Judges Gone Wild is Not a Good Look For a Nation of Laws

There's been an event that occurred since this was originally published.  And it's big.

Real constitutional crises are relatively rare in American history.  In 1803 Chief Justice John Marshall could have sparked one with his decision in Marbury v. Madison where he deftly asserted that the Supreme Court had to power to invalidate laws or actions it saw as unconstitutional. The main reason that that assertion didn’t cause a crisis in the fledgling nation was the fact that it came in a decision that supported the position of the Jefferson administration, and as such they were not inclined to protest. 

Then of course there was FDR’s Court Packing scheme in 1937.  In 1936, in the face of continuing 5-4 decisions going against his New Deal legislation FDR’s Attorney General, Homer Cummings proffered an idea penned by one of his predecessors in 1914, James Clark McReynolds, that for every justice over 70 a new justice should be appointed. Ironically, in 1936 McReynolds was a 75 year old Associate Justice on the Supreme Court.

FDR’s legislation died in committee but it would likely not have survived even if it had made it out of committee as it faced a great deal of bipartisan opposition. But then it didn’t really matter because Justice Owen Roberts, who had been a thorn in the side of much of the New Deal legislation joined the liberals in upholding West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish in 1937 and became a relatively reliable New Deal supporter going forward.  History calls that vote the “Switch in time that saved Nine” but the timing doesn’t quite line up.  Although the decision was handed down in March of 1937, it was argued in December of 1936 and Roberts had made his decision before FDR’s plan became public.  That doesn’t mean however that the supposition that Roberts changed his voting pattern due to external events was wrong.  It just means that the timing doesn’t allow for a quid pro quo. 

Crisis might not be the right word in either of those situations because, despite their long term implications for the government, neither imminently threatened the functionality of the government. It most certainly is the right word for what America and the Trump administration is facing right now, and indeed it imminently threatens the functionality of the government. 

The Trump administration has faced an unprecedented number of nationwide injunctions from federal courts on a wide range of issues from deportations to firings of federal employees to paying for sex change surgeries for military members and more.

It seems as if across the country and in virtually every area of government federal judges have suddenly decided that their role is to micromanage every element of the Executive branch. The first Trump administration faced an unprecedented number of injunctions and the first five months the second has faced even more. 

It appears as the federal judiciary has declared war on the Executive Branch, and that is literally a constitutional crisis.

By continuing to face this crisis with appeals to higher courts, the president is bringing a knife to a gun fight. He should instead bring a howitzer. He should make it clear that his administration does not recognize these courts’ power to issue nationwide injunctions and they will no longer be recognizing them as legal.

Tucked away in the bowels of the travesty that is the Big Beautiful Bill is one golden nugget that attempts to obviate the problem.  It states that courts cannot use appropriated funds to enforce contempt citations for failure to comply with injunctions or temporary restraining orders.  That’s an interesting strategy, but it’s a band-aid approach to an artery that’s been cut.  It still leaves the option for courts to continue to micromanage policy from the bench and simply include the funding caveat in the orders themselves or otherwise find funding sources for enforcement.

No, the president needs to face this crisis head on and make it perfectly clear that the courts are acting unconstitutionally and he will no longer be bound by them.   

The obvious consequence of this policy will be the gnashing of the teeth of the left and much of the swamp infested GOP.  “Tyrant” they’ll call him.  “Dictator” they’ll brand him.  “He thinks he’s a king” they’ll claim.  But, frankly, there’s nothing new in any of that. 

But beyond the shrieking however, something more substantial will result of the administration’s new clarity.  It will force Congress and or the Supreme Court to act. 

The reality is, there is no basis in the Constitution for these nationwide injunctions and courts playing the role of executive. These rouge courts have undermined the legitimacy of the judicial system and with it the larger government as a whole.  Once the administration makes it crystal clear that they do not recognize the legitimacy of these rouge courts Congress or SCOTUS will have to step up and provide clarity.  Whether legislative action by Congress or direction from SCOTUS, something will have to be done to begin to repair American’s confidence in the judiciary. 

And that’s actually quite important in a nation of laws like the United States where citizens are largely free and most obey laws because they respect the legitimacy of the government. If that legitimacy is undermined then social order follows suit.  Look no further than cities across the country where the police have been demonized and local governments operate like banana republic grift machines. Crime and corruption are rampant as law abiding citizens and for profit businesses abandon them for safer, more functional environs.

The ideal solution is Congress passing legislation that makes explicit that lower courts have no jurisdiction beyond the immediate cases before them and cannot impose injunctions beyond those specific cases.  This clarity would at a minimum put an immediate end to the tyranny of unelected judges seeking to elevate themselves above the Executive. More broadly it would return to the political realm the work of legislation and policy implementation.  No more would plaintiffs who represent a sliver of the population or hold views far outside the Overton Window be able to venue shop for extremist judges and use the court to impose their ideas on the entire nation.  There’s nothing wrong with being a sliver of the population or having ideas outside that window, but the place to debate ideas is in the public square, not the dark corners of judicial chambers.

This crisis exists today because the left has moved so far to the fringe of society that they can no longer convince Americans to vote for their positions at the ballot box.  But that’s where the Constitution says they should be debated.  If President Trump wants to have any chance of a successful second term he will force Congress’s hand and explain to the American people why he’s doing it. 

 

Follow me on X at @ImperfectUSA

First published on June 10, 2025

https://thefederalist.com/2025/06/10/trump-should-force-congress-and-scotus-to-stop-rogue-judges-by-ignoring-unconstitutional-injunctions/

A Lesson From Rome: You Cannot Welcome Armed, Unassimilated Enemies and Expect to Survive

In the Louvre there’s a famous painting by the French Artist Jacques-Louis David depicting the Intervention of the Sabine Women. In it the Sabine men, whose daughters were stolen by and then married to Romans in the mid-8^th century BC, returned to avenge Roman treachery and retrieve their offspring.  The scene depicts a woman standing between the belligerents, imploring them to cease fighting:  "If you are weary of these ties of kindred, these marriage-bonds, then turn your anger upon us; it is we who are the cause of the war, it is we who have wounded and slain our husbands and fathers. Better for us to perish rather than live without one or the other of you, as widows or as orphans."

The men stopped fighting and eventually the Sabines became Roman citizens. This strategy of conquest and integration would characterize Rome for much of the next 1100 years. Other than perhaps Egypt, most conquered lands became essentially Roman. This is demonstrated by the extensive Roman ruins found in places like Britain, Portugal, Algeria, Turkey and more.  Although most would never become Roman citizens, their lives would have had similar characteristics throughout the Empire. What’s more, when armies would attack Rome, when they were defeated, which they almost always were, the Romans would sell the women and children (who sometimes traveled with armies) into slavery and the men, if not sold into slavery, would be conscripted into the Legions, but sent to regions far from their native lands.

The result of this was that for most of its history Rome faced relatively few consequential internal rebellions beyond civil wars between rival generals. With the 4^th century AD however, that would change. As the Huns moved east from the steppes they began attacking various tribes who would then plead with Rome for asylum. Sometimes willingly and sometimes not, the Romans allowed the Goths, Vandals and others to move into the Empire. But what was different now was that rather than breaking up these foreign powers and disbursing their members throughout the Empire, the Romans allowed them to settle intact on Roman lands. Armed groups living in their own communities, separate from the Romans and maintaining their cultures with no assimilation demanded.  This would be a recipe for disaster and Rome, which, having lasted for more than a millennium, was gone within a century. 

The leaders of the United States and the EU should have paid a little closer attention in history class because they’re mimicking the Roman Empire of the mid-4^th century…

In both places politicians have either tolerated or encouraged an open border for much of the last quarter century with the result being that the United States today houses upwards of 30 million illegal aliens while in Europe the number may be half that.

In both cases, most of the immigrants crossing the borders come from countries with far higher crime rates, far lower income levels and much different cultures.  In the United States illegal immigrants largely come from Mexico and Latin America while in Europe they come from Syria, Afghanistan and other countries in Asia and Africa. 

As immigrants have often done throughout history, when they move to a new place they seek out brethren from their home countries or people which whom they share customs or languages.  Indeed, that’s exactly what the Italians in New York did at the turn of the century. 

The difference here however is that when the Italians moved to New York or the Irish moved to Boston, their goal was to integrate and become Americans. Today’s immigrants to the United States don’t seem to have that same desire.  They may want to become citizens so they can stay permanently, but that doesn’t mean they want to be American.  Indeed, half of American Hispanics are from Mexico and a significant portion of them believe that America’s Southwest is stolen land that rightfully should be returned to Mexico.  At the same time, most of Europe’s newly arrived are from Islamic nations and their allegiance is to Islam, not their new homes.

That’s a problem because successful societies are built around core, fundamental values that are shared by the overwhelming majority of the population. Ideas such as free speech and freedom of religion, individual rights and private property – to various degrees, while they were not always core tenants of western civilization, are so today, or at least were until quite recently.  Without those shared fundamental notions it’s difficult for western nations to function properly. 

It's one thing for a nation to have competing powers within the existing framework, think Democrats and Republicans, but it’s another thing all together if the competing power wants to split off a quarter of the nation or wants to impose Sharia law. 

Recent events have demonstrated exactly how deep the problems are. Across Europe over the last two years there have been giant pro Hamas demonstrations, some of which devolved into violence.  Across the United States Donald Trump’s attempt to begin to ramp up deportations has been met with violence against ICE agents and in California, it devolved into riots with law enforcement members being pelted with rocks, bottles and various incendiaries while cars were set afire, stores looted and the LAPD headquarters attacked.

Of course, demonstrations and riots happen in any country, but when they are symbols of a bigger fissure that’s a problem. 

In both cases these illegals and their predecessors, many of whom have been legalized, seek to fundamentally change the nature of the countries they now call home. Of course invaders always want to change the nature of the place they invade, just as the Romans did as they were growing their empire.  The difference is when the Romans invaded a new land the people already there usually fought them to maintain their culture. They usually lost, but at least they had enough pride in their culture to fight for it. What we see across the west today is just the opposite.  From Sweden to the UK to Spain and the US, leaders have for years worshiped at the altar of guilt and sought to repent by welcoming millions from cultures far different than their own.  Most of these leaders have been under the delusion that if they welcome these invaders with open arms, give them shelter, food, phones and more that they’ll somehow respect the culture of their new homes and assimilate accordingly. 

Not only did they not do so, but rather many attacked the very people and culture that welcomed them. From skyrocketing rapes and bombings in Sweden to knife crime and rape rings in the UK to drug dealing and taking over apartment complexes in Denver, these illegals have made it perfectly clear that they see their new homes not as refuges from some dysfunctional dystopia, but rather as fertile ground to be exploited. They have no intention of assimilating, and in reality, who can blame them?  If a nation doesn’t care enough about its citizens and its culture to protect them, why should anyone else? 

Here in America we finally have a leader who understands the danger and is doing something about it.  If the leaders of Europe don’t follow Donald Trump’s lead soon they may find that it’s too late.    

 

Follow me on X at @ImperfectUSA

First published on June 11, 2025

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2025/06/learn_from_the_romans_you_cannot_welcome_armed_unassimilated_enemies.html

No, the United States did not Steal California from Mexico

We’ve all heard the claims that the United States stole California from Mexico and therefore in reality it belongs to Mexico.

That’s not quite… right.  California, like most of the world, has a history that’s slightly more complex than will fit on your average bumper sticker.

Prior to the Spanish arrival in 1565 there were over 100 different tribes inhabiting what we know as California. Most were small and the total population of the area is estimated to be approximately 300,000. 

Although there were some minor explorations, and small settlements, California remained  largely unexplored and unsettled by Spain for most of the next 200 years. This was due to a combination of factors such as the distance from Spain, the strained Spanish finances but also the fact that there were no pack animals, little agricultural tradition, and a food supply that was less than appealing to Spanish palates. 

By the late 18^th century however the Spanish decided they needed to better organize their North American territories to preempt incursions from other European powers, particularly the French and Russians. As a result Spain began a more robust exploration of the state and would slowly colonize it, setting up missions along the vast coastal areas. 

By the early part of the 19^th century however Spain’s fortunes were changing, the empire was stretched too thin and after a decade of fighting, Mexico gained its independence in 1821. The new nation included what is today Mexico as well as California and much of the American Southwest, stretching east to Texas and north to Colorado.  And here’s where the rub in the argument that the United States stole California begins.

The population of California in 1800 was approximately 300,000 – almost all natives – essentially the same as it had been for centuries. By 1848 however it had dropped to half of that due to disease, which was responsible for 60-80% of the decline and the working to death or killing of the natives by the Spanish.

California at the time of Mexico’s independence was already sparsely populated, with just 200,000 people and that number was rapidly shrinking.  (For perspective, that’s ½ of 1% of today’s 40 million inhabitants.) Add to that the fact that Mexico could barely be called a functioning country as in the 27 years from 1821 to 1848 it had literally 40 different governments. As would seem obvious, the governments were dysfunctional, had an incredibly large land mass to govern, little tax revenue coming in and very limited finances with which to field an army to secure it, nevermind carry out the minimum responsibilities of a government. 

To better understand how dysfunctional and empty Mexico was at the time take a look at Texas.  In 1835 Texas had a population of less than 45,000 people, 30,000 of whom were Anglo settlers who’d been given permission to settle the lands by the Mexican government.  The remainder included approximately 7,000 Mexicans and 5,000 black slaves. Because of conflict with the Mexican government on issues from slavery to religion, in October of that year Texas started a war for independence and by March 1836 it had declared itself the Republic of Texas.  That could never have happened had Mexico been able to populate the area on its own or keep it from breaking away.  But it couldn’t, so Texas was born. 

The American annexation of Texas a decade later in 1845 was the catalyst that brought California to the United States. When the US annexed Texas there was a dispute with Mexico as to exactly where the southern border was. The Americans said it was the Rio Grande while the Mexicans said it was the more northern Nueces River. After negotiations failed to reach an agreement American troops marched to the Rio Grande to bolster the American claim. The Mexicans, seeing this as an encroachment on their land, attacked the American troops and the United States then declared war.

The war, like the Texas war for independence, was short lived, with hostilities ending in September of 1847, and resulted in Mexico ceding California and much of what is today the Southwest of the United States, as well as relinquishing all claims to Texas. At the same time the Americans paid Mexico $15 million and assumed $3.5 million of debt owed to Americans by Mexico.  After negotiations of terms, The Treaty of Hidalgo ending the war was signed in February 1848 and California was admitted to the Union in 1850. 

At that time California had a population of approximately 150,000, the majority of whom were the remnants of the native Indian tribes. Over the next twenty years that native population would decline to approximately 30,000, with diseases being the main cause, but with upwards of 20-25,000 being the result of intentional killings by the new settlers.

The year of 1848 was of course an important year for California for another reason, gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill, and the resulting whirlwind would bring over 300,000 prospectors and would be treasure hunters into the state from across America and elsewhere.  By the 1860 Census the population of the state was recorded as 379,000, 90% of whom were white.

And here we get to the most interesting part of this argument. If it were truly the case that California belonged to the people who lived there previously, it most certainly wouldn’t be Mexicans. When California became a state there were very few Mexicans living there and 50 years later that had not changed. According to the Census of 1900, California had a population of 1,485,000 people, of which only 8,086 were from Mexico. That’s less than 1% and only 2% of the foreign born. Compare that to Brits at 85,000, Germans at 72,000, Chinese at 40,000 and half a dozen other countries who had more than Mexico, including Italy, Ireland, France, Sweden and even Switzerland with 10,000. Certainly some of the 1.1 million native born Californians may have had Mexican heritage, but based on the 1860 Census, not very many did. 

Which brings us to modern day California. Today 40% of the state’s 40 million people are Hispanic, and if we suppose that 65% of those are Mexican or of Mexican heritage, that would mean about 10 million people living in California are of Mexican heritage.

Ten million is a big number, but the reality is, it doesn’t do a single thing to support the notion that California belongs to Mexico or that they are the original natives to California. They are clearly not. Almost all of them, or their parents or grandparents came to the United States within the last century, most likely during the last half century. 

The reality is, Californians of Mexican heritage not only have no more claim on California than anyone else, they actually have much less than white and Asian families that go back to the 19^th century. And Mexico itself has no claims against California because their country was too weak and dysfunctional to even maintain it, nevermind defend it. 

The United States won California as a result of winning a war, the way lands have changed hands for virtually all of human history.  This latest attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the United States in general and its western states in particular is disingenuous at best and an outright lie at worst. But of course leftists never let facts get in the way of a good victimization story…

Follow me on X at @ImperfectUSA

Originally published on June 14, 2025

https://thefederalist.com/2025/06/13/the-claim-that-america-stole-california-from-mexico-is-an-ignorant-lie/

Trump should look to Washington and the Whisky Rebellion for Inspiration when Dealing with Rioters...

While Donald Trump famously does not drink, alcohol has always played a role in American life, usually ancillary but occasionally central. He could take a lesson from an early instance where it played a central role and how it was handled by our greatest president.

During and after the Revolutionary War the economy of America was a wreck as prices of products it exported, fish, lumber, tobacco, and cotton, collapsed with the removal of the British market.  It’s estimated that between 1774 and 1790 the economy declined by 41 per cent.

The country ended the war heavily in debt.  The federal government owed $54 million and the states together owed an additional $21 million. During the war both tried to print their way out of their difficulties. It didn’t work.

Even after the war under the Articles of Confederation there was no relief as the federal government was weak and the states saw themselves as competitors in many economic matters.

In 1787 the Founding Fathers met in Philadelphia and hammered out the Constitution that we still use today.  It created a stronger central government, but one that still had difficulties with finances.  And that’s where the alcohol comes in. In 1791 Congress passed the “Whiskey Tax” which was an attempt to raise funds to pay off the debt run up during and after the war.  This per gallon excise tax was levied on domestic whiskey, a product many farmers, particularly western farmers, produced from their excess grain. 

The western farmers were unhappy because most were small producers and, unlike the large eastern producers, they couldn’t use efficiencies of size to minimize the impact, therefore making their offerings relatively less competitive. At the same time, the tax had to be paid in specie (gold and silver coins) something that was rare in the entire nation and in particularly so in the west. Finally, due to the lack of a viable currency, many workers in the west took whiskey as their pay, which was now taxed!

All of this combined to create a storm we call the Whiskey Rebellion.  By 1794 tempers were flaring in the west and outbreaks of violence began, involving a few thousand people across the west. Finally, that July when a west Pennsylvania tax collector’s home was set fire by 500 armed men, George Washington decided it was time to act. He sent negotiators to see if they could negotiate a solution. But he didn’t dither to see if negotiations would work.  Simultaneously he requested militia from the states and then personally led the 13,000 strong man army to face the troublemakers. The negotiations failed but with the prospect of facing an overwhelming force led by the Commander in Chief, the “rebels” faded away before Washington even arrived. There was no confrontation and when all was said and done four rebels died and there were two casualties among civilians.

Some of the leaders were roused from their beds in the middle of the night, marched barefoot through the mud and the rain and held in animal pens on their way back to Philadelphia. Then “The captured rebels were paraded down Broad Street being 'humiliated, bedraggled, [and] half-starved...”  Eventually 150 men were arrested, 20 were tried and two were convicted and sentenced to death, but given that one was charged with simple battery and the other with theft, Washington eventually pardoned both. 

The newly formed federal government had shown that it had both the means and the will to enforce federal law and hold those responsible accountable.  Washington’s focus on assuring a robust response on issues involving a clearly defined federal power set a precedent that survives to this day.  In principle, that is.  In practice, at least as it comes to immigration, not so much.

Donald Trump should look to the precedent that George Washington set and act accordingly.  Washington utilized state militias to quell the violence.  He not only had the people directly involved in the violence arrested, but he had others who facilitated it arrested as well.  Although Washington did not have to use his 13,000 troops in actual combat, the fact that he had them and demonstrated his willingness to use them was sufficient to end the insurrection.

Trump should do exactly the same thing. When local authorities won’t or can’t stop the violence, Trump should immediately harness the National Guard. In addition, he should put rioters on notice that the soldiers are not there to exchange pleasantries.  For this he could and should use the words of Sheriff Wayne Ivey of Brevard County, Florida: “If you throw a brick, firebomb or point a gun at one of our deputies, we will be notifying your family where to collect your remains at, because we will kill you, graveyard dead.” Trump should be unambiguously clear that violence towards law enforcement, citizens and property will not be tolerated.

At the same time, like Washington, Trump should identify the people who are behind the violence. The people paying for the signs. The people paying anarchists to go out and riot. The people paying for bricks and rocks to be conveniently located near hot spots. The people paying for the masks and other riot gear. 

And most of this will not be individuals. As dataRepublican (small r) has demonstrated American taxpayers are inadvertently funding much of this via NGOs facilitated by Democrats and the rest of the swamp. These leftist, Communist, anti-American organizations, are, under the guise of “charity” fueling a real insurrection and invasion of the United States. 

And Trump should be ruthless. These people, particularly the people behind the scenes, are far more dangerous to America than any external enemy.  They have academia, the media and half the ruling class on their side. This is where the tire hits the road. They should spend decades in prison and emerge penniless, with whatever assets they have seized to pay for the damage they inflicted on the country. 

Instead of dialing things back as he quizzically just announced, Trump needs to turbo charge his response and let it be known that the federal government will not tolerate a violent insurrection.

Washington harnessed an army of 13,000 to demonstrate his intent on restoring order when the population was under 4 million. With 350 million I’m sure Trump can find the men to demonstrate his point.

He should be prepared for a Kent State like episode, or many of them, and be prepared to stand his ground. The reality is, if he does not quell this, we will have another Summer of Love like 2020 with its consequent aftermath.

And what is that aftermath? A bloodbath. Take the murders in the three years following the BLM rioting of 2014. After declining for a decade, in three years murders would climb 26% nationwide, resulting in at least 8,000 more murders than would have otherwise been seen.  Then after the “Summer of Love” in 2020, the year ended up with a 32% jump in murders in a single year, adding another 5,000 murders than would have been expected.  That’s a lot more blood than Kent State. 

So, Donald Trump’s job as president is not to placate the leftist, anti-American Communists and anarchists who seek to abet this invasion, sow discord and delegitimize, destabilize, and ultimately derail his presidency. But this is not about Donald Trump. It’ about America and the American citizens who voted to take back their country.  It is they to whom he needs to answer, not those who oppose him simply because he seeks to make America America again. 

Follow me on X at @ImperfectUSA

Originally published on June 14, 2025

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2025/06/as_leftists_riot_trump_should_look_to_washington_and_the_whisky_rebellion_for_inspiration.html

Iran: To bomb or not to bomb - That is the... Umm, Never Mind

OK, this is twice in one week.  I wrote this today and was just planning on finishing editing it and sending it in, when I read that President Trump has just bombed three sites in Iran!  I've been locked out by X and haven't actually been paying attention to the news because I'm trying to survive 95 degree temps with no AC.  Now this!  As Gilda Radner's Emily Litella used to say... Never mind...

Will Trump's Deportation Betrayal be his Waterloo?

I wrote this yesterday... submitted it about 2:00 PM and it was set for publication today... Sometime last night the administration reversed this insane policy.  Sadly, as it's now moot the piece is not being published so it's here nonetheless!

Just south of Paris is the royal chateau of Fontainebleau. Housed within its walls is a museum which chronicles exploits of one of the greatest military minds in human history, Napoleon Bonaparte.  One of the most fascinating elements of the museum is a hall that features busts and paintings of his various siblings and their spouses. The hall is more than just a 3D family portrait, it’s a timeline. 

Over the course of just over a decade, Napoleon would expand French power across Europe, creating an empire that stretched from Spain to the borders of Russia. Seeking to leave people he could trust to in control of the places he conquered, Napoleon would appoint one of his many siblings as the king or ruler.  He made his older brother Joseph the King of Naples and then of Spain while he made his stepson, Eugène de Beauharnais, the Viceroy of Italy.  These and others are in the museum.

Napoleon took power in 1799 and crowned himself Emperor in 1804 and by 1811, after almost nonstop war, Napoleon had most of Europe under his control. But it wouldn’t last.

Why? Hubris. With Europe essentially at his feet, rather than regrouping and reinforcing his gains, Napoleon instead chose to annex the Duchy of Oldenburg, an area in today’s Germany. That annexation was the proximate cause of a new conflict with Russia and in late 1812 Napoleon would head to Moscow at the head of 600,000 troops.

To say it would go badly is something of an understatement.  The Russians, understanding history and Russian winters, would implement a tactical retreat strategy coupled with a scorched earth policy that would see them set fire to Moscow once Napoleon arrived.  This strategy made it impossible for Napoleon’s men to survive off the land as they pursued their prey. 

As such, tired, hungry, frozen and demoralized, Napoleon’s troops would retreat after only six weeks. Eventually Napoleon would abandon his 75,000 remaining troops and return to Paris.  As his enemies gained momentum the French empire crumbled over the next 18 months and a defeated Napoleon would abdicate on April 6, 1814. 

He was imprisoned on Elba Island, off the coast of Italy.  Undeterred, he would escape and as soon as he landed back in France he would quickly win over the regiment sent to arrest him. The new king, Louis XVIII, fled Paris and Napoleon took control of the government and immediately raised an army.

It would all be for naught as Napoleon would misread the retreat of his Prussian enemy early in the battle at Waterloo and as a result the British Duke of Wellington would go down in history as the man who finally defeated Napoleon. 

While Waterloo was the final nail in his coffin, the reality is it was Moscow where Napoleon wasted the lives of half a million of his own men and set the course of his destruction. He had Europe in his grip, and rather than strengthen his position, he let hubris get the best of him and it destroyed him. 

Sound like anyone we know?

I’m of course talking about Donald Trump.  He came into office the second time with a strong wind at his back. Having endured 8 years of abuse at the hands of the anti-American Democrats and their swamp weasel comrades, he persevered and won a third election to the White House.  The GOP took back the Senate and held on to the House.  For the first time in four years the average Joe felt like they had a patriot in the White House, someone who was going to look out for them, was going to put the interests of Americans and American taxpayers ahead of the swamp and the rest of the world, was going to deport all those who crossed our border illegally and hold accountable the tyrants who had used the government as a jackboot over the previous four years. 

And to make things even better, in two months DOGE validated many people’s hunches that our government was funding the very entities who were doing so much damage to our country.

But a funny thing happened on the way to fixing the country…

President Trump allowed the swamp weasels in the Democrat party and the GOP leadership to write a treasonous spending bill that’s largely indistinguishable from one the Democrats would have written themselves. 

Then the GOP decides to basically disappear the DOGE recommendations for ending the trillion dollar waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government. 

We see judges across the country using unconstitutional tactics to throw roadblocks in front of virtually every administration policy and the president plays by the Marquess of Queensberry Rules, which is exactly what the swamp wants because it allows them to run out the clock on any reforms.

And of course we can’t forget that fully five months into this administration and no one has been held accountable for the persecution of the J6ers, the Russia Hoax, the COVID tyranny or the stolen election of 2020.  Not a one.

As bad as all of those things are, President Trump’s supporters have been willing to endure them for a while because he was busy focusing on the single most important issue:  Deporting illegal aliens.  With 30 million illegals in the country, there’s no greater threat today, and President Trump promised to deport them.

But last week he backtracked on mass deportations and is going to ease up on enforcement against illegals working in the hospitality industry and on farms to focus on “criminals”.  Well, the reality is, that’s how we got here in the first place, with illegals taking jobs on farms and in hotels. 

This is simply insane. We’re seeing the result of this betrayal on our streets right now:  The fires looting, riots and attacking of police officers. And what’s most stunning (but not surprising) is that across the country, people who don’t want to go back to Mexico are actually here in America flying Mexican flags while burning American flags and attacking American law enforcement. Guaranteed many of those in the streets are taking time from farms and restaurants to “protest”. Appeasement simply doesn’t work. It didn’t work for Reagan in 1986 and it won’t work today.

Much like the soldiers who flocked to Napoleon’s banner as he offered them a path out of the chaos and misery following the Revolution or upon his return from Elba, Trump’s supporters have been willing to take the slings and arrows of abuse because they believed in him and the promises of giving them back their country.

Napoleon betrayed his men by leaving more than a half a million of them laying bloody and dying on battlefields from Moscow to Waterloo. And in the end Napoleon’s hubris left behind a France that was economically broken, fiscally insolvent, occupied by her enemies and wracked with internal strife.

Donald Trump earned a 2^nd chance in the White House by promising to deport the millions of illegal aliens in our country. If he maintains this betrayal on deportations, the single most important issue to almost every one of his supporters, he might just find that they’re not willing to be cannon fodder just to indulge his hubris.  And that doesn’t bode well for 2026.

America Has a Perfect Storm of Opportunity to Save Herself From the RINOs in the GOP

The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was an attempt to deal with a problem that threatened to rip America apart, slavery. Although it didn’t address the underlying institution itself, it banned new states north of Missouri’s southern border from joining the union as slave states.

The delicate balance lasted until repealed by the Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854.

Although not explicit, the Act potentially opened up all of the west to slavery. For the north this was simply untenable and the result was the creation of the Republican Party, which formed in 1854 in the midst of the debate.

Of course, both were basically band aids over the real trauma that was destroying the nation, slavery.

The Republican Party was essentially the combination of the remnants of the Whig Party and elements of other peripheral parties. Six years later Abraham Lincoln would be elected the nation’s first Republican president. The party would go on to dominate much of American politics for the next half century.

In 1854 the Republican party came about as the result of America finally having to face a cancer that had been gnawing at it’s core since its foundation. In 2025 it should die for the same reason.

The cancer today is not slavery in the literal sense, but it is slavery nonetheless. In this case it isn’t blacks being held in bondage because of the color of their skin, but rather citizens being held in financial bondage by politicians who have no problem entombing them in a debtor’s prison from which escape is impossible.

The Republicans had a perfect storm of opportunity in 2025. They had just taken back the Senate, they held the House and on January 20^th they took control of the White House. Not only that, they had perhaps the most motivated electorate in a century or more. The tens of millions of Americans who watched as the 2020 election was stolen and then suffered through four years of anti American and anti-common sense policies were ready to take back their country. And they did.

What’s more, this highly motivated electorate spent the first two months of the new administration watching as the Elon Musk led DOGE revealed the billions and perhaps trillions of dollars of waste fraud and abuse everywhere from the Treasury Department to USAID to the Pentagon and elsewhere.

With the new sheriff in town these voters expected that things were going to be different.

Not so much…

No, the Republicans, the party America hired to actually codify the savings and bring some order to federal profligacy showed themselves to be derelict, indeed borderline treasonous the first chance they were given. 

While we’re being told the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (BBB) is a good deal and it cuts spending, that’s simply a lie. Indeed it increases spending and adds trillions to the national debt.

In what seems like record time the Republican party has gone from the party leading America in a new direction to the Go Along to Get Along party. Indeed, coming to power with promises to cut spending, get the federal government under control and to slash deficits, they’re doing virtually none of that. America took the red pill and discovered that it was really a blue pill dipped in food coloring.

The BBB is nothing less than treasonous. It does nothing to address America’s existential threat: Federal spending and deficits. Today America’s national debt stands at over $36 trillion, or over 120% of GDP, the highest level on record. Of that $36 trillion, $29 trillion has accumulated since 2000, 24 years during which the GOP held the presidency for 12 years, the House for 16, the Senate for 10, and all three for 6. Regardless, the spending seems to always go up and the deficits continue to grow until today where every single American, from baby to centenarian, is on the hook for $102,000. That, in a nation where the average household income is $80,000.

And yet the Republicans, the party that’s supposed to represent financial responsibility has presented America with a budget that basically spends like a drunken sailor.

To put this in perspective, one merely needs to recognize that the Republicans had as their number one cheerleader for the last year the world’s richest and most successful man but with the presentation of this “disgusting abomination” they have made a literal enemy out of him. Addressing the Republican treachery head on, Musk suggested “In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people.”

Simply put, the Grand Old Party is grand no more. It is simply Democrat lite and should therefore sent to the dustbin of history.

Of course as we learned with Teddy Roosevelt and H. Ross Perot, third parties don’t work in the United States. The reality is, a new party doesn’t need to be started from scratch. Just as the GOP was built on the remnants of the Whig Party, a new party could be carved out of the decomposing husk of the GOP. Just look to how well that treacherous John Cornyn is doing down in Texas to understand how it’s possible to send swamp rats out to pasture.

And Elon Musk should lead this charge.  Although currently on the outs with President Trump, in reality the two have far in common than not. He should spearhead the creation of this new party, one where financial discipline is, if not the raison d'etre, is a core element beyond compromise.  And the DOGE team has given them more than enough to work with.  Much like Newt Gingrich did in 1994 with his Contract with America, Musk et. al. should build on the DOGE recommendations and put together a new Contract of items that most Americans can agree on and use that to eviscerate the RINO wing of the GOP. 

Most Americans don’t like thousand page omnibus bills that no one can read and fewer can understand.  This new Contract should promise single department bills written in plain English.  Americans don’t like seeing budgets that go up year to year with seemingly zero correlation to the agency’s success or failure.  This new Contract should propose zero based budgeting so that agencies and departments have to make the case for their spending every year or every other year.

These and other no-nonsense policies will no doubt raise the ire of virtually the entire Democrat party, most of the bureaucracy and of course the swamp Republicans.  But they would likely resonate not only with average Republican voters, but they would likely appeal to many of the non-deranged elements of the Democrat party who are simply exhausted with the status quo of dysfunction.  And now is the time, before it’s too late.

One hundred and thirty five years ago slavery was an existential threat to the survival of the United States and it took a war and 600,000 lives to defeat. Debt figures on an accounting sheet might not sound like an existential threat, but make no mistake, they are. Whether Zimbabwe or the Weimar Republic or third century Rome, spending matters, deficits matter, numbers on an accounting sheet can eventually turn deadly. When this debt bubble bursts America will come apart at the seams and it will make the collapse of Venezuela look like a walk in the park.

But it doesn’t have to be. History doesn’t often pair a highly motivated public with the world’s richest man on the same side of an issue so clearly in need of fixing. It has now and we should seize the opportunity and take what little good that remains of the GOP and build upon it a new party that puts the needs of America above those of grifting, power obsessed politicians. That’s the kind of change Americans voted for.

Follow Vince on X at @ImperfectUSA

Ingratitude and Ignorance Are Driving The Destruction of The Greatest Civilization In Human History

I started writing my Imperfect America blog in 2009.  It’s my passion, despite the sad fact it’s never made me a penny.  Not even on Twitter, new or old, where my account is constantly throttled!

My first post was titled “Racism, America’s Original Sin”.  It was a response to the new normal of anyone disagreeing with Barack Obama being called a racist.  In it I talk about the 3/5^th Compromise and the fact that it gave southerners less power in the House than they wanted, but more importantly, it was the key to America being one nation rather than two, one free and one slave. I pointed out that blacks would likely have been much worse off in a nation of only slave states. The 3/5^th Compromise is a literal example of the subtitle of my blog: “Perfect is the enemy of the good.”

At the end of the day, over the last million or so words I’ve written about everything from race to the judiciary to entrepreneurship to European travel and more, most from a conservative, even libertarian perspective. I regularly make the argument that western civilization is the greatest that has thus far been produced by men. And it’s not even close. While the Egyptians built the pyramids 5,000 years ago, the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Greeks developed math and the Chinese invented gunpowder and paper, the reality is, almost every single thing used by most people around the world today is a consequence of western civilization.

For most of human history, life was brutal, short and dangerous. For most today, it’s not.  And there’s a reason. These five elements: Free speech, the rule of law, limited government, private property and Capitalism combined to give humans the unprecedented ability and motivation to be creative and productive. And the results were extraordinary. Longer lifespans. More food. Larger and safer living quarters and conditions. Vastly more options for making a living and safter conditions when doing so.  Cheaper, faster and more comfortable transportation. Unprecedented communication tools and energy. Exponentially more information available and accessible. Leisure time, something almost unheard of throughout history.  And the list goes on.

But none of that happens in a fascist state.  Nor a Communist state. None of that happens in a tyranny, nor in a cradle to grave nanny state. None of that happens when science and math and human nature are ignored, and finally, none of that happens when there are no consequences for bad actors. 

But those are all elements of what America is becoming.  Families on welfare for generations.  Giant banks and corporations privatizing profits and socializing losses.  Government regulation of virtually every aspect of life. Violent criminals let loose on society with slaps on the wrist. Freedom of speech defined by whose feelings get hurt.  Merit taking a back seat to a spectrum of victimization categories.  And this list too goes on.

But here’s the thing.  No society ever prospered on the basis of victimization and a nanny state culture where citizens turned on one another and the few worked to support the many. Never, not one.  And no, modern European nanny states haven’t prospered because of their paternalism, they prospered in spite of it because the United States guaranteed their security for the last 75 years.

I write to try and make a difference. I try to showcase the fact that most Americans, indeed most westerners, have lost sight of the reality that we’re living in the greatest and most prosperous time in human history, and more importantly, they willingly choose to ignore what created it and indeed attack those responsible. It’s not politically correct to say, but this civilization was largely created by white people, most originating in western Europe. Nor is it PC to say that Christianity was the force that impelled it. And finally, it’s individual liberty, private property, limited government and Capitalism that were the oil that lubricated the engine of advancement. 

To the degree that modern America and western civilization are making policies that are antithetical to all of those things, they’re killing the goose that laid the golden civilizational egg.  And it would be one thing if they could point to an example of some place, some time, some civilization that was equal to or greater than ours, particularly at scale.  But they don’t because they can’t. It didn’t work in New Harmony, Indiana, it never worked in the Soviet Union and it didn’t work in the 1960’s communes.

It was western civilization and the United States that took men to flight, put men on the moon, discovered DNA, invented the computer, harnessed nuclear power and revolutionized farming.

Nonetheless every day we’re faced with a growing faction of citizens who whine because someone else has something they don’t, because they’re victims of someone else’s success, that bad actors shouldn’t have to face the consequences of their actions or that someone is saying something that hurts their feelings.  And for them, the solution is always the same: More government.  More government to take from others to give to them. To stop others from being successful. To silence and imprison enemies and allow fellow travelers to do anything with impunity. That’s called tyranny and it never, ever, leads to prosperity.

Teddy Roosevelt said, “Comparison is the enemy of joy.”  I think it’s no coincidence that he also said, “There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism.” Both refer to setting oneself apart from others. 

Which is, I think, the fundamental problem with America and the west right now:  comparison, envy and the lack of gratitude for exactly where we are in the big picture.  That skewed perspective is what leads huge swaths of the population to be willing to destroy the good in pursuit of the illusion of perfection. I write to try and wake America and the west up to the fact that continued prosperity is not guaranteed. Much had to go right for us to get here but it wouldn’t take much going wrong to destroy it. 

You can only lay siege to the foundations of a civilization for so long before it collapses. We’re seeing that across Europe and the United States today. Gone is the appreciation of and gratitude for men who did great things and built this civilization, replaced by reverence for and desire to become influencers, most of whom have accomplished nothing. You have large numbers of illegals who don’t share western values and native-born minorities who hate the majorities and think the rules don’t apply to them. Add to that a self-hating wing of the majority and you have a perfect storm that will destroy the west and take civilization as we know it with it. 

Europe will find itself part of the caliphate while the United States will devolve into a bloody morass of demographically defined armed camps. And eventually the economically and militarily empowered Chinese Communists, not constrained by morals of any kind, will enslave much of the world.

When that history is written it will say that a once great west committed civilizational suicide, having crucified itself on a cross anchored by diversity, globalism, environmentalism and compassion. 

I’d prefer not to go quietly into that good night, thank you. Which is why I write. I may make all the noise of a tree falling in the woods, but I’m going to continue doing so for as long as the Lord allows.    

DOGE, the Big Beautiful Bill and the 'Rich Men North of Richmond

 I was under the illusion that with Donald Trump back in charge and the wind at his back Washington Republicans might actually take off the gloves and say eff-it and take on the swamp.  With the failures inherent in the Big Beautiful Bill, it appears I was wrong.  I don’t blame Trump. This abysmal betrayal of the American people was written in the halls of Congress… 

The Republicans in Congress talk a good game, but when it comes to actually doing what they say they’re going to do, it turns out they’re really snake oil salesmen. Not that this is new.  Remember when they ran on killing Obamacare throughout Obama’s presidency then bungled it when Trump became president?

We’re now watching that same treachery play itself out in real time, and it involves the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that just passed the House. This monstrosity ostensibly does a number of good things.  It extends Trump’s 2017 taxes that were set to expire, it increases spending on border security and apparently it cuts federal support for Planned Parenthood.  All of these are good things… but they’re the equivalent of trying to save the Titanic by emptying water over the side one bucket at a time while a thousand gallons of water pour into the hull every second. 

What this bill doesn’t do is cut spending nor cut the deficit.  Indeed, it puts the deficit on overdrive, just as interest rates on government debt seem to be heading upward. The president’s advisor Steven Miller (who is one of the smartest guys in Washington) pushes back, by pointing out that Reagan’s tax cuts weren’t balanced by spending cuts.  True, but then Reagan didn't have, if I remember correctly, a national debt 125% the size of the GDP that needed to be serviced.

A small part of this problem has to do with the calendar.  The writing of this budget began back in December after it became clear the GOP would have both houses but before they were technically in complete control.  As such, this Frankenstein started being put together long before DOGE started showcasing exactly how dysfunctional the federal government is.  But that’s no excuse.  It’s been over 4 months since the Elon Musk managed vehicle started highlighting problems.

This One Big Beautiful Bill Act demonstrates exactly why the federal government is as screwed up as it is. They say that you can’t turn around a ship on a dime, and that’s true.  But there’s a difference between turning on a dime and setting a course, full speed ahead, for the closest iceberg. 

This bill literally adds $2.5 trillion to the government’s debt and runs a deficit larger than Biden’s last one!  At the same time it basically allows the government to go on, business as usual.  There are no major cuts to spending.  There are no elimination of departments.  There is no substantial paring of regulation.  There’s basically the same budget compiled by the Democrats, RINOs and the administrative state every year with infinitesimal changes except for the taxes.

This bill doesn’t reflect the will of the people, it reflects the will of the establishment and the swamp. 

If Congress really wanted to fix the budget they’d take to heart many of the recommendations and revelations from DOGE, as well as codify much of what Trump has done or tried to do via Executive Orders. Hell, it doesn’t even eliminate the Department of Education, something Trump explicitly ran on. 

This bill cuts $4 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act, Joe Biden’s attempt to get everything, including the kitchen sink into the budget, including green energy, social spending and taxes on the rich.  Four billion sounds like a lot until you understand that the IRA is a $1.4 trillion boondoggle. 

The reality is, 2/3 of the federal budget, fully $4 trillion out of $6 trillion is wealth redistribution.  Even if you argue that Social Security isn’t that, which is mostly true, and remove it, you’re still looking at almost half the federal budget being wealth distribution of one sort or another.  How much of that is waste, fraud and abuse? 

Elon Musk had initially suggested that he thought $2 Trillion could be cut from the budget. He lowered that target to $1 Trillion and in the first 4 months of the year DOGE has done a yeoman’s job and cut $170 billion of waste. And that’s with just 100 people on staff and facing a bureaucracy of literally millions who scheme and obfuscate at every turn in order to maintain the cash pipeline.  Imagine how much a DOGE team of 1,000 could do!

But more than actual cuts, DOGE recommended things like personnel cuts, cutting green energy subsidies and of course cutting regulation.  But relatively little is actually being codified in law. That’s despite the fact that 67% of Americans support DOGE cuts of at least $1 trillion, 77% support looking at the entirety of the budget to find savings and 78% support cutting spending to balance the budget.  Indeed, so little is being cut that Elon Musk has announced that he will be stepping back to refocus his efforts on his companies and playing a much smaller role in political spending.    

Inspired by promises to cut spending, taxes and regulation, MAGA voters powered Republicans to win the White House, take the Senate and retain the House. They had the richest and possibly the smartest man in the world not only on their side, but knee deep in funding them, getting them elected and working around the clock to ferret out corruption and fraud in government. Plus, every day seemed to shine more light on the corruption of Democrat / swamp machine.  As a result of all of this Republicans found themselves the beneficiaries of the most passionate electorate America may have ever seen. They were on top of the world.  And what did they do with all of this momentum? Worse than nothing, they gave us Democrat lite.

No major regulatory cuts.  No major cuts to wealth redistribution programs. No departments and few programs actually eliminated. No reining in of the imperial judiciary seeking to derail Trump at every turn.  No, rather than listen to voters and take a sledgehammer to the twin albatross of regulation and spending they use a dull putty knife to create the illusion of actual progress.

Of course we all know why nothing ever changes in Washington. Politicians go to DC and most get sucked into the Georgetown cocktail party scene grift, into being invited to pontificate on Sunday morning shows and give speeches to groups of deep pocketed donors from industries over whom them hold a sword of Damocles.

The fact that Donald Trump didn’t care about any of that, wasn’t swayed by any of that is one of the things that made him so appealing. That’s the reason MAGA put him back in the White House…

Unfortunately for the country however, the GOP in Congress is led by swamp weasels Mike Johnson and John Thune, and Trump is Gulliver to their Lilliputians. They have no real interest in upsetting the grift applecart despite what America wants.  They put America First lipstick on a Business as Usual pig and call it progress.  If the GOP loses Congress next year, look no farther than its leadership.  Like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnel before them, they are more interested in the trappings of leadership than actually solving America’s problems. Rich Men North of Richmond indeed.