POLITICAL VIRUS

Introduction

"What you allow, it will continue" - Elizabeth Gilbert

The purpose of this book is to bring to the reader the litany of events and ramifications that make up the unprecedented failures in our political system. Only history will be able to bring these current chaotic times into clear focus. Those events include the unchallenged corruption due to a breakdown in "checks and balances", the acceptance of outright lies as truth instigated by deliberate stifling of American media/news coverage, and a domestic coup attempt. We’re experiencing, in real time, the Divide & Conquer doctrine being implemented by a narcissistic President hell bent on holding on to power. This book is not a chronological biography of the past 10 years. I defer that consideration to historians. My approach is to examine specific events and illustrate the cause-and-effect relationships evident in current news coverage.

We allowed an incompetent President and over a million Americans died in the worst Pandemic in our history. We allowed him to be duly elected twice. We allowed treason, and an attempted coup happened before our very eyes. We the People allowed all of this. We as well-educated, politically informed voters allowed these obvious "cancers" to fester and flourish. I believe what we are seeing can be explained in one word, IDEOLOGY. When large voting blocks of Americans choose narrow ideological issues over morals and decency the result becomes tribalism. Tribal behavior always leads to division and conflict because one side feels only they are suited to hold power.

If you've picked up on my notion of responsibility being on the American Voter, you are right. We can't laud our exceptionalism in one moment and then refuse to acknowledge our catastrophic political choices the next. WE DID THIS TO AMERICA, WILLINGLY! Only the American people can fix this, we need a ground swell of resistance coming from every corner of the country. Citizens who are fed up with the direction Trump is taking must stand and say "no more". The only pertinent question is how do we mount a formidable resistance to counter this trend of conservative radicalism?

We are very fortunate that the Founding Fathers foresaw the dangers of unbridled Presidential power. The Constitution was meant to inherently constrain the power of all three branches of Government. The US Presidency has a titillating allure for those obsessed with power. We have become the most powerful Nation on earth, and the President is considered the Leader of The Free World. The checks and balances written into our Constitution were meant to harness exactly the type of rogue Executive we are seeing in the White house today. Unfortunately, due to the lack of integrity of a few people in very high places those “guard rails” have been rendered ineffective.

I remember an old comic book hero who was told he had a choice to use his awesome gifts for good or for evil. This Book is about a man who willfully and repeatedly chose the latter. It's interesting to note this Political Perversion is set against a backdrop of an awareness of social and racial injustice through social media. I never dreamed the wonderful tools that make up the internet and social networking would be used to send unsubstantiated, false and misleading information to millions without consequence. The perfect political propaganda apparatus is now in place and ready to be exploited. Trump's misuse of Twitter is confirmation of this fact. Add to this mixture the explosion Covid-19 and you have a recipe for a Country on the brink. Currently America is on the cusp of either profound positive change OR a disaster with the potential to transform our Republic into an Authoritarian nightmare.

When I use the term "exploited" in no way am I implying coercion. The people who heard Trump’s dog-whistles and racial extremism were waiting to hear their Marching Orders. The man on the throne in America today has used a lifetime of privilege, manipulation, and intimidation to hone his skills in Demagoguery. Possessing an insatiable ego, tyrannical ruthlessness and legions of ideological followers he is positioned to fulfill his New World Order. I am truly thankful there are countless PATRIOTS in this country who are motivated to fight for the "soul of this country". People like Stacey Abrams of Georgia, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, Representative Adam Schiff of California, Representative Liz Cheney of Arizona, and Senator Mitt Romney of Utah to name just a few. These folks are political giants who decided to go with Truth rather than equivocating with semantics used to discount President Trump's traitorous actions.

This is a story about a Country mired in lies, propaganda, political arm-twisting and complete disloyalty to our Constitution. The perpetrator of this egregious behavior has been the man who now sits in the White House. This is the non-fictional account of consequences inflicted when the Leader of the Free World, the most Powerful Person on the planet, has no moral compass, no sense of Society and no allegiance to anything except money and power. This story examines what happens when our ideals, our way of life, is attacked by the person sworn to defend it. The characters in this story are real. Many of them will go on to fame and notoriety while others will slither away as pariahs discarded in the dust-bin of history. General John Kelly, the second of Trump's three Chiefs of Staff, confessed, "never before in my lifetime have I seen someone so completely and utterly inadequate for a given task. The term "unfit" is a gigantic understatement. The depths of his dishonesty is just astounding to me. The dishonesty, the transactional nature of every relationship, though it's more pathetic than anything else. He is the most flawed person I have ever met in my life."

Keep in mind, General Kelly's words and feelings are the sentiments of someone who supported the 45th President. It's amazing how such honesty can be found when the veil of political threat, loyalty and fear are lifted. The merry-go-round of turn-over within the Cabinet of this President’s first term gave reporters a plethora of former high-ranking White House officials to interview. Many of them were willing to make statements about what they had seen and heard. Not to mention, a steady stream of mega book deals given out to former Staff willing to sell their "secrets" to the highest bidder. Yes, Capitalism still works, even in the presence of tyranny.

The revelations about the President's conduct had no effect on his base of overzealous supporters. The masterful use of his Twitter account every day kept his legions of followers focused on what Trump deemed important for any given news cycle. This online tactic along with the close coordination of propaganda and mis-information between the White House and organizations like Fox News make for a perfect environment for cult-like supporters. Between January 2017 and January 2021, the American public watched the very concept of objective truth buckle under the weight of relentless executive distortion. The two alternate realities presented on Conservative and Liberal News channels only served to divide the Nation even further. By midway through his first term it was plainly obvious that the President probably could "shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Ave and not lose any supporters". With the apparatuses for corruption firmly in place Trump became even more emboldened and paranoid. His obsession with winning a second term became the only focus of efforts. His campaign style rallies around the country were nothing more than partisan spectacles used to dominate prime time airwaves and lambaste his perceived political foes. This is not the system of government we as Americans deserve or are accustomed to.

There is a moment—small and quiet at first—when a system we took for granted begins to wobble. That moment occurred numerous times during Trump’s first term. It might be a rumor that spreads faster than the truth. It might be an official bending a rule “just this once.” Or it might be a change to a local procedure that no one notices until it’s too late. Democracy depends on a web of things we rarely see; fair rules, honest information, and institutions that do their jobs. When those things fray, the impact is neither theoretical nor distant. It lands in school board meetings, in the courtroom where a neighbor’s case is decided, and in the line at the polling place. An attack on our Democracy is not about anyone's "politics". It's not about Right or Left, it's not about Policy decisions you like or dislike. It's about shaking this country down to its foundation. It's about whether we are going to allow our lifestyle and livelihoods to be taken away.

On January 6, 2021, the world watched what happens when Institutions are not allowed to do their jobs: a mob breached the U.S. Capitol while Congress met to certify a presidential election. The images were shocking because they made visible an underlying truth: when rules and institutions are attacked, the whole system becomes vulnerable. That day was a stark example, but it was not an isolated phenomenon. What matters is how deliberate tactics—misinformation, pressure on officials, procedural changes—can slowly weaken the norms that keep democracy functional. Our Democracy is only as strong as the Institutions that govern us. Those Institutions are led by people. If those Leaders turn out to be Morally Bankrupt, or Radical thinkers with no regard for our values or the Constitution, our Democracy will die.

This book investigates the weakening of our values and traditions morally bankrupt leaders. It starts with the obvious tactics: loud lies amplified across media, and the viral spread of claims that have no solid basis in fact. Those claims matter because they change how people think about our institutions. If a newsroom, a court, or an election official is labeled dishonest without evidence, many people will stop trusting them. Trust is not just a nice-to-have; it is the glue of civic life. Without it, voting becomes suspect, rulings are dismissed as partisan, and speech is drowned by suspicion. What many fail to realize is that our 250-year-old experiment is held together by our beliefs and our trust in one another. I know that sounds fragile, but it is the truth! We trust that people in charge of Elections have integrity. We trust that our congressman or woman are not taking bribes but has our needs in mind. We trust that the Supreme Court is not filled with ideologues who are anxious to take away the rights the Founding Fathers sacrificed to leave us. Most importantly, we trust that the man or woman in the White House are not demagogues hell bent on revenge and self-enrichment. What we're experiencing now is the result of that trust being broken.

This book offers something simple and useful: ways to recognize the tactics that weaken trust and steps ordinary people can take to strengthen it. The approaches are practical, plain, and built for everyday life. First: understand how pressure and misinformation work. Be especially mindful of information coming from social media that lacks viable sources. Even your favorite Cable News Network could be rife with propaganda and opinion. This means learning the patterns—how false claims are shaped to look plausible, how a claim repeated enough becomes accepted, how plausible-sounding legal arguments can be used to mask a political goal. The book uses plain examples from public events and everyday civic life to make these patterns visible. Second: get simple tools to verify and evaluate. This is the Information Age, and yet many of us tend to be misinformed. There are straightforward ways to evaluate sources, look for corroboration, and spot inconsistencies. The tools here are practical checklists and questions you can use in a conversation, at a meeting, or when you read a headline. They are designed to slow down the rush of reaction and to give you a frame for judgment.

Why This Matters for Everyday Life

Democracy is not only national headlines and Supreme Court decisions. It’s local government. It’s the clerk who runs your town’s election office, the judge who hears a small business appeal, and the school board that decides curriculum. When trust in those local institutions falters, ordinary civic life becomes unpredictable and unjust. People lose the ability to shape the world around them. Disinformation becomes the norm of the day. They stop voting because they think it won’t matter. They stop attending meetings because rules feel rigged. They withdraw. This type of voter apathy is the beginning of the end for any Democracy. You may remember the whole premise of Democratic Governance is based on trust.If the citizenry loses trust in their ability to institute change through voting the next step could be protest and violence. That withdrawal is dangerous because it hands influence over to those willing to exploit the vacuum.

A Small Call to Start

The following chapters define the norms we value: the rule of law, fair elections, reliable information, and robust institutions. They lay out how small decisions add up—how a single policy change, a single unchallenged false claim, or one pressured official can shift the balance. Each chapter offers small practices you can start immediately: how to ask better questions, how to check a source without getting overwhelmed, and how to find the civic groups in your area that already do this work. If there’s a through-line to this book, it’s this: Democracy is not an abstract promise. It is a practice that depends on ordinary people paying attention and acting within the rules. That work is not glamorous, but it is powerful. When we learn the signs of Democracy weakening and practice simple, steady responses—calling a representative, asking for evidence, showing up at a meeting—we don’t just defend institutions, we reclaim our stake in them. We take direct action against the “Political Virus” infecting the Country we love so dearly. The work begins with the next page—and with the decision to stay engaged, to ask, and to act.