ROGER FITCH
ESQ THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 2026
Roger Fitch, our man in Washington, examines
three elements driving the United States towards the abyss ... War ...
Corruption ... And, one man's maniacal ego
“The lion’s
share of blame for the wreckage this presidency is causing lies of course with
Donald Trump himself; it is his whims, his prejudices, his bottomless
corruption, his stupidity, and his malignant hatreds that propel it forward.
But those with whom he has surrounded himself form a group unlike any we have
seen before. When they prostrate themselves before him in those North
Korean-style cabinet meetings,
we see how pathetic they are, people with vast power yet not a shred of
dignity” – Paul Waldman, Public Notice
“Anger
defines Mr. Trump’s decade on the political stage. Anger at foreigners who come
to this country and change its nature. Anger at allies who take advantage of
America. Anger at Democrats who cross him. Anger at Republicans who cross him.
Anger at appointees he deems insufficiently loyal. Anger at prosecutors, F.B.I.
agents, judges, journalists,
law firms, elite universities, cultural figures, corporate leaders, pollsters,
central bankers and the Norwegian Nobel Committee” –
Peter Baker, New York Times
“His
contempt for law is … foundational. He treats courts as legitimate only when
they serve him. He recasts legal accountability as persecution. He elevates
loyalty over legality, impulse over judgment, grievance over governance. Mobs
are not an aberration but a tool—summoned, legitimized, and, eventually, pardoned“ – Harold Litman
“This nation
…cannot always remain at peace, and has no right to expect that it will always
have wise and humane rulers, sincerely attached to the principles of the
Constitution. Wicked men, ambitious of power, with hatred of liberty and
contempt of law, may fill the place once occupied by Washington and Lincoln;
and if this right is conceded, and the calamities of war again befall us, the
dangers to human liberty are frightful to contemplate” – Ex parte Milligan (1866)
War
Donald Trump is a wicked man; Iran is a wicked war, stupid and
irrational, a foreign policy blunder Trump began in 2017.
It’s also unconstitutional. Here’s the two-page letter the US provided to the UN Security Council justifying the
invasion, claiming “self-defence” and “preventative war”.
There seems to have been no planning, other than the deception itself, reminiscent of the Japanese in 1941, negotiating
peace in Washington while launching the Pearl Harbour attack in the Pacific.
Trump’s double-cross decoy of the Iranians, pretending to
negotiate while preparing to attack, has now happened twice. The second time, it led to an unlawful war of
aggression, joined by the
lawless Israelis.
The US is now seen as untrustworthy, even treacherous.
Though entirely illegal, the war is reported as if Israel and the US were the good guys. In fact, Trump’s unauthorised, senseless, war-criminal attacks should be added to his list of impeachable
offences.
Corruption
“[B]efore Trump, lying presidents and lying elected officials
tried to make it seem they were not lying. Corrupt presidents and corrupt
elected officials tried to make it seem they were not corrupt. With Trump and
his banditos, there are no such games of pretend … Trump and his band of
racists, profiteers, scoundrels, and flunkies seem high on their shamelessness.
They defiantly flaunt their brazenness. They revel in their exploitation of
power and their embrace of violence, dishonesty, intimidation, and brutality.
Look what we can get away with. This has always been a favourite fix for Trump:
conning suckers” – David
Corn, Mother Jones
With the immunity the supreme court gave Trump, corruption is now on an
industrial scale. Trump family wealth is
up 70%. Everything is for
sale: in six months, AG Pam Bondi dropped 23,000 criminal cases, surely suspicious.
Corporate bribery is reciprocal: taxpayer baksheesh may be paid
to companies (even French ones) who implement perverse government
policy incentives, e.g,
replacing windmills with oilrigs.
Trump and the Republicans are providing “elite immunity” for people and companies who aren’t elite, only
corruptly-privileged. Perhaps it’s natural that an administration run by a
convicted criminal has, as one of its main goals, providing impunity for
financial crimes perpetuated by its accomplices and supporters.
As Paul
Krugman observed,
“There are people
in positions of great power in the U.S. government engaged in evil conspiracies
against everything that is good and decent … But there are no evil masterminds
behind this. Only amoral, stupid grifters like Howard Lutnick … While MAGA-world’s fantasy villains like George Soros are
brilliant and subtle, MAGA’s real villains are uncouth and dim-witted. Yet they
carry out their sinister schemes in broad daylight. For all they need to
flourish is utter shamelessness, along with the backing of a corrupt
administration and a corrupt political party.”
Insider trading is rampant. In the digital era, one must find
out when a convenient change will occur, and that’s increasingly in the control
of one erratic, indeed insane man.
Krugman believes Trump’s social media postings and
counter-postings reveal organised insider trading, and in matters of national
security, treason, by Trump underlings and other members of his
crooked entourage.
Crime (white collar) never had a better year in the US than 2025, where one of
their own (34 fraud counts) is US president, and the role of the Justice
Department has changed from upholding the law to one of facilitating such
criminal activity, Congress be damned.
Sadly, dropping fraud cases and pardoning convicted white-collar criminals, even those who pleaded guilty, also deprives the government
and defrauded consumers of valuable court-ordered
compensation.
Make America Gauche Again
The
vanity-vandalism of Donald Trump would be funny if it weren’t so destructive.
He’s determined to install bad taste in once elegant and sophisticated
Washington, DC, and elsewhere.
The
pathetic monomania of America’s Ozymandias is everywhere. Not content that
Florida has agreed to rename Palm Beach’s airport, “President Donald J. Trump International Airport“, he now seeks other
transportation hubs, wanting to rename both New York’s Penn Station and Washington’s regional Dulles Airport (DIA) after himself.
With
trademark crassness, Trump pre-emptively sought trademark protection for “DJT”
so he can usurp for himself the brand benefits (e.g, sale of tat) for any
airport using his name/initials. He is already modelling merchandise from
his online shop (MAGA caps) at official functions (e.g, cabinet meetings)
and, shamefully, at observances for returning dead soldiers.
Beyond
the ego vandalism – eg, purporting to rename Washington’s Institute for Peace and Kennedy Center after himself, there has been a
flood of Louis XV-inspired kitsch in the White House itself: whorehouse décor
Trump’s grandfather might have employed at his goldfields “hotels” in the 19th
century.
No one
expected the tasteless lower-class Trump to destroy cultural institutions or impose his edifice complex,
a tacky White House ballroom (currently-blocked) and colossal Arch de Trump, on DC.
In Miami,
another cash shakedown is underway, a widely-ridiculed and gold-bedecked 50-storey Presidential Library, with hotel rooms.
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