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.
Posts
