I wrote the newsletter column reprinted below in October of 2020, in the heart of the pandemic. As we celebrate 250 years tomorrow, we remember the late great John Lewis and his lifelong focus on the right to vote. The tide is starting to turn for MAGA voters, opening doors for robust conversations about our country and the direction it has been headed in during both of President Trump’s terms. We are not a nation of grifters. And we do believe in liberty and justice for all.

It’s been another chaotic month for all three branches of American government, with further attempts by the Trump administration to impose outrageous acts on us as distractions from other behind-the-scenes grift or wrongdoing over matters like the Epstein files. The most egregious is the $1.8 billion dollar slush fund connected to a settlement of Trump’s income tax audits, while refusing to exclude convicted January 6 criminals from seeking recompense for the trauma of imprisonment.

Late last month, in the presence of most U.S. cabinet secretaries, senior White House officials, corporate and media VIPs, and a broad cross-section of the press, another attempt was made on President Trump’s life. I had tuned in to CNN’s live broadcast to watch the White House Correspondents Association Dinner to see what tone the president would strike in his remarks, having finally accepted the association’s invitation to this historic dinner, which paired the president and the press.

My last column was published on March 12 and focused on the Department of Justice (DOJ), whose secretary, Pam Bondi, has since been fired – primarily for her handling of the Epstein files, but also for failing to deliver on threats of vengeance against the president’s enemies. Earlier in March, the secretary of the unfunded Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Kristi Noem, met the same fate for a series of controversies involving an advertising campaign, ICE, and CBP. Like Bondi, she mistook loyalty to the president for job security.