Years ago, I learned of the "18-month rule" from an incredibly driven and insightful CEO. This idea is that the blowback from changes comes home to roost after about 18 months. It absolutely happened with Watergate, and I have seen it play out multiple times in my corporate world. It's playing out now with this administration.
With that in mind, it is time to rethink the Imperial Presidency and drive towards significant change towards a true parliamentary government. Plenty of models out there, and it's time to move.
May come fast. Just need a few Congressional Republicans.
E. G. in Texas, primary is current. John Cornyn, Ken Paxton, and Wesley Hunt — are competing in the March 3 Republican Senate primary. Paxton is Trump's ally and is favored.... If he wins, Cornyn will be a lame duck. Could be same in about 3 or 4 Texas House districts.
Arkansas and N. Carolina also have March 3 primaries. Check out what Tillis is saying.
I suggest that a person who can't follow the train of thought laid out on his teleprompter, is long past planning what's going on. You wrote, "Trump ... has a lot of tools at his disposal ...." I suspect you don't want to start making public statements about who is behind all of this, (good move, no doubt) but I'm long past the notion that Trump is leading anything any more. He is a rallying figure, I agree, but a "Leader"? More like a meme, perhaps?
Well we do know 6 corrupt catholic justices on the supreme court are at the top of the list since they gave and are giving tRump the power to be as corrupt as he wants to be. We also k.ow they are being paid off be some very rich and powerful (I don't want to call them people because they are not) bastards. So let's go with that. Some very rich and powerful bastards are behind
tRump and the other lying bastards in his criminal fascist enterprise. Follow the money both for the fascist tRump and for the Epatein files. Many of the pedophiles are the ones behind the bribery and corruption of trump gang of criminals in the Whitehouse and supporting him and around him.
IMHO New Mexico and Virgin Islands should be at the forefront. Maybe NY and other states where there is no statute of limitations for rape.
E.G. Lutnick may not have been a rapist, but may have been a pimp, panderer, and was a business partner with Epstein, probably knowing he was running the honeypot operation. Supposedly they were partners in an advertising business.
Also obstrution of justice may be an ongoing issue.
Google: Howard Lutnick and Jeffrey Epstein were business associates primarily between 2012 and 2014, according to unsealed Justice Department records. While Lutnick previously claimed to have severed all ties with Epstein in 2005, the "Epstein files" released in early 2026 revealed several shared financial and social entanglements:
Adfin Solutions Inc. (2012–2014): On December 28, 2012, both men signed documents on behalf of their respective companies—Epstein through Southern Trust Company and Lutnick through a Cantor Fitzgerald affiliate—to acquire stakes in this advertising technology firm.
Property Transaction (1996–1998): Records show a historical real estate connection where Epstein sold a Manhattan property in 1996 that Lutnick eventually purchased in 1998 to use as his primary residence.
Continued Interaction:
2011: The two scheduled drinks at Epstein’s home.
2012: Lutnick and his family visited Epstein’s private island, Little Saint James, for lunch in December.
2015: Lutnick invited Epstein to a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton hosted at Cantor Fitzgerald.
2017: Epstein donated $50,000 to a UJA-Federation of New York dinner honoring Lutnick.
Lutnick, the current U.S. Secretary of Commerce, has maintained that these interactions were limited and mostly coordinated through assistants.
Lutnick IMHO is a criminal. This makes sense because he was appointed by tRump?
Fact: tRump ONLY hires criminals for his criminal mafia.
But, let us remember tRump is only the moutbpiece as the supreme court is a mouthpiece. WHO runs both. Who are rhe rich running both connected to. Putin maybe? I don't know but this needs to be run down. Based on what is going on we need ro know who wants to destroy this country. Putin and who else?
“Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually, then suddenly.”
The Sun Also Rises
Now that 77,300,000 idiots have shot themselves in the foot, two times; maybe, just maybe, when they see the draft dodging coward sending their offspring to murder and die in Iran, because BIBI Told him to, [and to distract from shallow graves at Zorro Ranch] maybe they'll vote him the F OUT.
Thanks, Thom, for the reminder concerning one of the darkest times in recent history for the US.
I say that because this is when the childlike blinders came off of most of literate Americans concerning an almost universal thought…we WERE the “good guys”.
We wore the white hats and rode in (maybe at the last minute but we got there) and rescued people from injustice and we were promoting what we believed is our God inspired Constitution.
It was also a show-and-tell time of the hypocrisy and division in this country about racial prejudice and discrimination.
This was also a time of a war in Vietnam that drafted our people into an obscene conflict we had no business being a part of.
We protested, we burned down neighborhoods, we died both in the streets and thousands of miles from us. But when the dust from that time settled, we weren’t the same. But, had we learned anything as a people, collectively?
It seems all we learned as a country was to hide ourselves more effectively and bury our shit better. Because the same sort of people who created all the atrocities of that time and debacles are in power, and this time, to such an extent that we many never rid ourselves as a country of the infestation of this type of mindset.
A mindset that spits on our Constitution and, especially, its Bill of Rights for EVERYONE. The document that attempts to protect us from ourselves. But it seems that some things just can’t be avoided—the criminal mind.
Those same people show up thru the ages in our histories. Too much Money and power leads to corruption, whether the individual or the corporation. If as a country we make certain that control of power and money is dealt out fairly to all in a town, state, or country and then we can say we have a democracy and a future for how long? Again diligence must be kept to always keep in check power and money
Thanks Thom your essay gives me hope that he will be held accountable. However, only E Jean Carrol, Alvin Bragg and three juries have laid a glove on him. Bondi and Patel, among others, are concealing crimes committed by Trump and other rich men. Seems they have to continue to protect him and thereby themselves. Perhaps for these criminals its a trump Dictatorship or jail.
Actually, he's a 34x conviced felon. My agency fined him for using illegals o his construction sites, he had to go bankrupt 6 times, paid fines for stealing chartiable donations, many more. Remember Trump U?
Thanks Daniel that's all good and well. However, I'm looking for the knockout punch. If Vol II of Jack Smith's report is released sometime before midterms and the drip, drip, of the Epstein files continues we could see the end of him.
What bothers me about Pam Bondi is that she is in the best position of anyone to open up this investigation, or close it down--her choice. She chose to protect child molesters, including and especially the molester-in-chief, despite having entered into public service originally as a crusader against pedophiles, as soon as she learned rich people do it, not creepy dudes in trailer courts.
Pam’s in way over her head, like so many in the administration. There’s absolutely no where they can go and nothing they can do to protect themselves at this point from going down except this show of slavish obedience to their boss and the infrastructure of this administration. The people with their rakes and hoes are coming after them.
She also chooses ro protect mobsters like tRump and his ilk. These may not be one and the same. This whole show, as serious as it is, may actually be wagging the dog. What is going on behind this Epstein file extravaganza? Is putin moving his nuclear subs off shore by the east and west coast? Another criminal (and idiot) is in charge of the DOD as well. TRump in the first year has taken in over a billion illegal dollars for his purse. To find out who may be behind this we need to understand where he is getting that money?
It will be interesting to see and hear the Trump regimes reaction to the State of the Swamp , anti State of the Union protest and celebration on tuesday night. I won't watch a convicted criminal lie to we the people. I'll be watching defiance rally!
In a 6-3 decision on February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court struck down Trump's sweeping global tariffs. The Court ruled that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not authorize the president to unilaterally impose such taxes, as the power to tax remains the exclusive purview of Congress.
Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito dissented
The bathroom of secret files in the Trump bathroom - the payout to cover the pee-pee tapes and other phots all exposed in the Jack Smith file being held by a judge appointed Judge in FL.
One can only hope that Thom's sense is correct. Trump is, indeed, much worse than Nixon, because Nixon was not looting the treasury in plain sight. Nixon did not have a completely incompetent staff. Nixon did not lead entirely by extortion (which creates resentment among his peers and toadies). Nixon and his cabinet do not indulge in lavish parties and jetsetting on the taxpayer's dime like Noam, Patel, and others. Nixon at least made an effort to govern, not just rule. Nixon did not openly and often insult swaths of his voter base while alienating all our national defense allies. Nixon was not running the US economy into the ground. And lastly, Nixon still had all his marbles. Nobody is even pretending to look for Trump's.
The wild card is that Nixon was not a racketeer like Trump. He was not tearing down the government to please an oligarchy of billionaire backers profiting from his lawlessness. We can only hope that history rhymes.
The day of trump-demise may be approaching. We must do whatever we can to make sure that it arrives and does not get sidetracked. Call your Congresspeople.
Thom Nice foray into the clear possibilities, yes it looks promising however there is much ahead of us as you've possibly suggested: a war, declaration of Marshal law, suspending elections.
His closest mouthpieces and he are going to play for all the marbles and this could mean a really terrible outcome for the USA and the world
The answer to the question of "critical mass" is yes, I believe. But only if the pressure is relentless and only if Epstein remains front and center despite the distractions. The critical mass in Trump's case includes much, much more actual criminality and in-your-face aggressiveness. His conspicuous racism, contempt for poor people, disdain for the Constitution and democracy, and his abject ignorance, esp. of history should all be brought back to the attention of the media and the public on an hourly basis. We all must get right back in his face and openly object to his evey word. Which is why the alternative "People's State of the Union" must be a huge and highly advertised event.
don the con followers and loyalists love the performance but it is coming to an end. The Epstein cover-up will not withstand the public pressure. He makes a mockery of America on the world stage. I am so pissed at the billionaires, foreign billionaires at that, stealing public lands for the profits. Shout out to Honorable Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota. Fighting Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness mining ban reversal vote. Hands OFF! Public lands shall be for the people.
Years ago, I learned of the "18-month rule" from an incredibly driven and insightful CEO. This idea is that the blowback from changes comes home to roost after about 18 months. It absolutely happened with Watergate, and I have seen it play out multiple times in my corporate world. It's playing out now with this administration.
With that in mind, it is time to rethink the Imperial Presidency and drive towards significant change towards a true parliamentary government. Plenty of models out there, and it's time to move.
May come fast. Just need a few Congressional Republicans.
E. G. in Texas, primary is current. John Cornyn, Ken Paxton, and Wesley Hunt — are competing in the March 3 Republican Senate primary. Paxton is Trump's ally and is favored.... If he wins, Cornyn will be a lame duck. Could be same in about 3 or 4 Texas House districts.
Arkansas and N. Carolina also have March 3 primaries. Check out what Tillis is saying.
I suggest that a person who can't follow the train of thought laid out on his teleprompter, is long past planning what's going on. You wrote, "Trump ... has a lot of tools at his disposal ...." I suspect you don't want to start making public statements about who is behind all of this, (good move, no doubt) but I'm long past the notion that Trump is leading anything any more. He is a rallying figure, I agree, but a "Leader"? More like a meme, perhaps?
Well we do know 6 corrupt catholic justices on the supreme court are at the top of the list since they gave and are giving tRump the power to be as corrupt as he wants to be. We also k.ow they are being paid off be some very rich and powerful (I don't want to call them people because they are not) bastards. So let's go with that. Some very rich and powerful bastards are behind
tRump and the other lying bastards in his criminal fascist enterprise. Follow the money both for the fascist tRump and for the Epatein files. Many of the pedophiles are the ones behind the bribery and corruption of trump gang of criminals in the Whitehouse and supporting him and around him.
Good points S. Yes a criminal enterprise ... protect the Don his power is their power.
I've been thinking that more than anything the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten Windsor broke the logjam
His defenestration was a prelude to his prosecution.
Wow! You are a convert!
You are the ideologue. I think for myself. I arrive at opinions. I don't acquire them.
Defamation.
No more than you defame me.
You don't even know what it means.
Defamation.
This is why congress needs to limit pardon power. Bondi et al need to know they aren’t safe.
Trump can't pardon state crimes.
IMHO New Mexico and Virgin Islands should be at the forefront. Maybe NY and other states where there is no statute of limitations for rape.
E.G. Lutnick may not have been a rapist, but may have been a pimp, panderer, and was a business partner with Epstein, probably knowing he was running the honeypot operation. Supposedly they were partners in an advertising business.
Also obstrution of justice may be an ongoing issue.
Google: Howard Lutnick and Jeffrey Epstein were business associates primarily between 2012 and 2014, according to unsealed Justice Department records. While Lutnick previously claimed to have severed all ties with Epstein in 2005, the "Epstein files" released in early 2026 revealed several shared financial and social entanglements:
Adfin Solutions Inc. (2012–2014): On December 28, 2012, both men signed documents on behalf of their respective companies—Epstein through Southern Trust Company and Lutnick through a Cantor Fitzgerald affiliate—to acquire stakes in this advertising technology firm.
Property Transaction (1996–1998): Records show a historical real estate connection where Epstein sold a Manhattan property in 1996 that Lutnick eventually purchased in 1998 to use as his primary residence.
Continued Interaction:
2011: The two scheduled drinks at Epstein’s home.
2012: Lutnick and his family visited Epstein’s private island, Little Saint James, for lunch in December.
2015: Lutnick invited Epstein to a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton hosted at Cantor Fitzgerald.
2017: Epstein donated $50,000 to a UJA-Federation of New York dinner honoring Lutnick.
Lutnick, the current U.S. Secretary of Commerce, has maintained that these interactions were limited and mostly coordinated through assistants.
Lutnick IMHO is a criminal. This makes sense because he was appointed by tRump?
Fact: tRump ONLY hires criminals for his criminal mafia.
But, let us remember tRump is only the moutbpiece as the supreme court is a mouthpiece. WHO runs both. Who are rhe rich running both connected to. Putin maybe? I don't know but this needs to be run down. Based on what is going on we need ro know who wants to destroy this country. Putin and who else?
“How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked.
“Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually, then suddenly.”
The Sun Also Rises
Now that 77,300,000 idiots have shot themselves in the foot, two times; maybe, just maybe, when they see the draft dodging coward sending their offspring to murder and die in Iran, because BIBI Told him to, [and to distract from shallow graves at Zorro Ranch] maybe they'll vote him the F OUT.
VOTE
Sir Okie. Correct! Yes we know who and where this thuggery group gets their marching orders
Thanks, Thom, for the reminder concerning one of the darkest times in recent history for the US.
I say that because this is when the childlike blinders came off of most of literate Americans concerning an almost universal thought…we WERE the “good guys”.
We wore the white hats and rode in (maybe at the last minute but we got there) and rescued people from injustice and we were promoting what we believed is our God inspired Constitution.
It was also a show-and-tell time of the hypocrisy and division in this country about racial prejudice and discrimination.
This was also a time of a war in Vietnam that drafted our people into an obscene conflict we had no business being a part of.
We protested, we burned down neighborhoods, we died both in the streets and thousands of miles from us. But when the dust from that time settled, we weren’t the same. But, had we learned anything as a people, collectively?
It seems all we learned as a country was to hide ourselves more effectively and bury our shit better. Because the same sort of people who created all the atrocities of that time and debacles are in power, and this time, to such an extent that we many never rid ourselves as a country of the infestation of this type of mindset.
A mindset that spits on our Constitution and, especially, its Bill of Rights for EVERYONE. The document that attempts to protect us from ourselves. But it seems that some things just can’t be avoided—the criminal mind.
Those same people show up thru the ages in our histories. Too much Money and power leads to corruption, whether the individual or the corporation. If as a country we make certain that control of power and money is dealt out fairly to all in a town, state, or country and then we can say we have a democracy and a future for how long? Again diligence must be kept to always keep in check power and money
Thanks Thom your essay gives me hope that he will be held accountable. However, only E Jean Carrol, Alvin Bragg and three juries have laid a glove on him. Bondi and Patel, among others, are concealing crimes committed by Trump and other rich men. Seems they have to continue to protect him and thereby themselves. Perhaps for these criminals its a trump Dictatorship or jail.
Actually, he's a 34x conviced felon. My agency fined him for using illegals o his construction sites, he had to go bankrupt 6 times, paid fines for stealing chartiable donations, many more. Remember Trump U?
Thanks Daniel that's all good and well. However, I'm looking for the knockout punch. If Vol II of Jack Smith's report is released sometime before midterms and the drip, drip, of the Epstein files continues we could see the end of him.
It's up to Congressional Rs.
If there is a reckoning, it should be not only for this criminal presidency, but for the whole Trump-Epstein class.
What bothers me about Pam Bondi is that she is in the best position of anyone to open up this investigation, or close it down--her choice. She chose to protect child molesters, including and especially the molester-in-chief, despite having entered into public service originally as a crusader against pedophiles, as soon as she learned rich people do it, not creepy dudes in trailer courts.
Pam’s in way over her head, like so many in the administration. There’s absolutely no where they can go and nothing they can do to protect themselves at this point from going down except this show of slavish obedience to their boss and the infrastructure of this administration. The people with their rakes and hoes are coming after them.
She also chooses ro protect mobsters like tRump and his ilk. These may not be one and the same. This whole show, as serious as it is, may actually be wagging the dog. What is going on behind this Epstein file extravaganza? Is putin moving his nuclear subs off shore by the east and west coast? Another criminal (and idiot) is in charge of the DOD as well. TRump in the first year has taken in over a billion illegal dollars for his purse. To find out who may be behind this we need to understand where he is getting that money?
She is not in a position to close down foreign or state investigations, and is putting her head in a noose. -- obstruction of justice.
It will be interesting to see and hear the Trump regimes reaction to the State of the Swamp , anti State of the Union protest and celebration on tuesday night. I won't watch a convicted criminal lie to we the people. I'll be watching defiance rally!
Yes!
FLASH: Supreme Court strikes down Trump’s sweeping tariffs.
In a 6-3 decision on February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court struck down Trump's sweeping global tariffs. The Court ruled that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not authorize the president to unilaterally impose such taxes, as the power to tax remains the exclusive purview of Congress.
Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito dissented
Who is going to be this presidency’s Deep Throat?
Bubba.
The bathroom of secret files in the Trump bathroom - the payout to cover the pee-pee tapes and other phots all exposed in the Jack Smith file being held by a judge appointed Judge in FL.
One can only hope that Thom's sense is correct. Trump is, indeed, much worse than Nixon, because Nixon was not looting the treasury in plain sight. Nixon did not have a completely incompetent staff. Nixon did not lead entirely by extortion (which creates resentment among his peers and toadies). Nixon and his cabinet do not indulge in lavish parties and jetsetting on the taxpayer's dime like Noam, Patel, and others. Nixon at least made an effort to govern, not just rule. Nixon did not openly and often insult swaths of his voter base while alienating all our national defense allies. Nixon was not running the US economy into the ground. And lastly, Nixon still had all his marbles. Nobody is even pretending to look for Trump's.
The wild card is that Nixon was not a racketeer like Trump. He was not tearing down the government to please an oligarchy of billionaire backers profiting from his lawlessness. We can only hope that history rhymes.
The day of trump-demise may be approaching. We must do whatever we can to make sure that it arrives and does not get sidetracked. Call your Congresspeople.
Thom Nice foray into the clear possibilities, yes it looks promising however there is much ahead of us as you've possibly suggested: a war, declaration of Marshal law, suspending elections.
His closest mouthpieces and he are going to play for all the marbles and this could mean a really terrible outcome for the USA and the world
;
The answer to the question of "critical mass" is yes, I believe. But only if the pressure is relentless and only if Epstein remains front and center despite the distractions. The critical mass in Trump's case includes much, much more actual criminality and in-your-face aggressiveness. His conspicuous racism, contempt for poor people, disdain for the Constitution and democracy, and his abject ignorance, esp. of history should all be brought back to the attention of the media and the public on an hourly basis. We all must get right back in his face and openly object to his evey word. Which is why the alternative "People's State of the Union" must be a huge and highly advertised event.
don the con followers and loyalists love the performance but it is coming to an end. The Epstein cover-up will not withstand the public pressure. He makes a mockery of America on the world stage. I am so pissed at the billionaires, foreign billionaires at that, stealing public lands for the profits. Shout out to Honorable Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota. Fighting Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness mining ban reversal vote. Hands OFF! Public lands shall be for the people.