The times are changing

To the editor:

What does the blue tsunami for the Democrats in the election mean for the future?  There are some certainties and some probabilities:

1.  Donald J. Trump will almost certainly remain a convicted felon for the rest of his life. With Kathy Hochul remaining governor of New York, there is no possibility of Trump being pardoned for his many criminal convictions in NY State.  If Bruce Blakeman had been elected governor, he most certainly would have pardoned Trump for his criminal convictions. Wasn’t it fascinating to see Pope Leo XIV, who had been personally threatened by Trump, voting in Chicago?  

2.  With Democrats running both houses, ICE will start to “melt,” slowly at first, and then a full meltdown. ICE officers should have to be clearly identified with names and badge numbers on their uniforms and no face coverings.  They must be thoroughly vetted before being hired, and held accountable for any misconduct and crimes they commit.  

3.  The free market under Trump, like AI, will have to be controlled and limited.  We now live in a corrupt free market run by capitalist crooks including Donald J Trump, Elon Musk and many of their friends and associates in the US and in foreign nations. When moral leaders seek fairness and justice for all people, our super rich autocrats cry socialism and communism. For them, power and wealth are all that matter.  

4.  America needs a true justice system and a balance of power between the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government - as the U.S. Constitution requires. We don’t have that now.  When the Attorney General, Todd Blanche, states he is the “President’s attorney,” the attorney of a convicted felon and not the peoples’ attorney, we don’t have an honest justice system.  Even the U.S. Supreme Court is heavily weighted in Trump’s favor, and so willing to throw stare decisis (the legal doctrine that requires courts to follow historical legal precedents - past legal decisions) out the window to accommodate Trump’s personal positions on the law.    

5.  With at least seven Muslims elected to Congress, anti-Muslim actions and rhetoric by the Trump administration will have to be eliminated, and violators prosecuted. Antisemitism is highlighted and prosecuted, as well it should be, but attacks on Muslims are just part of Trump’s (and Trump’s buddy, Bibi Netanyahu’s) agenda. 

As Bob Dylan sang, “The Times They Are A-Changin’” - and the Trump cult will be defeated or decimated, and, unfortunately, it may not be a peaceful process.  

Michael J. Gorman