I’ve always said that gridlock in government is a good thing. Unfortunately, Trump’s controlling trifecta is allowing him to push forward changes that with acquiescence from the Republican congress could permanently destroy constitutional governance in the United States. He is a total fraud.
Pushing forward a spending bill that cuts entitlements while giving tax cuts to the wealthy who don’t usually pay their fair share is immoral and unethical. The DOGE led by Elon Musk is fundamentally unconstitutional and only functions because the Republican Congress has irresponsibly ceded their authority – and because they are too cowardly to do their own job. For other reasons as well, DOGE should be prosecuted as an insurrection.
Most recently, his attempting to blast Walmart and other retailers who say they must ultimately pass on the cost of tariffs seems to signal a growing, irrational and grandiose dementia of the Teflon Trump. The American people are not that fucking stupid. He can’t wave his authoritarian wand and magically keep Walmart in business anymore than he can tell the American public to blame retailers for his raising tariffs. The very notion that he thinks he can force citizens to “repeat after me,” indicates he’s either slipping into psychosis, or fully intends to install an unconstitutional dictatorship.
By now, many people are realizing he’s a con who says something that starts off one way and ends up something altogether different. I’ve worked many retail hours and served many tables in full service restaurants. I know how tempting it is to support the idea of non-taxable tips and non-taxable overtime. In reality, it’s a booby trap that’s designed to further enrich wealthy business owners at the expense of employees. An employer who can get people to work overtime unfairly steals time and money from the employees. They don’t have to pay as many benefits, don’t have to train new hires, and don’t have to pay as much to employees who expect to make the difference working overtime.
It will also leave more people unemployed looking for entitlements and result in less discretionary spending to energize the economy overall. Not taxing tips may also be a prelude to reducing or eliminating SS benefits for future generations. It’s a scam. What workers need is a 40 hour week, no overtime and a living wage that would distribute wealth more fairly and make for a healthier economy. There should be more restrictions preventing exploitation of exempt employees further distributing wealth and making the economy more healthy.
It’s time to raise minimum wage too. I can understand letting the economy relax for awhile allowing different markets to find their own levels. And raising minimum wage will ultimately cause some inflation but the disparities between different regions is becoming too large and threatens to divide the country even more based on economics.
The cautionary note is this. Trump was the lesser of evils because democrats became greedy and indifferent in their own context. The midterms and next election are for the democrats to loose. Let’s hope they adjust their confusion before they become the next big blunder.
©2025 – Jim Porter Casey
