Reminder: 290 and 67. The 290 represents how many U.S. House of Representatives members it takes to override a presidential veto (all Representatives are up for reelection this year). It takes 67 U.S. Senators to override a presidential veto (35 Senators are up for reelection this year with 22 of those being Republicans—the ones we have to concentrate on the most). These numbers are very important this year at the ballot box because it will take this number of votes to help right this vast ship of a country for all of us, not just the billionaire class.
One of the many questions I have been asking myself as we get closer to the Tuesday, November 3, election day is whether, as a country, we will vote for further corruption or will vote for the start of accountability of the White House, the Trump Cabinet and other appointees and staff, and in many ways, Republican members of Congress. I’ve made no bones about the fact I’m voting blue for accountability.
I wanted to provide some examples of the corruption, alleged or verified, of the Trump Regime and those around him in my hope to enroll you in voting Democrat up and down the ballot. I strongly invite you to vote blue even if you don’t agree with anything they represent except to hold those who control the White House, Congress, and the U.S. Supreme Court accountable for their unlawful and/or unethical actions.
Let’s start with the ballroom. Trump, without permission or Congressional oversight, tore down a large historical part of the White House, the people’s house, to build a vanity ballroom. A ballroom that no one appears to have ever asked for or wanted other than Trump himself.
For this ballroom, we were told the cost to build it would be fully covered by private donations including from Trump himself. Records now being released show one, that Trump has contributed exactly $0, but also many well-known billionaires and corporations have donated plenty. Some of these outside funds have been from people wanting contracts from the government, potential pay-for-pardons, or for what appears to be a legal settlement outside the court system. Donors have included Apple, Google, Nvidia, Microsoft, Planatir, Amazon, Meta, the Adelson family, and Charles Ergen (Note many of these entities are developing AI). The White House has also, under the guise of national security, used our tax dollars on the ballroom even after saying we wouldn’t have to pay for any of it.
There is the recent scandal involving Kimberly Guilfoyle, now former Ambassador to Greece, and former long-time girlfriend/fiancé of Don Trump, Jr. Guilfoyle has been accused of trying to either shake-down or a pay-for-access scheme of a Trump supporter to pay her $100,000 American Express bill. I don’t know about you, but I don’t even earn a hundred grand, nor have a credit limit of $100,000. I can’t even think what I might spend $100,000 in charging to my credit care, or that I might not be able to pay my bill at the end of the month.
What about the stock market trades Trump, and possibly those paying $100,000 a month to Truth Social for what appears to be insider trading, being conveniently made just in time for Trump and those close to him to make millions of dollars. Trump even once bragged in Oval Office that billionaires made a killing off the stock market after one of the times he suspended tariffs. Trump himself has made a killing on the stock market after an astronomical number of stock trades, currently almost 29,000 while president, far greater than the zero stock trades made by any past president in most of our lifetimes.
Several allegations have been made about people paying large sums of money to meet with Trump to offer a plea for a pardon or clemency, which are then granted. At least one of the reports is that someone paid around $30 million for a pardon proposal. The cost to victims, as when the convicted is pardoned, any restitution payments owed also go away, is reportedly in excess of $1.7 billion. This means people who were tried and convicted of crimes, most by their peers, no longer have to pay those who were harmed by their crimes. These victims have lost $1,700,000,000,000 that would have helped them recover from the crimes committed agains them.
Two of Trump’s senior officials, Attorney General Todd Blanche and Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, among others, have been accused of using their official positions in ways that violate the Hatch Act. What this means is that during official meetings in their government roles they urged people to vote for Republican candidates, promoted the book of a wife or family travel, or similar acts, while on duty, which is not allowed.
Remember DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, which was supposed to find and stop wasteful government spending. The Department that has been reported, neither found excessive waste nor saved the government money. In fact, DOGE claims to have saved an unverified $214 billion dollars. But DOGE also cost the government around $21.7 billion to operate as well as cost the country at least $514 billion in lost tax revenue. Meaning, at a minimum, we lost around double what was supposedly saved.
With a list too long to include, other things alleged or reported include:
- DOGE having unfettered access to all of our personal information
- firing of Inspectors General who oversee investigating government waste and fraud
- retaliation against people the Trump regime see as causing harm to Trump
- canceling government contracts already awarded in the billions of dollars causing harm to those entities and those employed by them
- crypto sales and trades
- tearing up and changing our nation’s capitol without permission and apparently paying for these changes with money given to other programs
- deploying and keeping troops in Washington D.C. for no actual reason other than getting us used to the military on our streets or intimidating those in D.C.
- the military killing people in boats acting like judge, jury, and executioner all in one
- ICE or Border Patrol killing American citizens without cause and facing no justice for the victims
- locking people in so called detention centers without a court trial, including American citizens
- siding with countries run by dictators like China, North Korea, and especially Russia.
As early voting is taking place and as election day approaches, all of us must honestly answer the question: Corruption or Accountability? Which do we want more of from our elected leaders?
I know for me, I want accountability and the only way I see that happening is by voting blue up and down the ballot, Democrats one and all.
My hope is that you too want accountability over corruption and will show up to vote the current Republican regimes—both state and national—out of office and out of power.
See you at the polls!
P.S.—Make sure to check your voter registration weekly at vote.org (not Musk’s VoteSafe.org, which, based on reports, and my own opinion, is collecting data to be used in ways you might not like). Republicans across the spectrum are doing all they can to suppress your vote. Check your status to ensure you have time to fix it before showing up to vote, when it may be too late to correct.
P.P.S.—If you vote by mail, make sure to follow-up if you do not receive it when expected. Once complete, please do not mail it back through the post office. Drive it to the closest Drop Box where you live. If you aren’t able to drive, ask a friend, a relative, a neighbor, or if you have one, the local bus service, to take you to drop off your ballot at a Drop Box. Don’t let the Trump and Republican shenanigans stop your vote from being counted as they mess with the Post Office.
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