On 21 Jul 2024, incumbent U.S. President Joe R. Biden dropped from the presidential race against Trump.  Biden endorsed his VP Kamala Harris, a historical day.

What happened?

For a few weeks President Biden have been essentially attacked by his own party urginin him to step down.  These attacks of course were disguised as “what’s best for the country” – and although there were some concerns, there are a lot more unintended consequences that are already percolating as I type these words.  This article pertains to what I expected, and why I was against that course of action.

There was no shortage of pundits, podcasters, and Democrat politicians pressing Biden to step down.  Yes, Biden is very old, his performance on the so-called CNN presidential debate was a target of opportunity that helped propagandists and impressionable people act on superficial TV optics perception rather than his actual record.  What does that mean?  It means that people were more interested in a dog and pony show while ignoring the fact that Biden already has one of the most stellar records of any US President in our lifetimes.  You can agree or disagree with that, but the numbers are what they are.

Let’s understand this debate some more, because that is what moved this entire situation into fruition.  A few months back Trump dared Biden to a debate, and Biden accepted not to one but two debates – these were not the regular debates that usually happen before the actual election.  In reality these were more a dick-measuring contest than an actual debate.  In fact, this was not really a debate at all, it was more like two joint press conferences that were very shoddily moderated, and I am being generous with that characterization.

The most Biden and Trump had as a back-and-forth during this so-called debate was about golf – yes… I know.  But what ended up happening was Trump spewing many falsehoods in fast succession, unchallenged.  The debate format would not even allow to challenge each lie independently.  Seriously, it would probably take me several pages to go through all of them.  And this of course, stunned Biden.  Let’s understand that if a person had actual knowledge of what Trump was lying about it would melt your brain.  I almost go catatonic myself.  But for people who were not as knowledgeable from why each statement was false, it would almost sound as though Trump was in control.  He wasn’t.

In other words, it is easier to lie your butt off, but it is a whole other ballgame checking falsehoods in real time… especially when thrown in rapid succession.  This of course worked great for Trump, and I realized that shady advantage as I was watching the debate.  I knew that the left who tends to be very impressionable would demand of Biden to get off the ticket and make any excuse for him to get off.  And of course, grade Biden on a curve, but not bat an eye for what Trump has already normalized.  For the record, Biden did accept that his performance was subpar, and that he was actually sick that day.  Biden have been a lot more focused and energetic on every other event he presided after the debate.

But it is more insidious than that.  Because sometimes the left does not realize that they tend to frame the questions in a way that any rational person would feel compelled to slap the interviewer.  The point to reemphasize is that Biden always gets graded on a curve, and even when he confronted his interviewers, the podcasters and pundits, and others just cried foul as though Biden was being defensive.  Of course, they all failed to realize the tenor on which these questions were asked.  And yes, they kept repeating the bad performance on that debate.  However, they failed to give him credit for actually doing the POTUS job during the most contentious geopolitical tensions in the last 40 years.

Of course, because of this negative coverage, the Biden poll numbers started to dwindle.  No shit, the very leftist media was poisoning Biden’s record and capabilities based on what was in fact a TV show.  Even interviewers after the debate were still fixated on this debate, but they did not grade Trump under the same metric – where he was lying pretty much every time he opened his mouth.  It is very likely that all this negativity just prompted Biden to give up, and cave in to the requests of him dropping off the race.  To add insult to injury, Biden also contracted COVID, though he recovered – and he was very transparent to the US people about his condition.

So, to close this segment, let’s understand that the President of the United States (POTUS) job is not to debate.  That dog & pony show is only for the people who want to see zingers, and maybe understand policy.  There was no talk about policy in this last debate.  The focus was on Biden not being a spring chicken.  But the real POTUS job is to keep us safe at the geopolitical level, there is a lot that happens behind the scenes, and it is not meant for public consumption.  Why?  Because it is about national security, and it tends to be classified to prevent foreign adversaries from understanding our strategy, because if they do, they can use it against us.  Biden has an encyclopedic level of knowledge because of his time working in government.

Enter Kamala Harris.

I’ll be very transparent that I do like Kamala Harris, and she does have my personal support and endorsement.  It is good that Biden has endorsed her, but that does not mean that Biden who was the presumed nominee for the Left’s ticket seamlessly transfers to Harris.  A lot of that does transfer, but it is not that clear cut.  And there is an elephant in the room.  According to some Democrats who were in the room, although they did not mention names, they were not giddy about supporting Kamala – but instead looking to getting a whole other ticket altogether.

It is also worth noting that not everybody from the Left has endorsed Harris.  The good news is that a lot of people seem to be pledging their support for Harris, both on social media and with donations.  She has been breaking records in donations in the last 24 hours, so that is encouraging.  She is also a former prosecutor and a very capable candidate altogether.  But sadly, being a phenomenal candidate is not always good enough – at least not for the left.  Case in point, Biden have been accruing a stellar record, not a perfect record, and a bad TV appearance pushed him to the exit.

I mentioned earlier that there are many unintended consequences, and there are.  I’ll list just a few, but this is by no means an all-inclusive list.

·       We are under the most contentious geopolitical period in the last 40 years, and the continuity of National Security is key to the very survival of the USA – and our allies.  This level of knowledge is not something you can just read or drink from a firehose, it takes many decades of experience to understand the big picture.  That is gone.  Not to say that Harris would not be a phenomenal candidate for this Geopolitical quagmire, but she will (like anybody else) need a lot more context in order to perform those duties.  And no, Trump would not be great a it, he reportedly did not even read his intel reports and demanded those to be put on one page with pictures.

·       If Biden would have been incapacitated or goodness-forbid pass away while in office, Harris would be a very robust continuity for taking the job.  But putting her on the ticket by herself with a potentially lesser-known candidate to be a running mate is a huge risk.  And as I said, his party has not endorsed her yet.  Also, if you put a bunch of the most prominent democrats most people would not be able to put a face with a name or recognize them on a height line.

·       This might surprise you, but there is a bunch of people who do not know who the Vice President is, or what is her job.  For example, I used to ask this to Sailors during some Sailor of the Quarter boards – these are supposed to be the top performing Sailors for that trimester – and some did not know the answer.  That should tell you something, if the VP is the second in command to the Commander in Chief.

·       The worst part is the nasty side of prejudice.  I wish it was not like this, but there is a lot of hate speech that is percolating over the likes of Twitter (primarily).  I’m not in some other platforms that move more towards the right, but I would be surprised if they are any kinder to her.  What am I talking about?  Kamala has a trifecta of being a woman, she is half African American, and her mom was born in India.  And for a reason that is despicable, there is a growing segment of American who feel very emboldened to use hate speech as a way to “vindicate” their political views.

·       The derogatory tropes are only the beginning, sadly.  Kamala is a political figure with almost not controversy; therefore, the attacks are likely to be directed against to her person, not her record.  And no, these attacks won’t need to be factual in any way, it will be very nasty.  And this won’t stay just between Harris and whomever those trolls are, but it will embolden others to extend the hate speech on a wider scale.  It is already happening.

·       There is an itch from right-wing people who lean to the extreme to start violence, and they are very much against minorities.  If you’ve ever experienced discrimination in America then you know what this means.  Sometimes it seems concealed and even well-intentioned – but if you know you know.  I can write a whole other article just on that, but I’ll say that there is an uphill battle on many fronts.  This is something that these pundits ignored, or definitely misunderstood (most of them white dudes) do not realize about this minority-reality that only those who have experienced it can attest to.  It is not really their fault, but the fact is that they won’t be able to understand that situation because they have not experienced it. This is the same catalyst that moved fascists, Jim Crow, and even the American Civil war – it is a lack of understanding because it is outside their own skin.

·       The other part is that the left tends to be very nasty against those on the left.  Case in point the Democratic primary leading to the 2020 election – that was a bloodbath.  This time should hopefully be different if they unite against Trump, but that does not negate that voters out there might have a prejudice within them.  And I know that to be the case, even if it is concealed.

·       The right will be also able to spin this as though the voices of the left were silenced, and the Democrats are being authoritarian because the votes casted for Biden in the primary are essentially lost.  That of course is not quite accurate, but there is a way to spin it.  You see, Harris was also on that ticket, but the Right will likely use it as it was a two-person deal with Biden on the headline, and Harris was not the prime candidate from that ticket.  Then again, in the primary it really focuses more on the POTUS not the VP.  Again, the argument does not need to have merit in order to be weaponized for propaganda.

·       There will be of course now talks about getting Biden off the White House under the pretense that if he is unfit to be a candidate then he is unfit to be in office.  Remember, a lot of people on the right think Biden is not a legitimate President because of Trumps “big lie.” This already started happening via the Speaker of the House, who unsurprisingly is a MAGA Republican.  But again, merits are not as important, the battle now is for those voters who are not savvy at all about politics and will be partial to whomever seems flashier on their device of choice.

I can go on, but I’ll leave it at that for now.  With all this said, I am happy for Kamala Harris – I see she has all the trademarks of a great leader, and worthy of the highest office in the USA.  This would be historic in so many ways, and she is phenomenal.  Of course, she, like anybody else, has blind spots, and she won’t be able to cross the finish line alone.

The good news, as I said, is the very energized support she is getting.  And to be honest, that seems to be also getting the Right scared.  At the very least a lot of the disparaging merchandise against Biden is pretty much useless.  That alone will have a hit on the MAGA merch industry.  Of course, that soon enough Trump is likely to come up with a sophomoric nickname for Kamala and this will become into merch hitting the MAGA-verse.  I would not be surprised if they are just waiting for this tip before they put all kinds of trinkets and apparel into production.

I don’t foresee this to be a losing battle, but it is a big gamble, and it is ill-timed.  This type of decision should have been taken several months in advance.  A turnover like the one needed for this should have started at least a year earlier.  Whomever is going to walk into the White House will have to perform at a varsity level of knowledge on geopolitics – it will be contentious.  I stand-by my words that this was a miscalculation, and Biden was likely pushed into a corner by his own party

There is a way out of this mess, but now it will take a lot more unity and support than ever before.  The ugly parts have not become as obvious yet, they will become evident very soon – I’ll write about it when that becomes obvious.  The best way to move forward now is to support Kamala and anticipate the attacks she could get and deflect them before they cause any real damage.  If the campaign is savvy enough, then this will proactive strategy happen.  I just hope they are on point.  HLC

The post Today in America | 22 JUL 2024… first appeared on HALF LIFE CRISIS.

A bullet nearly killed former US President Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania on 13 JUL 2024.  This is what we’ve learned as I write this on 14 JUL 2024.

I don’t condone violence.

For a few weeks I’ve not been writing articles for Half Life Crisis as we are updating our website.  But in light of the events, this important turning point in American History needs to be properly captured because misinformation is already rampant.  I realize it is my duty to document it before the news cycle and the click-bait opportunists distort the truth.

This is what happened.  Trump was holding a rally in the town of Butler in Pennsylvania.  Around 6pm, just a few minutes into his speech as Trump was speaking about immigration, the shooter, who was later identified as Thomas Mathew Crooks, opened fire.  The gunman used an AR-15 and shoot from a shed’s rooftop that was originally reported to be ~300-400 yards from Trump as he fired in rapid succession about eight shots.  Later it was reported the gunman was at a range of ~400 feet – much closer.  One of those rounds struck Trump on his right ear.  The Secret Service fatally shot the gunman.

Trump was escorted to a nearby hospital.  As a result of this incident two people were injured in the bleachers placed behind Trump, and one attendee was killed.  It was reported he was a father protecting his children.  Trump is lucky to be alive, this was definitely a failure by the Secret Service.  Sadly, but not unexpectedly, the conspiracy theories hit the airwaves and social media like wild fire.  This incident is further polarizing our country.

Somebody said it best, if the Secret Service could not stop Trump from being a victim of gun violence, while having snipers on rooftops protecting him, then what makes legislators think that a school teacher will be able to suppress an indiscriminate mass shooter?  This reference being because there is (rightfully so) a lot of attention on Trump’s attempted assassination – but let’s not forget that mass shootings occur extremely often in the USA and gun violence is a daily occurrence.

My question then becomes: Is it too early to talk about gun violence in America again?  I’ll be honest, this is extremely disturbing, and I’ve been warning about indicators of this exponential rise of violence in the country.  Yesterday’s shooting was not a matter of if but when.  And the propagandistic fallout is massive, which includes a lot of political figures, pundits, and Trump acolytes to pose him as a martyr, and use this as a catalyst to attack the political opposition.

More startingly, it has created an uptick of die-hard-Trump supporters to post all over “X” and other platforms that they “have been patient for too long” – and are not advocating for attacking the left and Democrats with violence.  By the way, this is despite the fact that the man who shot Trump was a registered white male Republican.  There is no shortage of posts claiming that this was an orchestrated attack by Biden.  Which is also wrong yet extremely incendiary.

Shortsightedness and spin.

One prominent bone I have to pick is with the Biden-Harris campaign.  While everybody and their mothers, to include other Democratic leaders were posting their statements condemning violence, the campaign failed to put a statement.  Good on the White House to be timelier, but it did take too long for them to be on record.  This is important, because wasting time puts an electronic time-stamp that others use as propagandistic fodder to discredit the administration.  And yes, that is happening.

Trump, after he was on his feet while surrounded by the Secret Service after the shooter was killed, of course took the opportunity to raise his fist as an act of defiance.  True that he just survived an attempted assassination, but let’s not forget that plenty of Americans are experiencing the same or worse level of violence.  The difference is that they don’t have a highly trained security detail to save them. Also, Trump has been saying quote “get over it” to families who have lost their loved ones on mass shootings.  I’m glad he is was not killed, I don’t condone violence, but I also hope he will have a lot more empathy for others from now on.

I mentioned that the weapon was an AR-15, and this is important – because that is the sweetheart weapon of choice for the right-wing 2nd Amendment advocates.  Trump was at approximately 400 feet from the rifle’s muzzle.  That is about 133 yards, which is well within the maximum effective range of for that weapon, which is 600 yards. That is the furthest a round is accurate for this firearm.  Yes, there are some other factors that affect accuracy, and the bullet will travel a lot further than that maximum effective range.  For comparison for a 9mm handgun the maximum effective range is just a little over 50 yards, or less than twice the AR-15 range for accuracy.

Think about it for a moment.  There is no shortage of people who are advocates of Trump that have been arrested for issuing death threats, or action on those threats to other Americans.  In fact, there is no shortage of very rejoicing memes, posts, podcasts, and any other publications that have been gleeful when Trump’s opponents are brutalized in any manner.  To be fair, a lot of the left leadership have been supportive of Trump in the sense they condemn the violence and wish him to recover.

Even Michael Cohen who is one of Trumps most ardent nemeses condemned the violence against Trump.  And my concern is that even as I type this and look at my time lines on X, and on Facebook, a lot of the right-wing leaders are advocating for further polarization, and likely trying to pin that on Biden.  Which of course should seem ridiculous on its face, but as I said before I have a bone to pick with the Biden Campaign because they seem to have lost control of the narrative.

The left losing control.

I should probably write an entire article about the aftermath of the presidential debate hosted by CNN a few weeks back.  Biden severely underperformed, and Trump gish galloped with so many falsehoods and misrepresentation than I stopped counting past 100.  The CNN moderators did not challenge Trump, framed the questions in a very bizarre manner, and in reality, this was not so much a debate, but really more a joint press conference.  The most back and forth they got was about golf!  Yes, it was bad.

Biden owned the fact that he underperformed, but of course Biden gets graded in a curve and his own party has no shortage of officials advocating for him to step down.  I’ll write in a different article about why that is a terrible idea.  But for this article the point is that the campaign has been scrambling a lot, and they are not aligning the actual White House message with the campaign. It is almost as though they want him to lose.  I just hope they are simply incompetent.  And I am not afraid to tell them that directly, except that the Biden campaign has published no phone numbers to talk to them, and they never answer any emails.

This situation will likely empower Trump and his supporters to see him as a quasi-deity.  In fact, there is no shortage of memes and propaganda already depicting him as such, or even being cuddled by some godly figure during the shooting.  And of course, him raising his fist on the air with his ear half-blown off is already MAGA merchandise you can buy right now.  I’m not kidding.

There are more articles coming over.  I checked on the Biden Campaign, and they are very much lost on the sauce.  This will not help them, it will help Trump – and at the end of the day, I just hope that we can talk about preventing gun violence in America, and bring us closer together.  Sadly, my assessment is that this will further divide us, and my next article might be even more grim.  I surely hope this one time I will be wrong, and instead of my predicted polarization, we come together as a nation.  HLC

The post Today in America | 13 JUL 2024… first appeared on HALF LIFE CRISIS.

The Grand Old Party or GOP has mixed views around the world.  Like it or now, this affects the United States of America, because disfunction is exploitable.

Why is this even relevant?

Ok, so spoiler alert – ask many American citizens on American soil what does GOP stand for?  And a sizable number might have no idea it is the “Grand Old Party” – a lot of them might assume is the “government of the people” – which is incorrect.  But for anybody who is not aware, the GOP aligns to the right on the political spectrum.  Or what in the USA is better known as the Republican party.

What you have to understand is that a lot of people outside our borders don’t quite understand what the difference is between a right or left political ideology.  And the reason is because a binary political system like the one in the USA is not actually all that common around the world.  The political spectrum can have people with right views peppered with left doctrines and vice versa.

What the average foreigner would see is “American Politics in general.”  In other words, under their perception they will ascertain if the USA is still worth of emulating, or has it become a shitshow where elected leaders have lost their collective minds.  And if the latter is the case, then they will start looking for a different “more reliable” regime that does not appear to be a shitshow.  And yes, that has been happening for a while.  When we fight in such a polarized manner it is content gold for propagandists in adversarial regimes.

By the way, that is why I write so much about this stuff.  Yes, we are the most influential nation on this planet – still.  But that does not mean that there are not a bunch of regimes who want to make us fall from that position, take our place, and beat us up to keep us down for good measure.  And do you know how they achieve this?  By having us fight each other.

This American polarization has been raging on for several years, but it is so normalized that some people who are spouting propaganda points were born into this polarized reality, so they might not really know any better, unless they peek out of their bubble.  Yes, this polarization is a few decades old.  That is how long it takes to take the USA down, but the bad guys are closer to the finishing line and most Americans have not even gotten out of bed to get to the starting line on this race to becoming the new status quo.

Why am I speaking about the GOP then?

If it was not obvious it is because the GOP has been targeted as the team to play in favor of the adversary.  Truth to be told, the majority of the Republicans would not wittingly or willingly do such a thing – but the insidious part is that the adversary is not asking for your permission, nor your consent.  They lay a trap to get you angry and worked up – issue you a few easy to remember slogans and talking points – and then make you run their plan as though it was YOUR idea.

Why am I telling you this?  Because they are lying to you.  Not even the majority of the GOP guys might realize it, they could very well be part of the same trap.  Just in case you didn’t realize it, the adversarial propagandist is exploiting your true-felt devotion to your faith, your patriotism, your fears, your anxieties, your rage, your patience, your insecurities, your wallet, etc.  And while they exploit you, they will make you believe YOU are the knight in shiny armor who will save the day.  You’re not saving the day, it’s part of the scam.

The adversary uses different tactics to the folks on the left, they are not immune to exploitation either.  But for the USA, they want to make the left seem “weak” and designate them with whatever other “inferior” perception will make you feel superior to them.  They want to see the fight between left and right.

In other countries – because this is happening around the world – the adversarial regimes will do to people on the “left” what they are doing to you on the “right” here in the USA – yes, copy paste of the same playbook.  It works, I know a lot of Americans don’t give two shits about what happens outside their borders, but they should – because everything that happens outside our borders eventually affects us directly.  Why?  Because we share the same planet.  That’s why.

What the world is seeing with the GOP is the disfunction.  They don’t see the moderate Republicans, or those who seek speaking truth to power.  They see thee MAGA, and the Ultra-MAGA tattooing their skin with Trump’s face, draping themselves on MAGA regalia, and spend millions of dollars for an industry specifically intended on producing disparaging merch against Biden, they see the sophomoric fighting on Twitter (X), and all other social media platforms.  They see the news showing how “broken our government system is” – and propagandists use it for their own strategy.

Yes, they also see problematic things with the left, but the people on the left are not nearly as loud or passionate as the folks on the right here in the USA.  If you go to other countries, it is quite the opposite role.  I write books and articles about how to identify this authoritarian scam, and I am starting a new project because quite frankly we are running out of time, and at this rate the USA will no longer be number one – but an adversarial regime will set the new status quo.  We can prevent that – together.  HLC

The post How does the world perceive the GOP? first appeared on HALF LIFE CRISIS.

Today former US President Trump has once again made history as he was found guilty on all 34 criminal counts of falsification of business records in New York.

Historic day and mixed emotions.

Although a lot of people who dislike Trump’s guts are gleefully celebrating, this is a sad day for America.  And not because it is Trump as the person, but it is because it is a person who had at some point held the highest office in our land.  Trump is no stranger to controversy, but he largely had been able to get out unscathed.  His “luck” ran out on this case.

Trump was found guilty in all 34 criminal counts of falsification of business records – each charge is a felony.  But we won’t know the actual sentencing until July 11, 2024.  Already you can see the MAGA-verse experiencing a collective meltdown ranging from mental gymnastics to violently charged epithets.  Sadly, that is not unexpected.  If you’ve been reading what I write, then you know that I mention how emotions are highly exploitable.

I for one don’t feel happy about Trump being convicted, but I am relieved he is.  Trump was clearly guilty, he had his days in court, several weeks in fact – although he was asleep and passing gas [reportedly] for most of the trial.  I’m almost certain that somewhere in the back of his mind he thought that he could just sleep it over and it would be over without much trouble – like pretty much EVERYTHING else he has gotten away with for so long.

But the decision reached by the jury today is not unexpected.  Trump’s defense team was not ready at all to fight this case, and Trump is also [reportedly] notoriously difficult to work with… aside from the fact he does not pay his legal bills.  Unless you’re Alina Habba, who by the way costed him close to half a billion dollars – which Trump is yet to pay a single red cent.  I would not be surprised if we fast forward a little while and Trump refuses to pay this team too – much like he never paid even the likes of Rudy Guiliani for his legal work.

In any case, Trump said that they silenced him.  Yet he refused to speak when it would have mattered – he pleaded the fifth, which is his right, but why would he – unless he knew that the cross-examination would corner him via his own words.  It is likely also the case because neither of his children, nor anybody in his orbit for that matter took the stand.  The only one who did was Costello, and he was awful – and likely a catalyst that made Trump’s case go from bad to worse.

Trump did have a gag order, but this was to prevent him from attacking the jury, judge, and witnesses – an order he violated about 10 times or so, and was found in contempt of court.  I’m not sure if these will be factored in the sentencing.  Regardless, Trumps acolytes continued the attacks the gag order was trying to prevent.  The reason for the gag order is because some of Trump’s followers tend to become violent.  This is well-documented.  Hence the gag order to protect against violence.

A quick summary of the NY Criminal Trial.

Like or dislike Trump is not the problem, the problem is that there was demonstrable evidence to prove a criminal pattern of misconduct.  The last witness for this case was Robert Costello, whom by many has been viewed as a Trump loyalist – even if he denies it.  But then again actions speak louder than words.  Just a few days before he was on the witness stand for Trump, Costello was in Capitol Hill talking smack about Michael Cohen.  By the way, Costello was the ONLY witness the defense brought to the stand.  Why?  Why indeed…

For several days Trump’s acolytes and even Trump himself stated that he would testify on his own criminal trial.  He did not, and it is interesting not because he pleaded the fifth, but because Costello was a defense witness, and he essentially torpedoed the entire defense’s argument.  Fun factoid, it is been said that it is Trump himself who wanted Costello on the stand against the advice from his attorneys.

The prosecution and defense rested without Trump or any of those on Trump’s orbit taking the stand, and then everyone was off for the long weekend into Memorial Day.  The closing arguments followed after the holiday.  The defense took about four hours to defend Trump.  They never called any additional witnesses.  Some of Trump’s offspring showed up on the last day – but it is worth noting that his wife Melania and daughter Ivanka were absent all these weeks, and of course did not show up to the verdict either.

The prosecution took several hours to go very pragmatically through every piece of evidence, and this of course destroyed the already weak arguments posed by Trump’s defense team.  Trump’s team by the way was admonished for making a lot of mistakes during the proceedings.  You would think that a better team of attorneys would be lining up behind an ex-president.  Of course, that is not the case – and not only because Trump is notorious for not paying his legal fees – but also because tons of his former attorneys were either disbarred and/or incarcerated.

It was up to a jury of 12 to deliberate on Trump’s fate.  There were a couple of times where they requested additional information in accordance with the regulations.  And in about 12 hours they unanimously reached the verdict of guilty on all 34 counts.  I thought for a moment we might have a hung-jury, and I’m sure Trump has hoping for it.  But as I said, the defense was not ready to excel in such a case, and Costello really screwed the pooch with his pedantic testimony.

The 34 criminal charges for this trial were directly linked to falsification of business records, and how this was instrumental in influencing the 2016 election.  The hush-money to porn-star Stormy Daniels aggravated the situation, in the sense that it gave context to Trump’s character and motive – but the awkward sex was not the worst part of the trial, criminally speaking.  But it is what gets the most clicks.

Costello was such a terribly unlikeable witness that he made Michael Cohen look noble in comparison.  Costello reportedly was contentious, staring down at the judge, and what somebody summarized as pretty much being a condescending asshole.  I was not in the courtroom, so I cannot say if that is the case.  But his disruptive conduct caused the judge to clear the courtroom and be admonished for improper decorum – Costello himself is an attorney, and should’ve known better.

During this admonishing the judge stated that if Costello does not rectify his decorum in the courtroom his testimony would be stricken off the record.  Which to be honest, that would have been better for the Trump defense because during the cross examination it was found that he was instrumental in the subsequent downfall for Micheal Cohen.  How?  Well, like this:

The Michael Cohen character arc.

In the event you were not aware of, Michael Cohen was the prosecution’s star witness.  Cohen used to be Trump’s lawyer and “fixer” – Cohen himself was a huge fan of Trump and he actually enjoyed working for him.  Cohen was ruthless, a bully, and had indeed gone through great lengths to do Trump’s bidding.  That included using his (Cohen’s) own money to pay Stormy Daniels.

Yes, Cohen got a home-equity loan, putting his own family financial stability and house at risk to get $130.000 that were paid to Stormy Daniels to help Trump keep this expense off his books.  Eventually (long time after) Cohen got repaid more than 400-grand, but it was this convoluted and shady process what created so much trouble for Trump, and was ultimately instrumental to his conviction.

Stormy Daniels had a very short and unpleasant – though somehow consensual sexual encounter with Trump.  This happened while Trump’s third wife Melania was at home with their at-the-time newborn child Barron.  According to the testimony Trump did not really care if Melania found out about having sex with Stormy, because he has a pattern of cheating, but Stormy was going to go public before the 2016 election – that caused Trump to pursue buying Stormy’s story – but of course in normal Trump fashion he dragged his feet regarding the payment part.

The story of a sexual encounter Stormy occurred about a decade prior to the 2016 campaign.  However, there was the now infamous “Grab them by the pussy” tape where Trump bragged to Billy Bush that he would grab women’s genitals and kiss them without consent, because he was able to get away with it due the fact, he was a celebrity.  Stormy had signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) to prevent her from describing this rather awkward sexual encounter with Trump.

Trump is no stranger to a lot of instances of sexual misconduct.  In fact, he was found legally liable for rape for the E. J. Carroll case, which also happened several years ago.  So yes, Trump was civilly liable for rape – hence Trump is also a rapist, aside from being a convicted felon.

Trump still has not paid the millions of dollars he owes E. J. Carroll, and to add insult to injury to Trump’s ego lack of strategic foresight, Trump is actually paying that much because he defamed Carroll, and he very publicly doubled down on it – and then all other shady stories came to light.  Afterall, the rape charges themselves had passed the statute of limitations. What got Trump in hot water is his big mouth repeatedly defaming Carroll.

Although the E. J. Carroll case was not part of the current case legally speaking, it does speak volumes about Trump’s pattern of misconduct, and his sense of entitlement – because he has been able to get away with these situations for decades.  But the fact is that justice – although very slow in the USA, is bringing all these situations to light – to see the Trump personality in proper context.

But make no mistake, all this controversy stemmed at the behest and direction of Trump himself.  So, no, Joe Biden has absolutely nothing to do with these Trump trials.  Trump was afforded his days in court – and will be afforded more days for his other upcoming criminal trials.  But Trump does keep trying to influence the attorney’s decision making – and that has been backfiring in a dramatic and exponential manner.  Michael Cohen knows firsthand Trump’s tactics, and he has been instrumental in bringing these otherwise buried stories to light.

Cohen was also a bully to Stormy back then, and of course Stormy and Cohen went to court at the beginning of the Trump presidency.  At first, when Cohen was kissing Trump’s butt, Trump would go out and Tweet-rage on Cohen’s defense.  That’s where Costello comes in.  Cohen was in serious legal trouble, and this scandal had national and international attention – and the majority of Americans for and against Trump were not rooting for Cohen.  Costello was then “volunteering” as Cohen’s legal advisor – not quite as an attorney, but we’ve learned that Costello was very much working for Trump and Rudy Guiliani.

Cohen was put in a situation where his own cognitive dissidence in order to protect Trump caused him to commit perjury in front of Congress and in other legal proceedings.  For these same crimes Trump was facing on this last trial Cohen ended up in Prison a few years back.  When it seemed that Cohen was hung out to dry, Trump disavowed him and let him to take the fall.  This of course came back to haunt Trump because Cohen was not only looking to get some sort of revenge, but to do so because that would be the right thing to do as a concerned Citizen.  Funny how the script flipped.

Cohen was a piece of work before his downfall.  He bullied and intimidated people, conducted all kinds of lying and shady deals, and would go to the end of the world to help Trump remain unscathed.  In other words, he was the perfect useful fool, and like any useful fool, the moment he became inconvenient he was hastily disposed of by Trump.  What Trump did not realize is that Cohen would regain a conscience, swallow his pride, and seek to become the voice that explained Trump’s way of thinking.

Cohen was instrumental in some of the last cases Trump has lost.  The civil case that highlighted the corruption from the Trump organization showed how Trump scammed customers and the government.  And for this last case with the business records, you can see how these shady business practices were normalized in Trump’s orbit.  However, they knew those were shady, hence they tried to hide their tracks – they were just not very good at it.  Then again, a lie no matter how well-crafted it never adds up.

So, what’s next?

Hard to tell, in the sense that a lot of his fervent supporters are going to be hitting the proverbial brick wall – and people are complex.  So, their behavior might be very different after they smack the wall.  For some it will be traumatic.

Trump has been running on being the “law and order” President – and he requested all kinds of accommodations to his trial, like asking for the seventh amendment to get a jury trial – he did get that at his request.  And he pleaded the fifth and be silent to prevent incriminating himself, he was granted all that.  He had his days in court… the defense was woefully unprepared, and it showed.  The results speak for themselves.

Like it or not, a lot of propagandists are fierce Trump advocates – which makes sense.  By proving the malleable tactics Trump had used for his own brand, it is not a bridge too far to steer him into doing other shady stuff – especially if he is not even aware that what he is doing is wrong for himself, and by extension the country.  And this could also be another reason for why so many GOP folks are running for the exits.

One thing is being a red-blooded Republican, quite another is being a MAGA-loyalist.  Sometimes they can be combined, but a Republican will ultimately want what’s best for the country, and follow the rule of law.  A MAGA-loyalist will arbitrarily “adjust” the laws if they negatively affect their “dear leader.”  However, there are many MAGA’s who are also ex-MAGA because they realized that the math was simply not adding up.  There are some who will remain MAGA no matter what is proven against Trump.

That is evident.  The people who will be likely clinging to the latter will start saying disparaging things to the USA, call it a third world country, or attack certain people and institutions, advocate for violence, advocate for pretty much anything you can also see in an adversarial regime’s official media, and they will use those words verbatim.  Despite all this, there are large amounts of Americans who are probably unaware of the historic significance of May 30, 2024.

Regardless, Trump once again made history as a 34-charges convicted felon.  This is to add to his record of being the only twice impeached President, a rapist, and the US President with the most criminal charges, and controversies in the history of the United States of America – and somehow many of his supporters think that disturbing record is just peachy.  And once again, I’m here writing – because this is also part of today’s history.  I wonder how we’ll all feel when we read these words a few years from now.  HLC

The post Today in America | 30 MAY 2024 first appeared on HALF LIFE CRISIS.

Yes, it is unprecedented to have a former US President sitting at his own criminal trial.  More concerning is the fact these are 34 out of 125 criminal charges

Trump is a President like no other.

Trump is pretty unique – I’ll give him that distinction, but it is not meant to be a compliment.  Like or dislike Trump is not the issue, this is not even about his [what many would characterize as crass] personality.  It is about a pattern of misconduct that is well-documented and extremely concerning.

Trump is right now sitting in court just shy of starting jury deliberations.  The potential of a guilty veridic is very palpable, even though one of the potential outcomes will be a hung trial.  But then again, we won’t know the verdict for a few days.  The fate of Trump lies on the historical outcome these jurors will reach.

It is worth mentioning that Trump did violate the gag order more than 10 times, an order which was imposed to prevent Trump from attacking the jury, the witnesses, and the judge involved in this case.  Trump mischaracterized the gag order outside the courtroom, and has used his acolytes to continue those attacks – very publicly – against the jury, witnesses, and judge.  More insidious, some of those proxy attacks were carried out by elected leaders right in front of the court house.

There is a likelihood that those gag order violations will be tagged along with the other 34 criminal charges on the falsification of business records in connection with campaign finance misuse, and the short and cringeworthy sex encounter he had with porn star Stormy Daniels, while his third wife Melania was at home with their newborn son Barron.

That scandal alone should be enough for ANY other presidential candidate to leave into the shadows.  Not Trump, he manipulated the truth and double down on different circles with different narratives – each part of his base will receive a different part of the message.  Which simply put works like this:

1. If you’re a MAGA follower of modest or low income.  Ironically, you’re a cash cow and the muscle behind the narrative.  Your role is to attend rallies, buy tons of merch, purchase his many trinkets, bibles, NFTs, or whatever it is that he keeps selling – and parrot all the talking points being issued to you.  These will often be in slogan form and easy to remember – but won’t hold to a deep level of scrutiny.  And of course, that means that you’re to become contentious and fight on his defense on any platform where Trump is being challenged.  Just don’t show up at Mar-a-Lago for dinner, no way in hell can you afford the membership price – nor do they want you anywhere near there.

2. If you’re a MAGA follower of high income.  You’re on a different tier, because you’ll still be a cash cow of sorts – but you’re buying placement and access.  Any millionaire knows that if they spend money on something, even if it is a campaign contribution, there is an expected return on investment.  It is not like people would just throw thousands or even millions of dollars and set them ablaze unless there is something to get for that sum.  And no, it is not just “patriotism” – or is it?  Hence, a lot of people advocate for taking money out of politics.  Think about it for a second.

Who benefits if Trump is able to get away with the crimes he has been accused of?  Think about this for a while.  By the way, there is plenty of evidence for each of the 125 total charges spanning all five criminal cases, and it is worth noting that many of these charges have been proven by proxy.  How?  Because a lot of his acolytes have already been found guilty of similar charges that are linked to Trump.  A lot of these crimes were committed in the open.

Trump propping adversarial narratives.

Whether if Trump is intentionally supporting adversarial regimes goals is up to the courts of law to determine.  But the fact is that he and his acolytes repeat verbatim these adversarial regimes talking points, and surprise-surprise, a lot of his so called “policies” align with the same adversarial regimes interests and goals.  That is also unprecedented for ANY US President!

I’ve been writing for a long time about this growing concern, and even started a series called “Today in America” on January 6, 2021.  To this day, there are people who call the day of the insurrection a “guided tour” – or blame it to anybody else other than the thousands of Trump supporters who stormed the capitol that day.  By the way, we caused for the first time in our lifetimes not having a peaceful transfer of power in America.  Trump was not even present during Biden’s inauguration.  That was also a first.

During the Trump presidency, NATO was disparaged, instead and for some reason he cozied up to authoritarian regimes who have openly stated they would nuke the USA.  Trump still defends and cozies up authoritarian regimes around the world, as well as their propaganda talking points.

This is extremely concerning, not because of the obvious descent into a potential authoritarian dystopia – but because Trump wouldn’t be even in charge of said dystopia.  A person with Trump’s rap sheet, and sheer amount of sticky baggage is likely also involved directly or by proxy with other problematic entities.  Those entities would be controlling the USA because they likely have leverage on Trump.

Consider this just for a moment.  How many people in Trump’s orbit have been accused of crimes, or have ended up in prison?  Also, what was Trump’s support to his loyal followers the very second that they were inconvenient?  Spoiler alert, he disavowed the J6 when it was convenient for his rhetoric, and now he calls them “J6 hostages.”  He praised his “loyal” people when they were kissing his butt, and then turned against them if they ever dared say something about him.  Want examples?

Mitch McConnel, Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo, Michael Cohen, Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, Nikky Haley, and I can go on… but I hope this gives you a starting point… look it up yourself.  Trump is never shy about attacking people or saying whatever he wants to spew – loudly.  He spews his attacks through twitter (X) storms, on his declining social media, on TV, his rallies, or whatever other platform he can get.  Except for one – a witness stand.  When it comes to testifying, he always pleaded the fifth.  Surprise!  Even though, Trump himself had choice words for anybody who had pleaded the fifth before.

Yet the twice impeached former President decided NOT to talk during his impeachment proceedings, he is not talking during the criminal charges in NYC, and he will likely chicken out also on the other federal criminal proceedings that account for that remainder 90+ charges.  And we should ask ourselves… when is this pattern of misconduct only a “witch hunt” – and when is it just Trump finally getting what he deserves?

A tell-tale sign that the walls are closing in for Trump, and another unprecedented event is that his wife Melania – former First Lady, has showed a total of ZERO times to support her husband on this criminal trial.  Not even showed up for a few minutes – she has been selling merchandise online though.  What does that tell you about how lovable this man truly is?  Today finally some of his adult children showed up to the courthouse – but they were largely absent the last several weeks.

Trump is facing a growing number of ex-MAGA and ex-Utra-MAGA folks.  Why?  Well, each person is unique, but the common denominator is that they seem to be feeling just like his wife Melania… in the sense they simply don’t see a justifiable enough reason to be by his side during the most important legal case in his life thus far.  Let that sink in for a second – his own wife, who is supposed to know him better than anybody, is not supporting him – why should you?

Sure, it is unprecedented for a former US President to be so close to be sentenced to prison.  But it is also unprecedented for ANY former president getting away with as much as Trump has gotten away for so long.  The problem is that it has been so normalized, and there were so many scandals that it would take us days just to enumerate them.  Justice through courts is slow – and it has been taking this long to finally get to hold him accountable.

The GOP had choices through the primary – yet they nominated Trump, knowing that he has 90+ criminal federal charges, plus the many civil, plus this 34-count criminal case in NY.  That was a bad gamble for the GOP, because even if he gets charged with ONE crime from the 125 criminal counts, he can still be incarcerated.  That GOP shortsightedness and destruction of their own party is also unprecedented.  HLC

The post Charging a former POTUS – unprecedented first appeared on HALF LIFE CRISIS.

Memorial Day Thoughts. Counterintuitive to what people think, the role of the military is to PREVENT WAR.  But if war is inevitable, then be ready to win.

Understanding Memorial Day.

Memorial Day is when we honor our fallen men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.  This is not a day of celebration, its not a day to celebrate our troops who are alive today.  It is a day to put our political or ideological differences aside, and honor the legacy of those who afford us that opportunity to be free today.

Memorial Day dates back to May 30, 1868 post the American Civil War.  In 1873 it was New York who first designated Memorial Day as a holiday, and it expanded by the late 1800 to other states.  The holiday continues evolving until 1971 when Congress passed the “Monday Holiday Act” making the last Monday of May the National Holiday we are observing today.

It is also a time to remember that the USA is not alone in their fight against adversarial forces seeking to impose authoritarian regimes around the world – we have many allies who also fought and died for our freedom.  This horror of battle is nothing new, sadly, it has been going on since the beginning of civilization.  And it is often a relatively small percentage of the population who will fight for everyone else’s rights, and pass this gift of freedom to the next generations.

Their legacy forged on sacrificing their own lives so others can have a better world.  Today’s troops are composed of an all-voluntary force, it is not like on previous conflicts where people were often drafted to answer the call of duty.  Yet, even when drafted they all fought with valor under often extremely precarious conditions, so we could not have to face a world of sustained horror.

As a Veteran myself, I cannot start to tell you how meaningful it is when we wear the cloth of our nation, and realize the legacy that was written in blood, sweat, tears, and sacrifice that is allowing the current generation to serve as volunteers, to have that CHOICE to serve.  A choice that for many of those who died was not afforded to them.

Preventing War.

I’ve said it before, an important role for the military is to prevent war.  War is hell, not just for those in the front lines, but for everybody else caught on their clutches.  Deterring an adversary from attacking us or destroying their will to fight and impose an authoritarian regime – that is what prevents war.  That does not mean the adversary won’t try any potential way to gain advantage.

As the world becomes more and more unstable, the best way to honor the sacrifices of those who died in the line of duty is by paying attention to the world around us.  That way their deaths won’t be in vain.  The reason why we enjoy the freedom to even ignore their sacrifice was because they sacrificed to give that freedom to us.  I cannot think of anything more insulting than to take somebody’s suffering and sacrifice for granted.  And as I said, an effective way to honor them is by understanding the reasons for their sacrifice.

Today we are being bombarded by misinformation and propaganda that is specifically designed to negate their sacrifice.  More and more people repeat verbatim adversarial talking points which destroy our cohesion as a nation.  The adversary knows that if we are divided, then they can hit us as softer targets.  But the attacks have already started against us.  Although, they are not kinetic – yet.

Their attacks focus on making us forget and take for granted the freedom we have.  Make us believe that a conflict like those who fought and died won’t happen again.  There is no shortage of armed conflicts around the world, and many of those embroiled in that conflict today also thought this nightmare was not going to happen to them.

Regardless of your political leanings, my wish is that we understand the meaning of their sacrifice, understand what we are taking for granted, and honor their deaths by keeping alive the legacy of freedom they left for us.  And of course, realize that the adversarial forces are looking forward to downplay, spin, or deny the meaning of their sacrifice.  I hope everyone has a meaningful Memorial Day.  HLC

The post Memorial Day Legacy – Preventing War first appeared on HALF LIFE CRISIS.

In case you missed it, Trump was harshly booed during the Libertarian Convention, and there is a growing number of GOP and Utra-MAGA attrition.  Let’s see why.

Falling out of love with Trump.

It might sound incomprehensible to some of Trump’s still-ardent followers, but the reality is that many of his former ardent-followers fell out of love with him.  I’ve written in my articles and in my books about this effect – it happens.  Politics to an extent is like a romantic relationship.  Even the most passionate relationship could come crashing down.

Well, that’s exactly what we are observing with Trump and his ex-adoring followers.  Let’s use an illustrative example to understand this trend.  I’m sure most people reading this at some point had a previous relationship that went the way of the dodo.  However, during the honeymoon state, when you started dating it was all flowers and lullabies – and even if there were idiosyncrasies – you would just give this person a pass.  Until one day these flaws got old, or there were other reasons to part separate ways.

Trump repeats the same old tiresome talking points in EVERY speech and rally, post, etc.… he constantly complains about others, he portrays himself as the victim, he mercilessly attacks and gives derogatory nicknames to whomever he feels like attacking – if he feels he won’t face consequences for it.  But when it comes to running his mouth facing actual consequences, he cowers, gives an excuse, and slips through the back door.  Want an example?  Sure, he did not take the stand on his last criminal case.

He boasts about his distain on anything and everything during the rallies, on his social media, on the press conferences outside the court room, by using proxies for violating the gag order in NYC, by using acolytes to amplify his disdain for his enemies, etc.  Yet, when he had a chance to say his piece in an articulate manner in the courtroom – despite the fact he stated on camera repeatedly he was going to testify, he chickened out.  Sure, it is his right – and likely the smartest move.  But why was it the smartest move in this case?

It was the smartest move, because Trump knew, and likely his legal counsel also advised him that he was going to get his ass handed to him, because when you poke Trump’s ego in some way, he’ll react like a grenade.  He has done that before, and it backfired in a court of law.  Even if this kind of faux-bravado sounds appealing in the court of public opinion where half-baked narratives can lead to group thinking and condone any farse… it is quite different when the facts are placed under scrutiny – and there are actual consequences for spreading falsehoods.

Ex-MAGA Jumping ship, choosing country over Trump.

Most ex-MAGA and this includes ex-Ultra-MAGA became very overt critics of Trump, and the MAGA movement.  For this to be understood, we have to understand that MAGA is not a monolith, and although the diversity is very minimal if contrasted with the Democratic Party, there is a level of diversity.  Not just in skin color and ethnicity, but also on socio-economic status.

The situation is that each part of MAGA is getting their biases targeted.  It is unfair to say that most MAGA are racists, or homophobic, or religious zealots… because that is not only untrue, it is also unfair.  Of course, that MAGA leaders use this as a catalyst to infuriate the MAGA folks into believing they are in an us-against-them perpetual fight. Sadly, some people in the opposition do call derogatory epithets to the MAGA folks, and that causes the MAGA folks to “validate” this us-against-them perspective been perpetuated by the MAGA leadership.

However, when you actually sit and have a deep conversation with a MAGA person, then you’ll realize they have not been afforded the full context of an issue (any issue that is in contention).  They generally are fed some strategically incendiary talking points.  These points are easy to remember, and sound solid in an echo chamber.  But once you subject them to scrutiny, these points cannot hold up without crumbling.  This will frustrate the MAGA and they will either double down, or use a “what about” tactic.

And this is an important hinge, because from here some MAGAs and Ultra-MAGAs who actually wanted to “prove others wrong” – ventured out of their echo chamber, and wanted to challenge first-hand what these “anti-MAGAs (insert your derogatory epithet)” are supposedly lying about.  And surprise-surprise, they realize that a lot of what is been said in the MAGA-verse is redacted.  In other words, they are deprived of a lot of valuable contexts.  This tends to be traumatic, because they realize they have been largely scammed.

They realized the obvious.  Trump is petulant, cares only about himself, and pragmatically speaking is a wimp.  He complains like a toddler throwing a tantrum, and this is simply not a grown-up behavior.  At least not one that should be authorized to be in the White House again.  I’m quoting ex-MAGAs by the way.  A lot of Republicans feel that the GOP has turned into a circus, or a sad reality show, and they resent Trump for turning their beloved Republican party into what it has become.

As they continue learning about the shortcomings from the Trump brand, they see the most startling pattern.  Most of Trump’s ventures took a dive.  Even the casinos… who bankrupts a casino?!  Let alone more than one casino!  But the biggest complaint I keep hearing is because they realized they are Trump’s cash cow.  His MAGA fans might be living paycheck to paycheck or struggling financially – yet all the donations go to pay for Trump’s significant mistakes.

But it is worth mentioning that as many ex MAGA and ex-Ultra-MAGA depart the party, those who remain will double down and likely triple down.  For example, if a dude or gal have a Trump tattoo or thousands of dollars’ worth of Trump & MAGA merch, and has burned tons of bridges, it is not unusual for them to stick for the long haul, and obediently follow directions.  Much like a toxic relationship.

But I would caution anybody giving Trump their undivided devotion.  Consider this, on how “loved Trump” really is by his own family.  Only his son Eric showed up in court for the NYC criminal case that lasted several weeks.  NOT ONCE has his wife or other children shown up to keep him company or show support in person.  Sure Don Jr. melts down on his podcast every now and then – but if Trump’s own family ghosted him during the most contentious trial of his life – this should be a red flag for anybody paying attention.  HLC

The post MAGA is Dwindling Rapidly first appeared on HALF LIFE CRISIS.

As the verdict for Trump’s criminal case in New York over falsification of business records anears, it is worth noting this started with Trump cheating.

The character of conflicted people.

Like or dislike Trump is not the issue, even if you condone him cheating on his third wife while she was at home with their last new born son.  It was already stated in legal proceedings that Trump did in fact had some sort of sexual encounter with porn star Stormy Daniels – however brief and unpleasant.  And that Trump was supposedly trying to spare his wife Melania from finding about this extramarital encounter.

Surprisingly – legally speaking – if Trump would have just paid Stormy’s silence directly, instead of going through this weird elaborated scheme to have Michael Cohen pay her and create a bunch of alternative paperwork – Trump would have not been sitting in court for the last several weeks.

That does not make it right morally speaking – but it would not have been illegal.  What was illegal was the falsification of records and how this was a coverup that seems intended to have the American people not to factor his moral characters shortcomings before the 2016 election.  If you’ve been following the trial, then you would have also realized that Trump had made many tactical and strategic mistakes all along (to this day).

So that begs the question.  If a man is so shortsighted and manipulated others into trying to get away with something such as hilariously pathetic extramarital sexual encounter, and went through great lengths to cover it up, and failed – what other mistakes would this person be capable of doing if he gets the powers of the highest office in the world?  And yes, we know he committed a lot of huge blunders during his presidency.

Think about it for a second.  Let it sink in – and for good measure if you like Trump, think if anybody you dislike was accused of the same actions, and would have made the very same mistakes, and committed the same moral shortcomings.  I am saying this because it is important to remember that biases are highly exploitable.  Even if you didn’t not commit the same crimes Trump committed, if you condone it, it also says a lot about who YOU are as a person.

Trump traffics in the court of public opinion, but he is a lot less effective in an actual court of law.  For this case – arguably the most important case in his life – thus far, because he is facing the possibility of going to prison on 34 criminal charges, he chose NOT to testify in his own defense.

This is despite the fact Trump said very publicly that he would testify on his own defense for this trial – after he had a lot of choice words for everyone involved.  Why do you think he did not testify?  Afterall, Trump is not shy about attacking anybody when he feels attacked for lesser matters – even though those would not land him in prison.  This is arguably the most significant fight Trump has right now – and he chose not to speak out – when for lesser “injustices” he goes on midnight social media storms.

It is easy to ascertain that it is because he would have gotten his butt handed to him on the stand.  In this case it might have been smart not to testify, because the last two times he sat on the stand he lost the case – and as a consequence he owes almost a half-billion dollars, he has not paid yet.  In other words, his adoring fans might buy everything Trump and his acolytes cherry pick for them to repeat.  But when you subject those talking points to scrutiny, then you start finding out a lot of plot holes to the story.

For example, that happened when the defense witness Robert Costello testified in favor of Trump.  Somehow this man was even less likable than Michael Cohen, and essentially torpedoed Trump’s defense, not only in substance, but on the optics, as it has been reported that Costello’s unpleasant attitude even caused the courtroom to be cleared, and reminded of proper court decorum.  Which says a lot about Costello, who is a former Federal Attorney himself.  And also screams about Trump’s faulty strategy, because Costello’s presence only damaged whatever little gains the defense had accrued.

So, how did stormy defeat Trump?

Stormy exposed Trump’s insecurities, and [perhaps unintentionally] amplified them in ways that Trump won’t be able to recover a great part of his formerly adoring following – those ex-MAGA who are willing to choose country over Trump.

A layer that some people might have not realized it is that Stormy was attacked from all directions when Trump went on the offensive.  She endured death threats, got arrested on unrelated charges, had her name disparaged by the entire MAGA-verse, her family was at risk, she got economically affected, she was a target of harassment and other frauds – such as her former lawyer who used the scandal to gain national attention – and due to his own actions ended up in prison himself.

As Stormy herself said, if she was writing this as a fictitious story, she would have made a better story than this ridiculous plot line.  But then again, sometimes reality is a lot more mind-bending than the greatest fiction.  For many of us, it is like being forced to watch an insane reality show.  And thanks to Stormy, we are seeing a lot more than the unpleasant knowledge of her cringeworthy sexual encounter with Trump.

During this criminal trial, we’ve seen Trump at his worst.  For example, when it pertains to the gag orders – which he seems to misunderstand that they are to protect the witnesses, jury, and court staff from potential retaliation by MAGA followers who have a history of taking violent action in favor of Trump – even if they have never had a conversation with him.  A person of influence can inspire people for good or bad – the gag order was because many MAGA fans tend to become violent.

Do you know when was his best chance to speak?  On the witness stand!  When he could testify and “set the record straight” if there were any inconsistencies on the arguments he sat (and reportedly slept) through during the last several weeks.  Why didn’t he testify?  Doesn’t he have the best attorneys?  Doesn’t he hold the truth?  Afterall, the defense said that the Prosecution did not meet their burden of proof – which is really a legal tactic – and it would be dumb not to say that.  But they know the truth, the prosecution was very well prepared.

Trump will continue speaking to the court of public opinion, but the fact is that people who are paying attention – even those who wanted to “prove never-Trumpers” wrong – ended up discovering that the reason why people don’t like Trump, is the same reason why many Ultra-MAGAS are running for the exit.  They realized that there was a lot more to Trump than what met the eye, and the more they dug, the more they found – and that caused them to wake up and run for the exit.  HLC

The post Stormy Court Case Defeating Trump first appeared on HALF LIFE CRISIS.

Geopolitics, it does not matter if you pay attention to or even care about it – because it affects your life regardless.  But if you pay attention, you have a say!

Becoming part of the solution.

I get it, most people out there would rather watch paint dry, or water boil, or anything else that could seem boring and uninteresting.  But the fact is that geopolitics is actually very interesting, and most important of all, it helps you understand if the world around you is going to negatively affect you and the generations to come.  And if you can understand this, then you can do something about it.

Remaining ignorant of this situation makes you vulnerable and gullible to any half-baked narrative that is designed to manipulate you.  These half-baked narratives thrive in the fact that most people will choose willful ignorance.  Hence, when it comes to deciding they are already well behind the power curve.

One of the tell-tales of propaganda is that they will overwhelm you with so much faulty information at once that you won’t be able to focus, and will likely choose to look away.  This is great news for propagandists, demagogs, rogue nations, authoritarians, and any other opportunist out there.  Sadly, the noise tends to be a lot louder and more accepted than the voices of reason – the latter end up drowned by the opportunists and the willful ignorance of those who could otherwise do something about it.

What can you do?  Well, control what you own.  If you understand the big picture, then you will be able to understand the way some otherwise tangential narratives come together.  I won’t sugar coat it, there is an authoritarian storm coming to the USA, and this has already engulfed many other countries – some of which are in the west.

The bulk of the citizens in those nations were also very much unaware of the situation, and ignored the warnings from people like myself and others who keep drowned under the incessant noise produced by authoritarian propagandists.

Your power is actually immense!

I don’t expect anybody to become a geopolitics expert overnight, and you don’t need to become an expert either.  All you need to do is compare any controversial story you might hear from a politician in your area, and compare it to the official narrative being spoken in an adversarial regime’s propaganda.  Surprise-surprise, their messages match along with whatever divisive figure you can find in the west.

All you have to do then is not give the divisive figure power, and raise awareness to friends and family so they can become aware of the situation.  So, how do you take their power away?  Well, authoritarians and propagandists are only as powerful as their followers.  Once the followers realize they have been idolizing a jack-ass, then they will eventually stop following the authoritarian – and stop them on their tracks.  This transition will be harder for some than for others.

For example, it will be easier for those who were on the fence, and were superficially interested in following this authoritarian.  Others who were conned deeper into the falsehood might double down.  For example, people who went mega-public by endorsing their pedantic rhetoric, tattooed their brand on their skin (sometimes literally), fought and disavowed their loved ones, spent a bunch of time and money on their merch and rallies – those will have a harder time, because nobody likes realizing they have been scammed.  And the propagandists already factored that response from those being scammed.

When you start learning more about geopolitics then you will realize the obvious – pedantic demagogs like the one you might be idolizing in your own corner of the world is following the SAME (or very similar) rubric as a bunch of other demagogs all over the world.  The difference is that you might not be seeing or hearing from them.  And if you’re receiving news from their cronies, you’re only going to hear the carefully cherrypicked points they want you to see.

In my book Authoritarianism & Propaganda the Puppet Master Tools and a bunch of articles I’m adding daily, I am showing you how the propagandists tactics work – once you understand the playbook, then you can free yourself from being one of their useful fools.  The devotion you might be exhibiting for an “authoritarian wanna-be,” or a tyrant-on the making is very similar to other confused people been groomed around the world.

I will keep adding more thought-provoking articles like this, each article is adding more context to the big picture.  Why?  Because there is plenty to explore, and the adversarial forces have already covered a lot of terrain, while most people who could make a difference have not even reached the starting line.  But showing you all this information in small chunks makes it easier to understand this gigantic process. Please share this information with your friends.  HLC

The post The Importance of Geopolitical Awareness first appeared on HALF LIFE CRISIS.

We all can be naïve about something no matter how smart we are.  Why?  Because nobody knows everything and we all have blind spots.  And propagandists love that!

Testing the waters.

It does not matter how smart you truly are, you have blind spots – like every other human on the planet.  Nobody knows everything, and we are always bombarded with all kinds of information that might or might not be real.  Surprisingly, the most naïve group, hence the most exploitable, are the ones who have convinced themselves to be the smartest in the room.

When one of those “self-assured” know-it-all people boast about being the smarter in the room, a propagandist can see through their façade quite easily.  In fact, they might butter them down even more to make them believe that this smug group is even much smarter than even these conceited people themselves thought they were.  This “self-assured” group of naïve individuals will eat it up, and will be easily manipulated as they are convinced that they are in control of the narrative and understand the truth.  They don’t.

But naïve individuals are not only found on this “self-assured-know-it-all” group, they can be found in any group.  The only way to escape this reality is through experience.  And guess what?  Sometimes that means that you’ll be caught with your guard down in order to learn a lesson.  Sometimes somebody will best you before you learn your lesson.  But you can also learn by proxy, although this can be harder for some people.

For example, if you see somebody jumping off a high elevation and break many bones on the way down, most people, by simply seeing how unpleasant that situation looked, would avoid jumping in a similar manner.  Others might think they are invincible, jump, and break their bones – and hopefully realize why others preferred not to jump, even though the group who did not jump also did not break their bones.

This extreme example was purposely a bit more on the nose to illustrate the point, because when it comes to exploiting gullibility, the tactics tend to be a lot more subtle, and in some instances very well-crafted.  Depending on what audience they want to trick into believing a false reality, or do something against their best interests.  The exploiting entity will be a lot less subtle if they find that the group that they are exploiting is getting increasingly naïve.  In other words, the manipulators will get sloppy and lazier.

Hitting rock bottom.

I said it before, and it is worth repeating.  The best way to exploit a naïve person is by convincing this individual that he or she is the smartest cat in the room.  It is irrelevant if they are correct or not, so long they keep doing what the propagandist or con artists wants them to do.  And this is the kicker, this “smart-cat” naïve person will be convinced that whatever they end up doing was their own bright idea.

When a large group of people who have demonstrated a similar level of gullibility, they will use the “smart-naïve” people to seem as though they are the “leaders and cheerleaders” of the group.  For example, in a political rally you would easily be able to identify them.  These will be the individuals who either (or collectively) sport the most decked out regalia, it is the loudest, obnoxious, confrontational, vociferous, pedantic, and adoring fans of their dear leader.”

This level of group thinking is contagious, and during this event, these “smart-naïve” people will feel like they are the heart of the party, and others who are convinced of the same propaganda will even celebrate them.

But propagandists will keep lowering the bar as far as how well-crafted is their propaganda.  If a group of people shows that they obediently believe anything put in front of them, no matter how sloppy it is – eventually the lies will become more and more shoddy.  Since the elements in a lie never quite add up, at first propagandists will work very hard to tie lose ends.  But if their target audience is so naïve as to believe low hanging fruit, the propagandists will eventually be less diligent in trying to tie lose ends on their fabricated stories.

One of two main things will happen:

1. Some of the less naïve individuals will realize that lies are increasingly half-baked and wake the hell up.  They might try to wake others around them, but the more naïve group will disavow the less naïve.  Likely by calling them some insulting epithets that rhyme with whatever it is that they were convinced to hate, and double down on the false story – or even physically attacking them.

2. They will start having doubts, but their ego will get the best of them.  Especially if they have already invested a lot in believing this false narrative.  And I’m not talking about just time and money.  But maybe friendships, or getting fired, arrested, cited, shunned, etc. for being loyal to whomever was deceiving them – whilst viciously insulting everybody who was trying to help them escape this nightmare.

Sadly, the propagandists are already aware that those who are very naïve will fight until the end to defend whatever it is that they were convinced to believe by said propagandist.  Much like a scam, a con, a cult, a swindle, or an addiction, people tend to be very resistant to accepting they have been taken advantage of.  It takes critical thinking AND intellectual honesty to get above it.

However, when a person is a victim of propaganda, they will get so deep, often so subtly, and occasionally so fast, that they won’t even realize what happened.  On my book Authoritarianism & propaganda the Puppet Master Tools and most of the articles on my website and social media platforms, I go in detail on how to identify this mass-delusion propagandistic scam and break that vicious cycle.  I do this because our collective decisions affect our collective future.  HLC

The post Propagandists Manipulate the Naïve first appeared on HALF LIFE CRISIS.