Tag Archives: Robert Reich

Make America Grovel Already! (Nothing for Nothing Ain’t Nothing…)

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To be clear: Russia’s release of hostage and U. S citizen Stephen Hubbard is a good thing. It is good and right that Mr. Hubbard is back on home soil and free once again. The story though, is far from what the Trump administration and its fanboys are trying to make it.

Mr. Putin is a ‘humanitarian,’ said Envoy Steve Witcoff who appears to have played a role in the exchange (the apt phrasing, since we cannot know what role he actually acted in this daytime drama, other than standing stage-side to praise the dictators on cue…). No, if Mr. Puttin were a humanitarian, he would never have allowed Mr. Hubbard to be arrested, unfairly tried and unjustly imprisoned. Release, at this late date, does not negate those prolonged inhumanities.

Mr. Trump, for his part in the charade, has said that the U. S. gave Russia nothing in exchange for this Russian gesture, comparing the event favorably to earlier prisoner releases negotiated by other administrations as he offered particular self-congratulation that there was no economic exchange involved; claims for which only a child should fall. Though separated by a few days (‘yes, Sir, Mr. President, Sir: that gives us plausible deniability, Sir’) this release is clearly a gimme for Mr. Trump’s recent capitulations to Putin – throwing him economic lifelines in the form of petro deals and sanctions relief and (apparently, though yet to be documented) limiting arms and intelligence flows to the Ukrainians heroically resisting the takeover of their democratic and capitalist nation by its authoritarian socio-fascist neighbor.

So, yes, let’s give Messrs. Trump and Witkoff credit for what their messing-about has actually achieved – not some great ‘’humanitarian’ move by Mr. Putin, not a diplomatic triumph at no cost to the USA, but an insignificant concession that cost Putin nothing (maybe even saved a bit on his prison budget!) in exchange for potentially monumental costs to Ukraine, to democratic aspirations throughout Europe and Asia and to the moral and political values for which the US government once stood. A bargain basement public relations coup for the outlaw regime posing the most acute current threat to world peace and freedom.

Way to go, Team MAGA,

the midterms are coming,

there’s no time to waste,

let’s Make America Grovel Already!

P. S. – E Unum Pluribus is a speculative fiction novel that imagines how intentionally divisive winner-take-all politics may soon bring about the end of what Washington called our “Great Experiment.” Shining a light on what we stand to lose,, what could rise in its place and how some survivors might attempt to repair the damage, this cry of warning is currently being serialized online and is available to anyone, for free, by navigating to the homepage of this website and selecting E Unum Pluribus from the top menu, or via the following link:https://robinandrew.net/2026/01/01/e-unum-pluribus/

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You say “Impeachment Now,” I say ” Impeachment, NO!”

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Robert Reich’s 2026-04-13 Substack post “How to Impeach…for Real” claims that “Now’s the time to start organizing” to impeach Mr. Trump.

Whoa there, doggy!

As much as I’d love to see the man and his administration gone, attempting to impeach him yet again will only energize his followers, fuel their claims of persecution by the ‘liberal elite communist Deep State’ and very possibly incite violence on a scale far beyond Jan 6 – all while he still has full control of the Department of ‘Justice’ and the military to use as his imperial guard! Plus, even if it succeeded, impeachment would put J. D. Vance in the White House – one small step for an unqualified man and one giant leap toward his reelection in 2028 and establishment of a Christian Nationalist dynasty.

No. What opponents of Mr. Trump need to do is focus like lasers on taking back Congress and doing so by large enough margins to override the predictable slew of veto attempts. Talking about yet another impeachment makes that outcome less likely, not more.

Instead, all foes of our current autocracy* need to work to elect legislators of any party who will aggressively reassert Congressional authority under the Constitution. That and the painfully slow but sometimes constructive actions of Judges up to and including the Supremes are the only way to dull the worst of Mr. Trump’s impulses until 2028 and to peel away a large enough slice of his followers to ensure he is not able to install a successor regime for another eight years after that. This is a long battle we are fighting, and repeatedly grabbing for the shiniest but least effective solution is not the way to win it.

America is stronger when we work together again against our common foes, including against the tyranny of this deeply flawed man who has become entirely divorced from reality, law and enduring American values.

On a different but related note, ‘E Unum Pluribus’ is a speculative fiction set in the dark future which may come about if we continue to pursue partisan divisiveness. It is currently being serialized, and anyone can read it – for free – starting at: https://robinandrew.net/2026/01/01/e-unum-pluribus/

*Yes, Virginia: we are already in an autocratic period of our nation’s history– one man dictating federal spending, federal prosecutions, decreeing individuals be arrested and shipped off without due process to imprisonment that would not be allowed within our borders, unilaterally deciding portions of our Constitution mean what he wants them to mean not what their words clearly state, removing inspectors general and anyone else who might check his actions, installing unqualified sycophants at every level, remaking Federal buildings and even the nation’s Capital district at his every whim and will, starting wars without Congress and trashing relationships and agreements which predecessors spent decades nurturing and all the while posting crude taunts, temper rants and juvenile prank images depicting himself as King, Pope and Savior – if all that is not autocracy, I don’t know what is!