Donny the Dodger
Is Not Artful
Donald John Trump is a lousy businessman. Kinda a King Midas in reverse. Everything of high value that he touches turns to ashes or worse. He brings to his second term in office the attitude, addictions, insecurities, habits, and expertise needed to bankrupt the premier global economy.
His character and conduct remind me of the Artful Dodger.
Charles Dickens supported his hungry brood of ten children by publishing the story of an orphan named Oliver Twist in serial form between 1837 and 1839. Wikipedia notes “Masses of the illiterate poor would individually pay a halfpenny to have each new monthly episode read to them, opening up and inspiring a new class of readers.[9]”
Oliver is befriended by a street-smart rogue named Jack Dawkins. Jack is the leader of a gang of orphans who pick pockets to pay for food and shelter provided by an unlovely elderly criminal named Fagin. Jack has nimble fingers, feet, and mind. His ability to evade capture and avoid punishment earn him the street name of Artful Dodger.
Pickpocket. Like the Artful Dodger, Trump enriches himself by picking the pockets of careless strangers. In real estate terms, he uses OPM (Other People’s Money) to survive and thrive. In political terms, he uses tax dollars to pay foreign countries for the cost of incarcerating individuals he remands to their custody without due process.
The big difference is consent of the victim.
Picking the pockets of persons and institutions involved in his real estate deals and marketing schemes does involve some measure of informed consent. It is a con job, yes. But it involves some level of willingness.
Diverting funds authorized by Congress from their intended purpose to afford services and actions supporting and furthering his self-serving whims and schemes ignores custom and law regarding consent of the governed, as well as prohibitions about taxation without representation.
Contempt for Law. Jack eventually is apprehended, held, tried, and convicted for his criminal conduct. During his trial, he paints himself as “a victim of society.” He threatens to make his sentence a parliamentary matter. He exits the court “grinning in the officer's face, with great glee and self-approval.”
There is no record of Jack’s complaint reaching parliament or any higher court.
Donny the Dodger shares Jack’s cheeky contempt for law. But Donny is doing better than Jack with claims of victimhood. The Teflon Don enjoys a solid record of success against attempts to hold him accountable for criminal acts and misdemeanor conduct before, during, and after his first disastrous term in high office. He has prevailed against:
· First Articles of Impeachment
· Second Articles of Impeachment
· All but one of several trials at the State Level
· Article Two of the constitution of the United States of America
He is contesting any attempt to challenge his imperial right to suspend habeas corpus specifically and other associated rules of law and customary conduct. On 19 Apr 25, he showed every indication of an intent to violate the 18 Apr 25 order from the Supreme Court stating, in part:
“The Government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this Court.” (Justices Thomas and Alito dissenting.)
Force Is Not an Art Form
Donald John Trump is a dangerous clown. His happy and rushed implementation of the Project 2025 playbook to the purposes of his own self-interest is damaging the health, welfare, safety, and security of humanity and the precious planet we all share.
He also is a bully and a coward. He uses coercion to force acceptance of terms of agreement advantageous to him.
He claims this conduct is an art form. It is not.
When challenged, he tucks tail and runs. The strategic error was either “a joke” or “a mistake.” His ego is his glass jaw.
Anthem
It is getting serious, folks.
“Someday” arrived on 14 Apr 25 when Mad King defied such mealy-mouthed constraints as a corrupt Supreme Court placed on his unlawful actions regarding habeas corpus and related constitutional constraints when identifying, detaining, holding, and deporting persons accused of being part of an army of foreign terrorists invading the United States.
On 15, 16, and 17 Apr 25, the effect of spontaneous peaceful resistance at the grassroots level found public voice and affirmation among those persons with a hand on the wheel of power. Yes, those voices calling for resistance to Trump 2.0 were reasoned and accommodating. They gave to the office of the president the “due deference” requested by the feckless Supreme Court. Still, and blessedly, they stepped out of the safe shadows of complicit silence to criticize Trump’s Reign of Terror and Tour of Revenge as unusual and unacceptable.
On 18 Apr 25, U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy issued a preliminary injunction related to the Trump 2.0 immigrant deportation program. Immigrants in this category are in this country legally and under protection from return to the country from which they fled. The guidelines for this program were:
· We will honor the agreement not to return you to the country from which you fled for reasons found valid when we allowed you entry;
· We will not be bound by any promise to allow you to apply for citizenship;
· We want you gone;
· We are sending you to a country other than the one from which you fled.
In March of 2025, Judge Murphy blocked operations denying an immigrant a chance to understand and challenge deportation proceedings. In response to that restraint:
· The DHS issued “new guidance” that allowed it to “assess any risks” to individuals in the countries to which it proposed to deport them. Risks included loss of life or freedom and/or torture under the authority of the receiving country. DHS did not commit to finding a safer place of transfer. It only required itself to advise the immigrant of its findings. Sorta like, “We’ve checked. You’re gonna get hurt. Happy trails to you.”
· The Department of Trump Justice evaluated the possibility of re-detaining immigrants in order to qualify them for inclusion in the Rapid Deportation to Newly Identified Locales program.
· The Department of Trump Justice filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court, asking that nationwide injunctions issued by the lower courts be narrowed to cover only those plaintiffs specifically and directly affected.
The 18 Apr 25 decisions by Judge Murphy and the Supreme Court require Trump 2.0 to give individuals (accused or blameless) a meaningful opportunity to seek legal relief from deportation before they are sent to third countries.
I say—this is welcome progress. It feels like getting a water bottle from a sideline spectator along the first leg of a marathon run.
Be not cocky about such weak and sputtering success as Resistance 2.0 is receiving. Stay committed, active, and alert.
Let us continue to hope for the best and plan for the worst.
On 19 Apr 1775, a group of guys with muskets hid behind stone walls in Lexington and Concord to shoot at armed forces of a foreign monarch. These colonists denied a divine right of kings to rule over them without restraint. They disputed taxes placed on them without their voice being heard. The grievances their representatives listed in their 04 July 1776 Declaration of Independence are freshly applicable in 2025 to Trump 2.0.
Notice, take heart and direction from, and support, every public person rising to be the voice of Resistance 2.0.
Continue to exercise every freedom and liberty, every right still ours to own and deploy. Support peaceful NO KING protests.
Be not weary, paralyzed, or faithless.
Rise from shock and despair. Cease the wringing of hands, the holding of heads, and/or the clutching of pearls. Action is the antidote. Resistance is required. Be thoughtful. Be strategic.
Encourage and support inquiries by state attorneys general into fraudulent and criminal conduct of Trump 2.0 within their jurisdictions. This is a more promising platform for and mode of institutional opposition than is presently available at the federal level.
Let us pull up our socks and step into the breach now, every Power of One person dissatisfied with the results and consequences of Election 2024.
Let us put into play our persons and our purses to demand:
A return to positions of principle those persons, institutions, and organizations betraying a public trust in their integrity when bending a knee, kissing the ring, funding the personal wealth, or furthering the ambitions of Donald John Trump.
The bringing of criminal charges against Musk and articles of impeachment against Trump.
The bringing of articles of impeachment against corrupt justices now contaminating the opinions of the high court.
Referendum and recall of congressional representatives not faithful to their oath of office and/or unresponsive to the concerns and wishes of their constituents.
Creation of a Shadow Cabinet charged with daily briefings of administrative assaults upon the rule of law, the health, safety, and welfare of We the People, and simple decency.
Course correction on the conduct of matters related to national security.
I truly believe that right is might.
In a world where “only the weak will fail,” let us be strong.
We cannot, we will not, fail.