before.

See, in the past, a DANGER had to be clear and present.

Like, OBVIOUS.

I needed to see more from a pale-skinned white guy with close-cropped hair and tattoos to KNOW he was a skinhead.

I used to have to HEAR that fat, beer-swilling white guy with the camo ball cap SAY something racist to know he was a racist.

It took MORE than the old white woman to ignore me when I opened the door for her and she haughtily walked through as though I were a doorman who was supposed to make her trek through life - or at least into this particular building - easier.

But today - because of all the shit I see and hear white people do and say in the name of Donald Trump - I’m getting to the point where what my brain does is waits for white people to prove they are NOT one of them.

MAGA, I mean.

And, of course, it used to be the other way around.

Wanna know some of the things that have changed?

I can hear a country song and it makes me think of confederate flags and racism.

When it USED to make me think of pickup trucks, hound dogs, the farm and small towns - like where I went to college.

When I’m on the road, even LICENSE PLATES make me think of a potential Trump-supporting racist on the inside.

Louisiana, Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia - and even Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania make me unsure these days.

The Fourth of July?

It used to mean hot dogs, family, soda, the sun, maybe the beach - certainly the park - and ALWAYS fireworks at the end.

Today?

The Fourth of July is a white nationalist holiday for racists and white folks from rural areas who think they are the only ones who built this country, who fought for this country and that they are the only TRUE Americans.

PATRIOTS, y’all!!!

Which is why today almost NOTHING is beyond my suspicion.

An American flag being flown feels like a threat.

A white guy in a pickup truck is a 50-50 proposition.

He may or may not be MAGA.

A young white person dies and I check their social media to see who they were?

All it takes is for me to see that they were MAGA-in-training and my brain thinks, “Well, that’s one less Republican vote.”

Which is a shame.

The thing is, I was not always this way.

I USED to think that white people were fair.

Like my dad and Black people I knew.

I USED to think that you treated everyone right until they gave you a reason to treat them any other way.

But every single day these days I awake to a white person saying some nasty - and even, yes, VILE - shit to me.

All because they don’t agree with me.

And it blows my mind how they ALL look alike.

The same faces.

The same attitudes.

The same lack of truly knowing ANYTHING at all.

Except that they hate SOMEBODY.

For SOME REASON.

And they are going to let them KNOW.

Which is why today, I am not the man I used to be.

Because I hate them, too.

Right down to their hard-to-hide MAGA faces...

#michaeljameswrites

#DonaldTrump

#MAGA

#america

#Fascism

#racism

SO, WORLD! I NEVER BEFORE THOUGHT I WOULD NEED TO ASK FOR HELP, BUT AS WE APPROACH SEPTEMBER, I NEED YOU “ALL” TO DIG DEEP AND HELP ME: YOU SEE, I NEED HELP FROM MAGA ONLY...

As the days roll by, ever-closer to a referendum of a midterm on Donald Trump’s disastrous, white supremacist, fascist and racist takeover of American democracy, MAGA has taken to doing what Donald Trump does:

They call EVERYTHING we say a lie, or rigged or a hoax or Trump Derangement Syndrome or idiotic or stupid or... something to that effect.

And, like Trump, they do it without providing any evidence.

Other than the “fact” that they say so.

With this in mind - as well as the FACT that I am good and damned tired of the idiocracy I live in and the idiots within - I am going to ask a few questions of the most intelligent MAGAts in the country.

Who know “fact.”

1. Do you know how money works?

2. How has a military parade, a Great America State Fair, a Lincoln Memorial botched Reflecting Pool refurb, gold leaf all over The White House, a Grand Prix Race in DC, a UFC event on The White House Lawn, a grand ballroom and a Trump arch helped us?

3. Since you HATE communism, Marxism and Socialism, how did Trump giving $40 BILLION American taxpayer dollars to Argentina help us?

4. Since Trump tells us he legitimately won the 2024 US Presidential election in a landslide, why are you all so convinced there is widespread election fraud?

5. If the economy under Trump is doing so great, how have we surpassed a $40 TRILLION DOLLAR DEFICIT?

6. If we have “Billions and Trillions” of dollars “coming in” - as Trump likes to say - where in the hell is it?

7. If you thought The Democrats took away your freedoms, did they ever confiscate your guns, refuse to answer questions, tell reporters to shut up or have their billionaire friends take over the American mainstream media and social media?

8. If Donald Trump told you on the campaign trail about all the Democrats in The Epstein Files and how he would release them as president - why did he refuse to explain why he is IN those files more than 30,000 times - more than any other figure?

9. If never before in history has a former president been spoken of with any frequency a year after they have departed, why is Joe Biden constantly referenced by Trump 17 months after he left and Barack Obama more than a decade later?

10. If Trump is so concerned about “illegals” voting, why have he and The Republican Party taken such great pains to redistrict and gerrymander to prevent LEGAL BLACK AMERICANS from voting?

11. If no other US president in history has ever traded stocks for profit while in The White House, why are you OK with Trump making more than $3 BILLION DOLLARS in personal wealth with nearly 4,000 stock trades over the past 17 months?

12. If Donald Trump is soooo interested in putting America First, why don’t you know that WE pay the tariff costs levied on our former allies and trade partners?

13. As America burns, why are YOU so giddy about the fact Trump SAID he doesn’t care what you can afford and food prices, gas and home prices have not come down?

14. Why are you so concerned about immigrants, gays, transgenders, Blacks and others that you can’t see YOU are being fleeced?

I could go on, but I won’t.

Just help me with these few questions.

Remember, y’all, MAGA only...

#michaeljameswrites

SO, WORLD! BEFORE THE DAY IS DONE, I FEEL A NEED TO POINT OUT JUST HOW COMPLETE THE DUMBING DOWN OF AMERICA HAS BECOME: WITH THE MOST IMPORTANT VOTE IN OUR RECENT HISTORY APPROACHING, THE ONLY ISSUES THAT MATTER TO MAGA ARE THOSE THAT MATTER TO DONALD TRUMP AND THE WHITE GUYS...

How do I know?

Because I awoke to a lot of messages and comments - no matter which topic I was writing about - asking, “Yeah, but what is a woman?”

Now, because I have been busy paying attention to IMPORTANT ISSUES - like states possibly forbidding The US Postal Service from delivering legal mail-in ballots, or Is The New Beef 🥩 Trump’s Talking About Importing Coming From All Those Protected Wild American Horses His Administration Is Rounding Up And Slaughtering or the fact that a US Military Plane Just Landed In Moscow without explanation - and I’ve got MAGA focused on transgenders.

And Muslims.

And communism.

And what they THINK Zohran Mamdani is doing “up there” in New York City.

And that our voting rights are not being stripped - WHEN THE SUPREME COURT IS ACTUALLY DOING IT.

And, yes, Sweet Dolly Parton’s departing.

Who was, in fact, a VERY POLITICAL WOMAN and an activist.

Folks, we are a country filled with some of the dumbest suckers in history.

Who are talking louder than ever now that we have the most toxic and idiotic leader The United States has ever known in power.

So, yeah, I’m pissed.

Because I have to waste time dealing with questions about ex-New York Knicks player Enes Kanter deciding he wants to be a woman and play in The WNBA.

And THAT is what MAGA gives a fuck about?

And NOT why a US military plane is visiting Badmir Putin’s country two months before the midterm elections - and neither government is telling us why.

Which would have NEVER been acceptable under Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Barack Obama or The Clintons.

Folks, I despise these Fox News-watching zombies with a passion.

Who believe a Natalie Harp controlling the US president is okay.

WHO believe that Slovenian Melania Trump gives a shit about America.

Who watched a car race in Washington that has Nothing to do with Nothing and PRAISE Donald Trump as fun???

What the fuck???

So, I will waste the time to answer ONE question these dumbass people - and Trump - think is important.

What is a woman?

Your mother.

How’s that?

My turn now:

What really matters to Americans and this country?

Nothing that Trump and his red hat-wearing zombies THINK is important.

#michaeljameswrites

OK, HELLO WORLD! YESTERDAY’S ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE DEATH OF MUSIC ICON DOLLY PARTON RE-CONFIRMED SOMETHING THAT I KNEW, BUT DON’T WISH TO ACCEPT: AMERICANS ARE VERY, VERY SELFISH AND EGOCENTRIC PEOPLE. SEE, ON THE SAME DAY I WROTE ABOUT AMERICAN VOTING RIGHTS BEING STRIPPED AWAY BY THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION - AND HOURS LATER DOLLY’S DEATH - WHAT DO YOU THINK PEOPLE CARED ABOUT MOST?...

The 80 year old woman who did a cover in 2005 of Janis Joplin’s Me And Bobby McGee.

Remember what both of these iconic Americans sang in that song?

“Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose...

Nothin, don’t mean nothing, hon, if it ain’t free.”

And we are NOT free.

And we are getting LESS free every day.

I know because I read about it like Santa Claus.

When you are sleeping AND when you are awake.

And I know that y’all aren’t very good when it comes to FREEDOM for goodness’ sake.

And because I write about it.

Every day.

Oh, you talk about it and you pray to God that the midterm elections will save us.

But so many do so little to DEMONSTRABLY show you care about freedom.

Which I’ve come to expect.

Now, because I believe as a writer some deaths simply cannot be ignored, I wrote about Dolly Parton’s.

Hours after a much more researched and exhaustive piece on how Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, The Republican Party and The US Supreme Court, are rigging our elections.

Know what I saw?

That the 135 reactions to the post about our all-important voting rights was surpassed by my post about Dolly Parton.

In 40 minutes.

Why?

Because so many of you remember YOURSELVES in Dolly Parton’s life.

Where YOU were when you saw her.

What YOU were doing when you heard her songbird’s voice.

How she made YOU feel.

But here’s the thing YOU missed while posting your remembrance of her as fast as YOU could type.

Which YOU had the freedom to do.

Another thing?

Dolly’s DEAD, y’all.

Think about that for a moment or in the years to come.

And maybe take a listen to Me And Bobby McGee sometime.

And try to REALLY HEAR that line again.

And think about what it means.

And what Janis and Dolly thought it meant.

If THEY allow it to among the songs we can hear played on state radio...

#michaeljameswrites

#Dolly

#America

#DonaldTrump

#USA

#MAGA

OK, WORLD! CAN YOU COME TO CRAZY TOWN WITH ME TODAY? LET ME PAINT A PICTURE OF ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD WITH A KNOW-IT-ALL OCTOGENARIAN PRESIDENT WHO HAS ACCESS TO THE WORLD’S MOST SENSITIVE SECRETS AND MOST DANGEROUS WEAPONS, A MAN WHO MUST BE PROTECTED AT ALL COSTS - BUT WHO WILL NOT ALLOW THE SECRET SERVICE TO PROTECT HIM…

Sounds insane, right?

Only, it’s true.

See, that country is The United States of America.

That man is Donald J. Trump.

He is a man many around the world wish were no longer among the living, but when you consider the way he operates, it’s a minor miracle that he is alive at all.

Now, with the scene set for this crazy insane/insane crazy tale, let me remind some of you - and to reveal to others - the security danger that Donald Trump has created all by himself.

Remember July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania where, during a campaign rally, Donald Trump was allegedly shot in an assassination attempt that jump-started his return to power and stunned the world?

Remember how Secret Service Agents covered Trump’s body with their bodies and hands?

But what did Trump do?

With no idea whether there was a second shooter after his alleged attempted assailant was neutralized, Trump - with no respect for security protocols - demanded his shoes and raised his head again within target range to utter the words, “Fight, Fight, Fight!”

Which, while on the surface appeared courageous, earned scorn for the Secret Service Agents, who allowed the presidential candidate to again put himself in harm’s way.

But that near-miss paid off handsomely for Trump, who, as usual, did things his own way.

Episode 2:

Remember when Trump took receipt of a $400 million dollar “gift” plane from Qatar on May 21, 2025 that we were told would take years to retrofit with the security a US president requires at a cost of hundreds of millions?

What did Trump do?

Against all logic, he decided to start using that plane as Air Force One less than a year later, taking his first flight on the jet - which were were told HAD been retrofitted with the required security measures on July 1 of this year.

Only, WAS it?

Or did Trump’s White House simply “claim” it was.

See, by now you know of the fiasco that occurred when Trump got word from Israel of a reputed assassination plot targeting that plane on his way back from Turkey - and chose to be spirited off with aide Natalie Harp and Pete Hegseth - leaving behind other important members of his staff and traveling media on the plane which would have been targeted.

The question is, would his traditional Air Force One have been equipped to handle the threat of shoulder held rocket launchers?

Evidently, Trump was uncertain enough of the danger to the Quatari plane that he allowed himself to be ferried away on AN EVEN LESS SECURE PLANE!

WTF!?!?!?

Episode 3:

Every president before Donald Trump understands the importance of making sure all staffers with access to him are properly vetted for security clearance, right?

Right.

But Trump?

Ignoring concerns of his staffers AND The FBI, he allowed Natalie Harp - his closest aide (replacing Karoline Leavitt) and the person most responsible for all the information that reaches his ears - to REFUSE to fill out a security clearance form for more than a year.

Now, while on the surface, in a world not so crazy, this might not be a problem.

But the fact is that the 35-year-old Harp is clearly an unhinged woman known little about who is absolutely OBSESSED with Trump.

So much so that despite numerous attempts to keep her from his side for as long as THREE YEARS PRIOR, nobody was able to stop her.

And when one considers the lengths Harp has been willing to go to be attached to Trump’s hip, well, this security liability is concerning.

See, y’all, Harp, a cancer survivor who credits Trump with approving a drug that saved her life - which he did not - has exhibited a femme fatale-style fascination with him.

This includes, according to published reports, leaving notes and letters expressing undying loyalty to him.

This includes spending an entire summer sleeping in the women’s locker room of his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf course after being denied a room assignment by staff desperate to keep them apart.

This includes riding in the trunk of a car to stay close to him.

This includes chasing after his golf cart on a course in Scotland when she feared she’d been left behind.

This includes writing a tearful apology for causing him embarrassment with that fiasco.

This includes reportedly demanding to accompany him in a catering truck to another plane to escape the supposed Iranian assassination attempt.

This adds up to some outrageous, batshit behavior that gives you the feeling this is the type of woman who might drive a steak knife into Donald Trump’s heart should she ever feel he is abandoning her.

Which is, folks, absolutely crazy.

What’s more?

Despite multiple levels of law enforcement charged to protect and keep him safe - you know, FBI, CIA, Secret Service - it seems the only effective method employed which worked to remove the threat?

The TEMPORARY appearance of Trump’s wife, Melania, who reportedly refuses to be seen with The United States President when Harp is around.

Which is, as I said at the beginning of this tale, crazy.

For how in the world can anybody possibly protect one of the world’s most powerful men…

…when he won’t let them?

#michaeljameswrites

OK, HELLO WORLD! IT’S NOT OFTEN THAT I GET UNSETTLED BY ANY THOUGHTS I HAVE REGARDING THE AGE OF DONALD TRUMP AND THE WHITE GUYS, BUT THIS MORNING’S MUSINGS ACTUALLY SHOOK ME: WE IN THE UNITED STATES ARE LIVING IN A COLD WAR ERA NIGHTMARE...

Follow me down this road, OK?

If you awoke this past week from a coma you’d been in since the late 1970s-mid 1980s, you’d think Russia’s plan had worked.

You’d be shocked to find The United States has a president who despite the fact millions of pieces of content are written every single day centered on him - we know absolutely NOTHING about.

You would have been shocked to hear the Eastern-bloc inflected voice of his Slovenian model wife - 25 years younger - saying, “I heerd you meeesed me!” and exclaimed, WTF?!?!

You would have been stunned into silence to know that the US president is possibly being compromised and hypnotized by an obsessed 35-year-old Nazi-era femme fatale who seemingly came out of NOWHERE that controls most all the information that reaches him - and refused to sign a form for security clearance for more than a year which would have allowed our intelligence services to investigate her.

You would have been rendered absolutely speechless to hear that a South African foreign national had been given permission and free reign to dismantle the American government at the start of Donald Trump’s administration and summarily fire hundreds of thousands of experienced workers who helped keep this country safe.

You would wonder how in the hell half of America’s voting population would be so angered by powerless people - like Blacks, gays and immigrants - that they actually SUPPORTED the tearing down of law and order and democracy.

And you’d look back through time and think that maybe a deal was made in the 1980s when Trump took dirty Russian oligarch money to rescue his failing casinos that he made some other deal to destabilize America from within if he ever got the chance.

And you would think that Russian strongman Vladmir Putin had won.

By playing the looooonnnggg game.

Because this is where we are.

See, Donald Trump has never played by the same rules as ANY US President before him.

He did not show his tax returns.

He did not show his health records.

He did not reveal business records that could have shown conflicts of interest.

He appointed sycophants across all areas of government and law to hamper investigation into him.

He stopped the full release of The Epstein Files that might show he was a compromised man who is a pedophile who raped children and possibly murdered some.

This is information that Russia undoubtedly has.

Which would make ALL of this make absolute sense.

Nobody would be able to convince you that this is not why Donald Trump is trying to overthrow the US government.

And attack our allies.

And befriend tyrants and dictators.

And hand $40 BILLION American taxpayer dollars to Argentina.

And destroy everything he touches.

And allow Artificial Intelligence to be unleashed across this country.

To keep us all confused about what is real or true.

And DEMAND to not be questioned.

And nobody would be able to tell you that this is NOT America.

Not any longer.

Because it isn’t.

And you might watch a great TV show set in the 1980s about Russian spies integrated into America.

That was called, ironically, The Americans.

And you would go into shock.

And fall back into a coma.

Where nightmares truly exist.

But are ONLY nightmares.

#michaeljameswrites

#DonaldTrump

#America

#USA

#MAGA

#Fascism

#Russia

OK, WORLD! CAN WE TALK SEX, LIES AND SCANDALS - WITHOUT THE VIDEOTAPE? CAN WE TALK “COMPROMISING POSITIONS?” CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW HONEYPOTS WORK AND HOW SEX HAS BROUGHT DOWN MANY A POWERFUL MAN? IF SO, CAN WE ADDRESS THE POTENTIALLY SCARIEST THOUGHT IN THE WORLD - THAT IF NATALIE HARP IS WILLING TO GIVE DONALD TRUMP SEXUAL FAVORS, WE ARE LOOKING AT “THE” MOST COMPROMISED PRESIDENT IN UNITED STATES HSTORY?…

Folks, I am not claiming to have any special knowledge of the relationship between octogenarian Donald Trump and the obsessed 35-year-old aide who has wormed her way closer to Trump than his own shadow, but I do hear whispers.

That Natalie Harp is a danger to Trump.

And national security.

Which makes her a danger to America.

Which means ME.

And YOU.

Especially if she is playing for a foreign power that helped weaponize this woman to get past the defenses of a very flawed elderly man who is most susceptible to flattery, and - yes - sex.

Even just the threat or promise of it.

Hold on, MJ, ya say!

How can you jump to such tawdry conclusions?

Gimme a minute, y’all.

Let’s start here:

There are verified reports that First Lady Melania Trump is locked in a power struggle with Harp - whom she is said to have walked in to find alone with Trump in his private White House residence late one night.

Now, this report didn’t claim Melania saw anything, but the fact that she was troubled by Harp’s presence is telling.

There are reports that those in Trump’s inner circle have long had an issue with Harp’s access to him, but that - after Harp reportedly gave Trump a note declaring, “You are all that matters to me” - the twosome have become inseparable.

There is a published claim by author Michael Wolfe and shared by the diligent @MeidasTouch that says Harp spent a summer sleeping in the women's locker room at Donald Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, after she was denied a formal room assignment by campaign staff trying to create distance.

This alone should tell you that Harp has long had her heart set on getting close to Trump to be in the exact position she is in today - which is virtually inextricable.

She did it with her looks (she strikingly favors Trump’s favored First Daughter, Ivanka).

She did it with charm (she can be constantly seen grinning and smiling approvingly at Trump no matter what he is doing or saying).

She did it with flattery (passing personal notes and words of encouragement left in personal spaces where Trump can find them).

She did it with unflappable and undying loyalty (she is said to have told Trump, sincerely, “I will NEVER leave you.")

Now, the biggest question that NOBODY wants to ask - but everyone HAS to be curious about:

Has she done it with sex?

Does she TOUCH The president of The United States inappropriately?

Does she tease or satisfy his sexual or physical needs or desires in any way?

With Donald Trump, does Natalie Harp titillate, manipulate, copulate, orate - or do anything else that might make an 80-year-old man all the way down to an 18-year-old - um, capitulate?

Folks, the questions I pose may sound intrusive, but Donald Trump has ALWAYS had a weakness for females, according to The Epstein Files, of all ages.

We KNOW he’s long had a thing for blondes - two of three wives and porn star Stormy Daniels - and we just saw how quickly he traded in once-favored spokesperson Karoline Leavitt for Harp in recent weeks.

It’s also no accident that when Trump was alerted to a possible assassination attempt by the Iranians not long ago, he chose to secretly take Harp with him on a decoy plane - while leaving behind Leavitt, the traveling media and main members of his cabinet on the plane that would have been targeted.

Which shows you in no uncertain terms how much he values Harp - whose own brother told news media that he finds his estranged sister’s fascination with Trump “unhealthy.”

Y’all, it’s MORE than unhealthy.

It’s downright dangerous.

Even the FBI thinks so.

But this is Donald Trump’s world and nobody seems to be able to do a thing about it when he sets his mind to something, come hell or high water.

And Trump's mind is set on the sweet sounds of Harp music.

Donald Trump, by the way, is a man who has gone on record criticizing every single thing Joe Biden or Barack Obama ever did - but he’s also gone on record as saying he felt it was “nonsense” that Bill Clinton was impeached for having an affair with intern Monica Lewinsky.

Which should tell you where his head is at.

But worse?

It sheds no light on where Natalie Harp’s head is at.

Or where it has been

Or where it is willing to go…

#michaeljameswrites

#DonaldTrump
#MAGA
#natalieharp
#melaniatrump
#CompromisingPositions
#America

SO, AMERICA! AS EVIDENCED BY THE NABJ GIVING STEPHEN A. SMITH ITS “THUMB’S DOWN AWARD,” I GET THE SENSE THAT SOME PEOPLE ARE WAKING UP IN THIS COUNTRY AND - FINALLY - DEMANDING SOME ACCOUNTABILITY. AS USUAL, THOUGH, IT ALWAYS SEEMS TO BEGIN WITH BLACK PEOPLE...

And not the rich white influential people who have run The United States as long as you have been alive.

And your parents...

And their parents...

And... well, you get the picture.

Now, the sole reason I don’t take issue with The National Association of Black Journalists going after Stephen A. Smith - Disney / ESPN’s $100 million dollar man - is because Smith has allowed himself to be used by rich white influential men to never speak so harshly of them as he routinely does Black people.

And as he almost never does when it comes to Donald Trump.

Who has attacked Black people in 2025-’26 more than olden day US presidents who actually owned slaves.

No, I don’t mind people going after Smith - finally - because I know him better than most all of you.

Because I was for nearly two decades one of his closest friends.

And I saw how money, fame and power transformed him.

And for the last year or so, I was begging you all to help ME go after him.

And I felt I was going it alone.

But the shot the NABJ publicly took at SAS shows me I am not alone at all.

They see what I see.

They see what I saw back in 2009 when our friendship ended because I had the audacity to warn him about himself.

In fact, EVERYONE close enough to challenge Steve and his ever-lofty, right-wing, know it all opinion of himself, got the boot.

Max Kellerman.

First Take co-host Molly Qerim.

And ME.

And not one of us - who cared deeply about this man - could stop the crash of his train.

But that is what is happening now.

Because his voice has grown too powerful.

And too toxic.

And he wants to be the US president.

And that cannot happen.

Because we have seen what ego-driven, money-hungry, power-craving TV personalities can do when they are given this nation’s steering wheel.

We get driven off a cliff.

Speaking of driving, I am reminded of many nights and early mornings when Steve would call my apartment and we’d drive the New York City streets to White Castle in Queens (which recently closed

, btw!)vand he would tell me his hopes and dreams.

What he was happy with and what he wasn’t.

It was ALWAYS about him and what HE wanted and what HE thought was important.

And I did not mind because he was my friend and I wanted him to shine.

And every day I awoke thinking of him as head writer of his ESPN TV show, Quite Frankly With Stephen A. Smith, always trying to paint him in the best possible light.

And every day he would say a little something that I could not abide - until I finally said something to him.

Which HE could not abide.

And then, Training Day was over.

I was out.

And in all these years since, I have watched from afar as he walked towards a seemingly inevitable abyss.

And now he is there.

Having reached the limits of power.

Of money.

Of fame.

And, today, quite possibly the start of the end of it all.

Because he can’t stop talking.

Can’t stop raging.

Can’t stop defending.

Against what everyone but him can clearly see.

Which reminds me of the final scene in that Denzel Washington / Ethan Hawke movie, where Denzel’s rogue detective is flailing, lost, cursing and threatening the community that once celebrated him.

The community that MADE him.

And he, of course, will rage against The NABJ as he never did when Donald Trump called him “Low IQ.”

And nobody will care.

Because they have seen this movie before.

In fact, we have seen ALL of Stephen A. Smith’s movies.

And his moves.

Training Day, it seems, is over.

#michaeljameswrites

OK, WORLD! WHEN I WAS A CUB SPORTSWRITER AT THE DETROIT NEWS BACK IN THE DAY, THERE WAS NO GREATER HONOR THAN TO RECEIVE AN AWARD FROM THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BLACK JOURNALISTS. TO BE RECOGNIZED AND HONORED BY YOUR PEERS MEANT YOU HAD MADE IT AND MEANT YOU WERE THE BEST OF US...

Until now.

If your name is Disney / ESPN’s $100 million dollar man and the face of sports in The United States of America, Stephen A. Smith.

Who, although the most famous Black sports “journalist” in this country, was “honored” by those very same peers - who represent pretty much every African American scribe in this nation - with their not-at-all-coveted “Thumb’s Down Award.”

Which is like, in Hollywood parlance, receiving A Raspberry Award.

Which is the anti-Oscars.

For turning in the worst performance of the year.

Think John Travolta in whatever that scientology movie was he made for a lotta money that crashed and burned on the way to theaters.

Which means BAD, y’all.

Which SHOULD tell Smith that he’s doing something wrong.

Which is what I told my former once-great friend back in 2009.

Which is why our near two-decade friendship ended.

So, if you want to ask me if I am surprised by this latest development, the answer is a resounding, “No!”

Because Stephen A. Smith has walked on the wrong side of Black History for a long time now.

Almost ever since he got a seat at White America’s table.

And especially after he secured his $100 million dollar payday.

Nearly everything he has said and done over the last 3 to 4 years, in fact, has been wrong.

And anti-Black.

No matter what he believes.

Now, the reason he received this dishonor, according to the NABJ - which once revered him - is due to his distasteful comments about Black male athletes and Black women.

Like Michelle Obama.

And Joy Reid.

And Jasmine Crockett.

Things that he has never said with the same edge and forcefulness about white people he comments on.

Things that he would never say about whites as he has about LeBron James.

And Kyrie Irving - despite his recent apology.

Or Kevin Durant.

Or Jaylen Brown.

Or even Kwame Brown.

Or Matt Barnes.

Or Stephen Jackson.

Or Jason Whitlock - even though he most often deserves derision.

And the National Association of Black Journalists has noticed.

What I noticed a long time ago.

Well before this self-described “Registered Independent” started spouting views that sound a lot like an “Unregistered Republican.”

Long before he refused to acknowledge Donald Trump’s attacks on Black people with executive orders ending The 1964 Civil Rights Act.

And Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

And Equal Opportunity Employment.

Long before he counted among his “good friends” Fox News’ Sean Hannity.

And Benjamin Netanyahu apologist Mark Levin.

And right winger / Trump supporter Patrick Bet-David.

And Bill O’Reilly.

And Chris Cuomo.

And called racist Megyn Kelly “The Real Deal.”

I was there at the beginning.

I was head writer of his TV show, Quite Frankly With Stephen A. Smith on ESPN.

My job was to write in his voice.

Which I did extremely well because I knew the man.

Who is NOT the man today that he once was.

Which was honest AND honorable.

Today, however, he is as dishonorable as Officer Tatum.

And a disgrace to the Black people he once claimed to love and champion.

You have to understand how difficult it is for this esteemed Black organization to turn on Smith.

This is akin to washing our dirty laundry in public for white people to see - which is something we are ALWAYS reticent to do.

But this is how far Stephen A. Smith has fallen in ALL of our eyes - though I guarantee you he won’t see it.

But my bet is that executives at ESPN and Disney will notice that this organization, which counts between 4,000-4,400 members nationwide - and advocates for many more Black journalists in America - has sent a shot across the bow.

Their bow.

Stephen A. Smith’s bow, especially.

And it could herald the downfall of their one-time cash cow who is already being usurped by Pat McAfee as the top dog at the network.

See, it is no accident that the NABJ gave Stephen A. Smith The Thumb’s Down Award today.

Because it the highest honor he now deserves from his “own” people.

And it just might be the first thumb of bigger ones to come.

#michaeljameswrites

#espn

#disney

#stephenasmith

#NABJ

SO, WORLD! NOW THAT WHITE HOUSE SPOKESLIAR, KAROLYIN’ LEAVITT, HAS SEEN THE LIGHT AND IS LEAVING DONALD TRUMP BEHIND, CAN WE TALK ABOUT SOMETHING I LIKE TO CALL “ALL THE PRESIDENT’S WOMEN?”…

See, if you’ve been paying attention, across one and a quarter presidential administrations, we’ve come to know that there is NO love between Donald Trump and First Lady, Melania Trump.

That’s what can happen when the woman who marries you for money finds out that you’ve paid hush money to a porn star to keep quiet about your “entanglement” while married.

But, because she likes power - and money - and because there is no greater access to power than being betrothed to The President Of The United States, Melania has played her part and stayed.

Even after Donald clearly strayed.

But an interesting thing has occurred right before our eyes as Trump has grown tired of being embarrassed by Melania slapping his hand away in public and refusing to show him affection of any kind:

He has taken to constantly surrounding himself with beautiful, young surrogates that - at the least - he can ogle.

Remember Hope Hicks from his first go-round?

What about the 60-something, but still relatively-attractive, Pam Bondi?

Didya notice he had no issue with cowgirl Kristi Noem being around - until he found out she was messing around with Corey Lewandowski - his former campaign manager?

And until recently, there was Leavitt, whom he gushed over her looks and lips - though careful to never say anything about her, um, boobs - until she no longer satisfied him.

So, he replaced her with human shadow, Natalie Harp, the 35-year-old bedazzled blond shadow - who is as close to his beloved daughter Ivanka as he can get - and who at least supplies him with something resembling adoration and, gulp, attraction.

See, if you’ve watched Donald Trump throughout his long life, he has always longed to be surrounded by women.

And even at the end of that life, and now the most powerful man - at least in this country - it’s a very hard habit to break.

Yet, he still has an itch for female attention that needs to be scratched.

Attractive women in Donald Trump’s presidency are as common as gold leaf he’s placed on virtually EVERYTHING in The White House.

He keeps them around as long as he is the center of their attention.

Which he was not for Karolyin’ Leavitt anymore.

Who just had a new baby.

Which is more the center of her attention.

So, he did what he always does with the women in his orbit:

He tosses them either under the bus or off the bus.

In Leavitt’s case, she claims to be leaving the most lucrative job she will ever have to spend time with her family, but it’s more likely she is leaving because Trump left her on a plane the Israelis told Trump might be targeted by Iranian assassins - while choosing to take the starstruck Harp with him to another plane not marked for destruction.

Which showed Leavitt exactly where she stood in Trump’s harem.

Which was embarrassing and too much to bear.

So, she’s out.

And I suspect Leavitt saw it coming once she returned from maternity leave.

For that was when she was replaced.

The screen grab I share is of the previous three years of Instagram posts shared by Karoline Leavitt when she was the apple of Trump’s eye.

Curiously absent?

Any image of her with nemesis Natalie Harp.

The plane fiasco made things clear to Leavitt.

So, she’s flying the coop.

So, now, it’s Harp’s turn to shine.

And in the wings?

Melania look-a-like,Margo Martin, who is such a doppelgänger for The First Lady that more than a few have mistaken her for Melania.

And only recently, you saw a newer face:

Remember the woman standing behind Trump in The Oval Office the other day with her hand over her belly who seemed to be “zapping” him awake each time he dozed?

She’s a right-wing “influencer” named Jayme Leagh Franklin, who has weaseled her way into Trump’s orbit by pretending to love the very ground he shuffles upon.

And her emergence, along with the promotion of Harp, makes it easy for Trump to accept the resignation of Leavitt - who wasn’t letting Trump grab her by the private parts, anyway.

These are All The President’s Women.

Eye candy for a man who can barely taste sweets, anymore.

But who still has an undying hankering for ‘em…

#michaeljameswrites

#DonaldTrump

#Women

#KarolineLeavitt

#natalieharp

OK, HELLO WORLD! ASIDE FROM WATER IN THE SHOWER AND BATHTUB, I’M NOT A FAN OF LARGE BODIES OF IT, PRIMARILY BECAUSE I DON’T KNOW ALL OF WHAT’S IN THERE. BUT I DO KNOW THAT TWO OF THE OCEAN’S APEX PREDATORS ARE THE ORCA AND THE GREAT WHITE SHARK - AND I KNOW A LITTLE SOMETHING ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS SHOULD MAN ELIMINATE THEM...

SOMETHING else takes over.

Because the balance of things - in this case, nature - has been altered.

In The United States of America, for as long as I have been alive, the apex predator has been The White Man.

Usually, the richest of them.

But the poorest can also pose a problem.

And for as long as I have been alive in this country, the white man has painted Black people as Enemy No. 1.

Even though we aren’t.

But under Donald Trump, who is trying to Make America White Again due to the combination of the dwindling white birth rate and its constant death rate, Black people - though still a target - have not been his primary focus.

Immigrants of color are.

Which is why his corrupt administration has made The Border the top issue in the nation.

And has made a primary objective ridding the country of as many immigrants - especially those of color - as possible.

Which is what ICE is about.

Which is what Customs and Border Patrol is about.

Which is what deportation is about.

Which is what concentration camps/detention centers are about.

Despite the fact that these people being detained and removed from this country are NOT the source of this country’s problems.

Greedy, rich white billionaires are.

Which MAGA does not like to hear.

But which is a fact.

White men control politics in America.

They control the economy.

They are the ONLY ONES with the power to shift jobs overseas in exchange for evermore profits.

Or to wage war.

They are the reason there is no universal healthcare.

They are the reason for the high price of gas, food and prescription medicine.

They control the media and the narratives that influence this country.

And they are the reason why today the balance of hatred and derision has shifted.

From Black people to Muslims.

And to socialism and communism and Marxism.

If you take a look at the screen grab I’ve provided, one from my old college mate, Lt. Dan - a man from an immigrant family who served in the military - it shows just how gullible these supposed Christian nationalists can be.

This guy from the Detroit suburbs, who constantly lectures his followers about being godly, is trying to draw a connection between Muslim politicians and the terror of 9/11, despite the fact that Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed was born in Rochester Hills, Michigan, and is as American as Dan is.

MAGAts like this are the reason why today the new boogeymen are rising politicians like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and El-Sayed, who happen to be of the Muslim faith.

Whom MAGA is now painting as Public Enemy Number 1.

And calling terrorists.

Even though they are not.

But, nonetheless, MAGA is taking the bait.

And now attacking Muslims in the name of rich white men as the new alleged apex predators in American waters.

While America’s true enemy - The Great White - swims freely.

#michaeljameswrites

#DonaldTrump

#racism

#Fascism

#muslim

#america

SO, WORLD! WHEN I WAS A KID, I WAS FASCINATED BY MAGIC - ESPECIALLY WHEN I SAW A DOVE OR A RABBIT PULLED FROM A HAT. WHAT I NEVER FIGURED OUT IS “WHY” THERE WOULD EVER BE CAUSE FOR A RABBIT OR A DOVE IN A HAT - BUT I DID LEARN THAT IN ORDER TO PULL OFF THIS FEAT, THE FIRST MAGICAL TRICK REQUIRES PUTTING THOSE ANIMALS INTO THAT HAT...

Which most often uses something called “misdirection.”

Which requires the magician to direct our attention ELSEWHERE while he did the actual deed.

Because he KNOWS people looking left can’t see what’s happening on the right.

See, there are good magicians and there are bad magicians.

And then, there is Donald Trump.

Who is NO David Copperfield.

Which is why we should be able to see - without even watching his latest performance - what he is trying to do.

He is attempting to become king.

Or dictator.

Of The United States of America.

And, if you ask Iran - or, say, ME - also of the entire world.

Now, MAGA will argue the verbiage, but it all leads to the same place.

They only don’t know this because they don’t ever know what to look at.

Which is why they are the most astonished and delighted folks in America when the dove or rabbit eventually emerges.

The trick Trump is trying to pull off now is to overthrow democracy and rule this country as its supreme authority - until he dies.

His technique?

To cause daily chaos.

Which is, in magician’s parlance, known as misdirection.

Which is why six years after the fact, we are revisiting the Covid pandemic.

Or arguing whether The Strait of Hormuz is open or closed.

Or whether we’ve won the war with Iran or lost.

Or whether some liberal vandalized The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool or not.

Or being told that Muslims and communists are taking over the country.

Or voting on yet whether another unqualified cabinet member - this time, Trump’s PERSONAL ATTORNEY, Todd Blanche - deserved to be US attorney general.

Or some other catastrophe designed to allow Trump to pull some bullshit out of a hat.

Which, in this case, is seizing the midterm vote and calling the whole thing off by declaring some not-so-magical national emergency.

Which is no trick at all.

Because it’s illegal.

And criminal.

And unconstitutional.

But yet, we sit, rapt, like children, watching Trump The Great rummage around in a tired old top hat, searching for something.

That we already know is to come.

How do we know?

Because he just TOLD us.

Again.

Like, last night, when he was asked if he would call off the midterm election.

“Stranger things have happened,” Trump said. “I’ll leave it at that.”

Thing is, stranger things have NEVER happened.

Not in the 250 year history of The United States.

Which really would make this something to see.

Only we’re already watching it.

Because we’re looking right at it.

We KNOW exactly how it’s being done.

But so many of us still can’t see the trick...

#michaeljameswrites

#DonaldTrump

#MAGA

#america

#midterms

#Fascism

SO, HELLO WORLD! CAN WE TALK ABOUT ONE OF THE SINGLE MOST INFLUENTIAL CONTRIBUTORS TO THE TOXIC STATE OF THESE DIVIDED UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TODAY? CAN WE TALK TELEVISION?...

The Tee-Vee.

The Boob Tube.

Which has turned so many Americans into total rubes over, say, the last four decades.

Now, because I KNOW so many people don’t READ, let me explain what a “rube” is:

It comes from the word Reuben, and is slang for an unsophisticated, uneducated or gullible person from a rural area.

According to Da Innanet - possibly a bigger source of our problems - it’s also used to refer to a yokel, or hick or a country bumpkin.

You’ve heard a variation of it before, where one is said to have a brain the equivalent of a ham sandwich.

Which a Reuben, by the way, is.

A sandwich.

Just meat stuck between two pieces of bread.

And it don’t. know. nothing.

But yet, y’all, the ol’ TV is where most of these types get their information from.

Places like Fox News.

NewsMax.

OAN.

And stuff.

It’s THE SOURCE of where so much of the information they receive, ingest, absorb and are infected, hypnotized and weaponized comes from.

Even though most of it is skewed, slanted and flat-out untrue.

Which is how we keep ending up with television personalities as political leaders.

As in how Conan The Barbarian - Arnold Schwarzenegger - became governor of California.

And how a college football coach - Tommy Tubervile - became a US senator.

And how, yes, Ronald Reagan AND Donald Trump, became United States presidents.

And this happened because we BELIEVE those that we see on the TV.

We ascribe special qualities - like, say, intelligence, for example - to these people.

Even if they don’t possess it.

Because the silver screen means they made it.

And that they are successful.

And that they know things we don’t.

Even when they don’t.

What’s most interesting to me is when I was a kid, there was always an adult there limiting how much TV we could watch.

Because they knew how influential it could be.

And how toxic.

And how it taught us things they did not necessarily believe in or want us to know.

But somewhere along the line something changed.

With the advent of two working parents in the household, television became a surrogate parent.

It became our teacher.

And we became its students.

And we became, well, stupid.

Because there was no longer anyone RESPONSIBLE in the house to watch what we watched - or to protect us from it.

And we began to believe things that weren’t true.

And took it as gospel.

Now, today, there are MILLIONS of people in this country, hypnotized and weaponized by television - and the messages of those who own these stations - whose view of the world comes mostly from television.

Whose sole purpose these days is to manipulate us.

Into buying things we neither want nor need.

Including political ideology.

In an instant, it affects, infects and changes our minds.

And the true meanings of things.

Which is why today people juxtapose the meanings of communism, socialism and marxism.

And use the Muslim belief as a slur.

Because, to some, it SOUNDS like a slur.

Kinda how they interpret the names of Barack Obama and Kamala Harris.

And Chyyyyyyna.

But, curiously, NOT Trump.

Which does rhyme with dump, dontchaknow?

It is the reason why many in rural areas talk about New York City as though it’s The Rotten Big Apple of the 1970s.

Which it isn’t.

And it’s the reason why they slander the name of Muslim NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani as a terrorist and hater of America - when in reality he is doing a great job and actually HELPING Americans.

Which Donald Trump is not doing.

Because Donald Trump is only helping himself.

And his rich friends.

And his family.

And they don’t know this for one main reason:

The television doesn’t tell them so.

But they’ll NEVER turn it off.

Or stop believing…

#michaeljameswrites

SO, HELLO WORLD! THERE IS A WAY OF LIFE IN THE UNITED STATES THAT BELIEVES IT IS AMERICA. BECAUSE IT IS ALL THEY HAVE EVER KNOWN - LIKE AN INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY LIVING ALONE IN A FOREST - WHICH BELIEVES THEIR WAY OF LIFE IS “THE” WAY TO LIVE. BUT THEY KNOW LITTLE, HAVE EXPERIENCED LITTLE, HAVE BEEN NOWHERE, BUT STILL WISH TO CONTROL EVERYTHING. AND THEY ARE SIMPLY TOO UNEDUCATED TO KNOW THEY HAVE THE POWER TO DESTROY US ALL...

So, they hand The United States over to the billionaire class.

Believing that men concerned only with themselves have ALL of our best interests at heart.

While they only take and not give.

And there is NO convincing them.

And there is NO changing their minds.

Despite the fact that the billionaires are the source of ALL their problems.

The economy.

The loss of jobs.

The fact they have no healthcare.

The high price of food and gas.

All problems that billionaire source do not experience.

And they follow the directions of the billionaires.

And they hate and despise whoever they are told to.

And they raise uneducated children and imbue them with the same mindset.

Clueless.

Ignorant.

Yet angry.

About SOMETHING.

You ALL KNOW the type of people I’m talking about.

But, like me, you were raised with the old adage of, “If you can’t say something good, don’t say anything at all.”

So, with that in mind, I want to SHOW you something.

This screen grab - which I have taken care to anonymize - features a MAGA Trump supporter who came onto my page today to read me the riot act about cities, about politics, about life.

Yet, on the most important day of his life - his wedding day - he and his groomsmen showed up in MATCHING CAMOUFLAGE…

And the bride married him, anyway.

Because that is how life is where they live.

So, yeah…

I wanna say it, but I cain’t say it.

But you can.

See, there is nothing we can do to show them they are on the wrong path.

To ALL of our destruction.

So it is up to us - those who know - to save us all.

From the zombie apocalypse that the billionaire class has made.

#michaeljameswrites

#MAGA

#DonaldTrump

#America

OK, HELLO WORLD! RIGHT NOW, MILLIONS OF PEOPLE AROUND THE COUNTRY ARE DOING SOMETHING WE PROBABLY NEVER THOUGHT WE’D EVER DO IN OUR LIVES: DEMAND TO SEE MITCH MCCONNELL. BUT I OFFER A THOUGHT SCARIER THAN THE FACT THAT WE CAN’T EVEN GET TO SEE PROOF OF LIFE FOR AN 84-YEAR-OLD KENTUCKY SENATOR WHOSE ACTIONS PARTIALLY DETERMINE OUR LIVES: WOULD THE REPUBLICAN PARTY EVEN FEEL THE NEED TO SHOW US PROOF OF LIFE SHOULD DONALD TRUMP DIE IN OFFICE?…

I’ll be the first one to tell you after a year and a half of seeing just how yellow-bellied, complicit and ball-less the Democrat Party has shown itself to be, I have NO CONFIDENCE at all that even if the current president of The United States were to die that they would be able to force the Republican Party to do ANYTHING.

Especially if the Republicans realize - as I do - that vice president JD Vance is clearly a poor imitation of the dictatorial tyrant Donald Trump is and he simply doesn’t have the power to induce the fear necessary for this conservative group to be able to pull off their white supremacist takeover of the country.

See, what we all should have learned from Trump using his force of personality to transform the way politics work in America is that it’s done by brute force, bullying and by inspiring fear.

Which is what happens when you can hire a bunch of white christian nationalist thugs, entice some Blacks, Indians, Asians and Latinos to do your dirty work - with their faces covered, for a big paycheck and bonuses for a job terribly done on US freedoms - and allow them to kill and detain their fellow citizens with impunity.

Which means that if you can convince the American populace your party is already all-powerful - and that you have the numbers (which they don’t) to dominate them and the ability to ignore those you are charged to represent - well, you can do whatever you want.

Which means that you don’t / won’t have to show US citizens NUTHIN!

Which is where we are now with McConnell, who at more than 40 years, is the longest-serving senator in this country’s history.

Thing is, for nearly 2 whole months, it has been claimed that McConnell was braindead in a rehab center where neither tight-lipped personnel or McConnell’s staff - or even Republicans - felt it was in the best interest of the citizens of this nation to give us any verifiable, indisputable evidence that the man was alive instead of being used, posthumously, as a tool for political purposes.

THINK of just how serious a precedent has been set with McConnell’s case:

This man has missed nearly FORTY votes on the Senate floor since being hospitalized on June 14.

And that is OK.

His party has been SO secretive that nobody even knows the name of the rehab facility he has supposedly been in for all this time.

And that is OK.

Until McConnell’s Mission Impossible-style escape-back-home yesterday and the report that he will be undergoing “intense physical therapy” - despite it being reported that he was “brain dead two months earlier - we weren’t able to get much info on him at all.

And that is OK.

And just think, for a moment, of how many people have had to be both compliant and complicit for this ruse - if that is what it is - to have been pulled off:

You have, most disturbingly, McConnell’s wife of 33 years, Elaine Chao, who would have had to play along, allowing her husband’s body and legacy to end like a sequel to the comedy movie, Weekend At Bernie’s.

You have untold numbers of doctors, nurses, orderlies, cleaning staff, random people working at the facility where McConnell has been stored for the past 50 days - all unwilling to provide even a scintilla of information as to the state of McConnell’s health.

Did I mention all those police and paramedics who were in no hurry to remove McConnell’s unconscious body from his home after he experienced a “cardiac incident” back in mid-June?

I mean, could not ONE of them feel it’s in the best interest of American democracy to phone in a tip somewhere?

Lastly, what of the friggin’ media?

Is every significant news outlet in this country today now owned by a loyalist or friend of Donald Trump that NOBODY can find out the definitive and absolute truth as to what - specifically and precisely - is going on with Mitch McConnell?

Folks, NONE of this is OK.

Or acceptable.

But, we have accepted ALL of it.

Which brings me back to the second-worst offenders in this sad political saga behind the Republicans:

The Democratic Party.

See, if these officials, elected by the people to represent our best interests, have allowed themselves - and US - to be punked and cowed into accepting whatever the Republican Party says and does in McConnell’s case, well, what the hell would they do if Trump ended up the same way?

What in the name of Dead Lindsey Graham would happen if Donald Trump were to die today - with the midterms STILL ahead and their heinous, fascist Project 2025 White Christian nationalist takeover not yet complete?

Would we ever even know?

#michaeljameswrites

#DonaldTrump

#MAGA

#MitchMcConnell

#Fascism

#Project2025

SO, WORLD! NOW, I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S IN THE WATER IN KENTUCKY, Y’ALL, BUT WE BEEN TOLD THAT - AFTER 50 DAYS PRESUMABLY BRAIN DEAD - THEIR BELOVED, NEVER-SAY-DIE (EVEN WHEN YA DO) SENATOR, MITCH MCCONNELL, IS BACK HOME ON THE MEND AND RARING TO GET BACK TO THE BUSINESS OF RUINING, ER, RUNNING THE COUNTRY...

Now, I have no idea how in the Lindsey Graham he slipped out of that hospital with all those spies watching - or made it back home with the neighbors peering through the blinds - but according to a proof-of-life press release, um, released just hours ago, ol’ Mitch is on the comeback.

And, coincidentally, just in time to make sure to be able to keep that coveted senate seat the Republican Party desperately needs for Donald Trump to hold onto power come the midterm elections.

And, also coincidentally, McConnell’s alleged resurrection - which bested Jesus’ by 47 days, if you believe in that sort of thing - prevents Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear from calling a special election that would have, um, killed McConnell’s chances of holding onto that senate seat.

This is GREAT NEWS for the honest Republicans, all of whom I’m told have scheduled 20-minute phone calls and visits with McConnell in the coming days.

Now, I know a lot of y’all are gonna believe there’s some shenanigans going on here - and I am positive MAGA is researching now to find a similar instance where a Democrat was miraculously raised from the dead and we didn’t say nothing - but there is really nothing to see here.

Just as there was nobody who saw Mitch McConnell either leave that hospital OR arrive back home.

So, we are gonna have to take his “word” for it.

The Kentucky blueblood, who has served in congress for longer than anyone else ever has, says he’s alive and he’s sticking to it.

Again, I don’t know what’s in Kentucky’s water, but I do know that state produces 95% of the world’s bourbon.

And if THAT’S the reason 84-year-old Mitch McConnell is alive today to save the republic, well, I’ll have what he’s having...

#michaeljameswrites

#MAGA

#republican

#MitchMcConnell

#america