Personal Reflections of a Middle-Aged Man

We all make mistakes, stupid mistakes. Most of us try to learn from those mistakes so that we don’t keep repeating them. We don’t always let others know we made a mistake as it can be hard to own up to a wrong decision, especially when the decision hurt ourselves or others.

Being seen as gullible can be even more embarrassing than admitting a mistake. When we believe something so strongly it influences a decision, even if a stupid mistake because we thought we had all the information we needed, or we were promised something, or someone we trusted told us something to be true, can make us feel even worse. It can make us buckle down that we were right and no one had fooled us because we are smarter than to fall for such a thing.

This is the period—the Trump regime, the capitulation of the Republican Party, the political U.S. Supreme Court, and white Christian nationalist take over—in which we live right now. Many people are finally waking up to the fact they were more gullible than they thought they could be. Having to admit, at least to themselves, they made a stupid mistake, as we all do, in an action they took by voting for Trump and the Republicans.

We were all told by candidate Trump he would start no new wars.

We were all told by candidate Trump he would release the Alien (extraterrestrial) files.

We were told by candidate Trump prices would go down.

We were told by candidate Trump manufacturing would come back.

We were told by candidate Trump the Epstein files would be released.

We were told by candidate Trump he would end the Russian war on Ukraine on day one of his second term.

We were told by candidate Trump only the most criminal of the undocumented would be arrested and deported.

We were told by candidate Trump a great many things.

These have been proven by his own actions as being lies, and many of us were gullible enough to believe those lies, even now.

Trump said no new wars, but…

• He has threatened to invade Canada, Greenland, Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, and Syria. 
• For Cuba, he directed a blockade around Cuba so nothing enters or leaves, thus causing major life threatening issues within Cuba, such as health care, electricity, and food. Trump has also stated that Cuba is next after Iran.
• Venezuela was invaded and now has a puppet leader.
• Iran has been attacked and we have declared war, in a practical terms, started by Trump. He has even instituted that all men over 18 be automatically registered for a draft. Trump has also stated he has not ruled out ground troops being used in the war on Iran, meaning an actual draft may be coming.

We were all told by candidate Trump he would release the Alien (extraterrestrial) files, but…

• So far, he has only hinted at releasing the files, “very, very soon.” We all know what that means as it is same as his infamous fallback, “in two weeks” or “in ten days.”

We were told by candidate Trump prices would go down, but…

• Gas is an average of $4.08 today from $2.90 at the beginning of February 2026.
• One of pound of hamburger was $7.11 in January 2025, it is now $8.20 a pound.
• Average price of a one bedroom apartment in January 2025 was $1,556; it is now $1,641 per month (apartments.com).

We were told by candidate Trump manufacturing would come back, but…

• In January 2025, 12.71 million people had manufacturing jobs; now only 12.59 million have manufacturing jobs.
• Just in 2026, Amazon is laying off 16,000 people after laying off 14,000 in October of last year. Citi is laying off 20,000, Disney 1,000, Dell is down 11,000, Nike cutting 775, UPS releasing 30,000. Many others, including Oracle, Heineken, Meta, Pinterest, Target, Luluemon, are set to layoff employees this year.

We were told by candidate Trump the Epstein files would be released, but…

• Over 3.5 million pages of documents have been released with potential perpetrator’s names being redacted in defiance of a law stating embarrassment about being in the files is not a reason to redact a name.
• At least three million pages have not been released, which are believed to include cases and images depicting death or abuse—DEATH or abuse!

We were told by candidate Trump he would end the Russian war on Ukraine on day one of his second term, but…

• So far, this war is ongoing with no real signs of ending.

We were told by candidate Trump only the most criminal of the undocumented would be arrested and deported, but…

• Over 70% detained have no criminal convictions, 25% have minor violations such as traffic violations, with only 5% having a violent criminal conviction.
• Over 170 U.S. citizens have been detained.
• Nine U.S. citizens have been killed by ICE agents since January 2025.
• 3,800 children under 18 have been deported since January 2025 (most criminal of the undocumented?).
• Chicago apartment building allegedly raided because landlord wanted squatters evicted.
• 85-year-old woman deported because allegedly her step-son used connections to have her arrested over her late husband’s estate.
• Amanda Ungaro was allegedly detained and deported by ICE due to her ex-partner, Paolo Zampolli, a close friend of Trump’s, over a custody battle over Zampolli and Ungaro’s son.

You have the power to stop acting stupid, stop being gullible, and accept the actual facts of what is happening in our country. The facts are out there, as reported by multiple sources on both the left and the right.

You don’t have to admit anything to anybody. All you need to do is start working to right the wrongs you helped create. That’s it, just act in a different manner to help get us back on track.

If this describes you, as always, it is up to you what you do now. I hope you can admit a mistake was made, not repeat the mistake, but learn from the mistake. You will be welcomed with open arms as we move to save our way of life.

---