The Greatest Founding Father You’ve Never Heard Of

 Published in the Fairfield Daily Republic 

February 11, 2026

The other side

The Greatest Founding Father You’ve Never Heard Of 

By Kelvin Wade 

Social media is buzzing with tributes to the late former Fairfield Mayor Chuck Hammond being honored as part of Black History Month.

As a city councilman and Fairfield’s first black mayor, the gregarious Hammond was a dedicated public servant. We should honor local people like Hammond and like librarian and Reading Rainbow host Mychal Threets, as well as my brother Tony Wade who brings history to life in his columns and books. That’s living black history.

But today, Black history is treated as a threat. Contributions are smeared with the 'DEI' label, weaponized as a slur against excellence.

Last month, the National Park Service removed some historical displays from the President’s House Site in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This was the house George Washington and John Adams lived in while Philadelphia was the nation’s capital. They took down exhibits on slavery. Following the Orwellian named “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” executive order, the administration says slavery is a “divisive narrative” and it “disparages” the Founding Fathers.

Disparages? It tells the truth.

Also, the administration will be erecting a statue of Christopher Columbus on the White House grounds. The statue was torn down in Baltimore in 2020 during the George Floyd protests and has since been restored and will be loaned to the feds.

The truth about Columbus? He never touched continental U.S. soil. He enslaved thousands, sex trafficked children, and tortured and murdered for sport until he was hauled back to Spain in chains. We must’ve skipped those chapters at Tolenas Elementary.

But all black history isn’t tragic and sometimes the people making “black history” aren’t even black. I like the saying that slavery is white history and surviving it is black history. Usually, the fact that the founding fathers like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson owned slaves while professing that “all men are created equal” is explained away as the men being the product of their times. But the truth is Jefferson talked a good game, but couldn’t bear to free his slaves and stop raping them.

George Washington famously freed his slaves upon his wife’s death. Freeing people only after you're dead isn't a profile in courage; it's a final act of convenience. You can't use 'property' in the afterlife.

These were brilliant, visionary men who also knew that slavery was morally wrong. Jefferson famously wrote on slavery, “Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is Just.” Patrick Henry, who famously said to give him liberty or death, wasn’t willing to extend that liberty to his slaves. He wrote that it would inconvenience him to not have slaves even though he knew it was “repugnant to humanity.”

But there were people of genuine conviction during those times. Robert Carter III was a wealthy white Virginia landowner, having inherited over 65,000 acres and over 500 slaves and was wealthier than Washington and Jefferson combined. He lived in a grand estate called Nomini Hall in Westmoreland County with his wife and twelve children.

Carter was raised in the Church of England but shocked his peers when he became a Baptist. Some of those early Baptist congregations preached that slavery was sinful and Carter attended such a church.

He struggled with being a slave owner and finding it morally wrong, just like many of the Founding Fathers did but Carter did something about it. In 1791, he carefully enacted a plan called the Deed of Gift that ultimately freed over 450 men, women and children. It was a calculated dismantling of an empire. He didn't just open the gates; he funded the exit. Many of the slaves continued working for him but were free and paid. He tried to keep slave families together.

His peers, some family and friends we’re shocked and outraged at what he did, fearing his act would unsettle other slaves and encourage rebellions. Many didn’t share his conviction that they were doing anything wrong. Carter eventually moved to Baltimore and lived a more modest life, still overseeing the manumissions. He helped provide for his elderly slaves and slave children.

He felt it was his obligation to right a wrong. He’d benefited from slave labor most of his life and when he had his spiritual awakening he put his faith in action, even though it cost him everything. He asked to be buried in an unmarked grave, further demonstrating his humility.

What was his legacy? It wasn’t a turning point in the slave trade. Virginia’s anti-slavery laws grew crueler and slavery expanded after his actions. But what he did meant the world to the people he freed and their descendants. His moral clarity and sacrifice tells us that progress isn’t always linear. His was the largest private act of manumission in U.S. history before the Civil War, and most Americans have never even heard of him.

Robert Carter’s story leaves us with valuable lessons like professing your convictions isn’t the same as living them. Carter proves that 'men of their time' is a hollow excuse used by moral cowards. He was of that time, too. He just chose to be better. Don’t talk about it. Be about it. Peace.

Kelvin Wade, a writer and former Fairfield resident, lives in Sacramento. Reach him at kelvinjwade@outlook.com.

We're watching Trump's latest coup attempt

We're watching Trump's latest coup attempt

By Kelvin Wade

Mr. Stop the Steal is trying to steal the 2026 midterm elections.

Donald Trump has never liked elections. He repeatedly spoke about the 2016 election being rigged before the election and after, even putting together a commission to investigate it. It disbanded finding zero evidence of fraud. We all know the fake elector scheme, vice-president arm twisting and siccing an insurrectionist mob on the Capitol to steal the 2020 election. His corruption knows no bounds.

Now, he is underwater on every issue. His approval rating is down to a paltry 37%. Democrats have been walking away with special elections including a stunning recent shellacking in a deeply red Texas district where a Democrat defeated the Trump-backed Republican candidate by 14 points. Trump had carried the district by 17 points in 2024 and to add insult to injury, in this special election, more than 50% of the voters were Republican.  These are just the first waves of a blue tsunami that’s going to drown MAGA in November, and he knows it.

Just this past January, in a meeting with Republicans Trump said his policies are so good that the country “shouldn’t even have an election.” That’s a wannabe authoritarian Putinesque speech. 

He’s working hard to make that a reality. He started by pushing red states to do mid-decade gerrymandering to try to ensure Republicans hold the House. The Trump administration is suing 24 states plus the District of Columbia to obtain their unredacted voter roll information so they can purge the rolls and suppress the vote. Attorney General Pam Bondi even sent a letter to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz saying if he handed over the voter roll information among other things, the “chaos” meaning the surge of ICE agents into the state would end.

Then last week we saw the administration improperly use the FBI to raid Fulton County, Georgia and walk off with 700 boxes worth of voter information. His Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was present at the raid. Why? She has no law enforcement role. It just shows Trump is using everyone and everything at his disposal to try to avoid the ass-kicking coming his way this fall. 

This past Tuesday, Trump appeared on Dan Bongino’s podcast and said, “The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over, we should take over the voting, the voting in at least many, 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.” In a later NBC interview he listed Detroit, Philadelphia and Atlanta as places the federal government needed to take over. What do they have in common? Heavy black populations that stand in strong opposition to his Make America White Again agenda.

Donald Trump wants all voter information in his hands so he can rig the midterms. 

But there’s that pesky little Constitution standing in his way.  Article 1 Section 4 says "The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations..." 

The president has no seat at that table.

Trump isn’t being subtle. This fascist president, installed by sycophantic and politically illiterate voters, is actively planning on stealing the 2026 elections because he doesn’t want to be held accountable. He doesn’t want his corrupt business dealings, the gifts he’s received, the UAE royal family investing in his cryptocurrency and receiving access to powerful AI chips in return, his murky control of Venezuelan oil, his odd deference to Vladimir Putin, his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, his destruction of the East Wing and potential destruction of the Kennedy Center, his seizure of Congressional approved funds and so many other things investigated by a Congress that has the balls to do their Constitutional duty. He fears being impeached for the third time.

Large scale voter fraud, especially that would change the result of an election, is not a thing in the United States. This has been investigated extensively. In fact, the 2020 election was probably the most examined election in history and it was found to have no large-scale vote fraud that would’ve changed the outcome of the election. Trump’s own cybersecurity election chief Chris Krebs said it was the most secure election in history and Trump fired him for saying it. He’s since ordered Barrister Barbie and her fully weaponized DOJ to investigate Krebs. 

The numbers expose mass voter fraud for the tinfoil cult conspiracy theory it is. The conservative Heritage Foundation has only documented 1,400 cases of proven voter fraud in the past half a century out of billions of votes cast. A 2025 Michigan Department of State audit found 16 fraudulent votes out of 5.7 million cast. An October 2025 Texas review flagged 2,724 individuals as “potential noncitizens” in a pool of 18 million voters. Upon further review, many of the people flagged turned out to be naturalized citizens. And lastly, a 2024 Georgia audit found that 20 non-citizens successfully registered to vote out of 8.2 million voters. You have a better chance of being struck by lightning while winning the Powerball than finding widespread fraud.

Now, there was one documented case of election fraud swinging an election. It happened in 2018 in North Carolina. But in that case, the fraudster was a Republican operative cheating for a Republican candidate. 

Things like the SAVE Act, a Republican proposal to require birth certificates or passports in order to register to vote, are a solution in search of a problem. The act is designed to suppress the votes of minorities and the poor, the largest demographics without ID. Obtaining identification documents costs money. The 24th Amendment forbids charging for the right to vote.  The only way it passes constitutional muster is if they make obtaining identification free, which is what most states that require these documents do. Otherwise, this is a poll tax with a fresh coat of paint.

You’re more likely to find Bigfoot riding a unicorn than widespread voter fraud and Trump knows it. His MAGA cultists and Republican sycophants keep pretending the 2020 election was stolen and that there’s massive fraud out there. There is. The fraud is the guy who ran a fraudulent university, fraudulent charity, fraudulent business and is a convicted felon.

Just like he concocted a scheme to try to steal the 2020 election, he’s in full swing using the power of the Executive Branch to try to steal the 2026 midterms. This week, Steve Bannon boasted that the administration would station ICE at polling places in November. They’re going to pull out all the stops to try to derail the blue freight train coming down the tracks.  

This is an autocratic fascist coup attempt we’re watching in real time. Do they really think we’re going to quietly stand by and let a wannabe dictator steal our democracy? We’re fully awake now. We’re woke. If he trashes our Constitution and tries to steal our votes, he’s going to need to invoke the Insurrection Act. That’s not a threat. It’s a spoiler. Bet.

America, it’s time to lock and load

America, it’s time to lock and load

By Kelvin Wade

 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” Thomas Jefferson’s words have never been so right. In 2026, vigilance isn’t just a concept; it’s a 4k video file. 

When Renee Nicole Good was killed by ICE agents, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said it was an act of domestic terrorism and told a story about ICE agents being trapped in the snow with a homicidal terrorist trying to run them down. When Alex Pretti was murdered by Border Patrol agents, Noem again lied and described an armed domestic terrorist attacking law enforcement to “inflict maximum damage.”

The administration lied. They lied because they thought no one was watching. Thank fucking God for video. 

There’s a reason Border Patrol “Commander at Large” Greg Bovino had his social media account pulled and he was kicked out of Minneapolis, replaced by border czar Tom Homan, a man reportedly caught on FBI sting video accepting a $50,000 bribe. There’s a reason why Noem spent two hours in the Oval Office with the president on Tuesday. There’s a reason the administration is scaling back its assault on Minnesota. That reason is the American people saw murder while the government lied about enforcement.

Watching Donald Trump TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) for the umpteenth time feels good on one level but don’t confuse a tactical retreat for surrender. The administration that labels undocumented immigrants “garbage” and “vermin” and is desperate to distract from the fact that they’re breaking federal law protecting pedophiles by hiding the Epstein files, will continue its attempted fascist takeover of our republic. 

It’s time for Americans to lock and load…with their cameras. Despite the retreat, the Insurrection Act is coming. And when this President fully embraces his inner Fuhrer and puts the military on the streets we have to be ready to swing into action to broadcast it to the world.

This ain’t for everyone. I like to say get in where you fit in. For some people, fighting back will be writing letters and making phone calls to their representatives, writing letters to the editor in their local papers, donating to political campaigns, running for office, phonebanking and knocking on doors, attending peaceful protests and vigils, registering people to vote, donating to causes like the ACLU, the National Bail Fund Network and Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, pressure corporate contractors working with ICE, boycott businesses working with the regime and sharing stories, photos and video on social media among other things. 

But for the rest of us it’s our Constitutional obligation to be video snipers. It’s dangerous to document what the regime is doing because they’ve lowered the hiring and training standards for ICE. They’ve removed the age limits, shortened training from 22 weeks to 47 days, dropped the Spanish training, dropped the legal theory courses that focused on the Immigration and Nationality Act and reportedly, eased their physical fitness requirements. It’s much more difficult to become a Minneapolis police officer than an ICE agent and it shows.

The point is if you’re going to document ICE agents be aware that you may not be dealing with professionals who understand the law or have been trained properly in tactics.  When you see an agent with his finger on the trigger during a routine stop, or an idiot shouting, “If you raise your voice, I erase your voice,” like one agent recently  said on camera, this is the dysfunction we’re dealing with. They don't know the law, and they don’t care. These are amped up, untrained masked secret police with a criminal president and weaponized Justice Department behind them so if you decide to do this you have to know it’s dangerous AF.

You might want to invest in a good gas mask with particulate filtration. Go for P100 or P3 filters that block 99.97% of particulate matter. Also, get a mask that covers your entire face so your eyes are protected. These goons gas first and forget about asking the questions.

You have a First Amendment right to observe and film federal agents performing their jobs as long as you do not impede or obstruct their activities. Courts have repeatedly upheld the public’s right to film from public sidewalks, streets or other areas where you have a legal right to be. Law enforcement cannot legally force you to stop recording or hand over your device simply because you’re recording them. 

They can tell you to step back and if they do, comply with their orders. Step back but keep that shutter running. While courts uphold your right to film, they give a lot of deference to officers when they say you’re too close. Be wary because they’ll stretch that inch the courts give them into miles and miles. 

Use a secure passcode on your phone rather than a fingerprint or face ID because a disreputable agent seizing your phone can’t decipher a passcode but they can hold the phone to your face to unlock it.

Film in landscape (horizontal) not portrait. Landscape allows you to see more of the scene and it’s more natural. We don’t have portrait TV or movie screens for a reason.

Film from a stable public location, preferably a sidewalk away from the agents.

Film in 4K if available. If not, then 1080p 30 frames per second is fine. Try not to go lower than that or you’ll lose precious detail. 

Do not use digital zoom. If you use digital zoom, detail and stabilization is destroyed. 

Start with an establishing wide shot to show where you are: street names and landmarks. You can optically zoom (not digital) to get things like license plates, police badge numbers if available and other details but then zoom back out.

 

Narrate what you see. Say the date, place and time and describe what you’re seeing. Audio is as much evidence as video. 

When finished filming don’t edit the video clip. Save a copy to the cloud or external card. Courts want unedited video. The video can always be pared down later but it’s important that the original footage you film is complete and intact.

You have a First Amendment right to tell these federal agents what you think of them. If they can’t take some swear words or insults without maintaining professionalism, they’re in the wrong line of work.

In some jurisdictions, it’s legal to carry firearms and it’s also legal to carry them while filming law enforcement. What the administration has been saying about not taking guns to protests flies in the face of what their own supporters have been doing for years. 

The point of monitoring federal agents is to hold them accountable, ensure civil liberties are protected and protect our democracy. It also protects the agents themselves. 

Without the videos in the Renee Good and Alex Pretti cases, we would’ve been at the mercy of the administration’s lies. The nation would be gaslit and federal agents would get away with killing citizens who would’ve been falsely demonized as terrorists. You and your camera are what’s going to keep this administration and it’s thugs honest

.

I believe the public’s right and need to see what this administration is doing is paramount. We’re not going to live our lives on our knees. Jefferson wrote, “What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?” This is our 4k fucking warning. Rise up.

The world needs more daymakers

 Nov 19, 2025

Fairfield Daily Republic 

The Other Side 

The world needs more daymakers 

By Kelvin Wade

The other day I was parked outside a CVS waiting for Cathi to come out. She came out and immediately went to the back of my truck, fumbling around in the backseat.

She told me to wait just a minute and was off racing down the sidewalk. She’d seen a homeless woman and came and got a blanket and tent that we keep just for these purposes and gave them to her. The homeless woman was so overcome that she hugged her.

That's just the kind of heart Cathi has.

Last week, I got a phone call in the evening from an elderly friend who was in tears. Her roommate had left town for a couple nights and she had no food. She asked if I would go shopping for her. Slipping into my shoes I headed over and took her shopping list, went to the store and bought everything and even stopped by a restaurant to get her something to eat for dinner that evening. She hugged me and apologized for calling, but that was ridiculous. That’s what you do for people in need.

This basic kindness was modeled for me by my parents. I’ve told the story of the time I came home from Armijo High one day and told my mom that a classmate of mine had nothing to eat for lunch. She was so disturbed by that that she gave me extra lunch money for him or had me pack extra in my lunch for him to eat.

For years my brothers and I thought of our dad as a tightwad. He could be rather generous as long as you didn’t actually ask him for something. It both saddened me and moved me that at his funeral in 2003, people told me and my brothers that our dad would pay for kids’ school supplies and pay for them to go to camp.

It saddened me that I didn’t know this while he was alive. But the thing I loved most was that they did these things with no fanfare, seeking no recompense. It was just who they were.

This spirit of giving was also modeled to me by complete strangers. Years ago, one of my first jobs was picking strawberries at a farm in Vacaville. It was a blazing hot day and there we were picking strawberries, a bunch of probably undocumented Hispanic people and a fat black American kid.

It was backbreaking work under an oppressive sun. At lunch time, we all sat together and even though I spoke no Spanish and they spoke no English, they accepted me. They shared their food with me. I’ve never forgotten it. (I only lasted on that job a day so I have mad respect for what these hard workers do for us.)

Too often these days we look at who is deserving of help. For a lot of our fellow Americans there’s an empathy gap. Empathy is like a muscle and if it’s not used, it will atrophy.

A lot of people ascribe their giving nature to their religion and I can respect that. Some people feel the need to give back after achieving a certain amount of success. Some just have a philosophy of helping their fellow man. And me, well, if you’re a long time reader, you know my life’s philosophy comes from a Peanuts comic strip where Linus brings his sister Lucy a bowl of ice cream just to make her stay on the planet more pleasant.

I don’t know why that strip so profoundly moved me. Perhaps it was because Lucy was a mean sister yet her brother still wanted to do something nice for her. We all find ourselves alive together at this time and place in history, with hopes, fears, dreams and desires. Why not make someone’s stay a little nicer, a little happier?

I’m not going to tell you all of the little things I do for people because that’s not what it’s about. It’s not about keeping score or getting a pat on the back. I’m encouraging you to do the same. Be a daymaker.

For me, I’d radically changed my life in the last two and a half years through a pretty massive weight loss. It’s such a contrast for me thinking back to staying up late in the ICU scribbling my final thoughts in a notebook convinced I wouldn’t survive the night to now where I wake up every morning and look in the mirror and think, “I get to be here!”

So I get to do nice things for people and it makes me feel good. Sometimes I feel like a thief, like I’m stealing joy through making someone else’s day.

I’m thinking about this because Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching and we’re living at a time of maximum division. People are at each other's throats. People are struggling to make ends meet and there’s so much uncertainty in our country and in the world. There’s compassion fatigue and an empathy deficit and it seems like we’re all sitting on a powder keg ready to blow.

I don’t have all of the political, sociological and economic answers for people. But what I can do is do a small gesture for someone to improve their stay on the planet. Sometimes all they need is an ear to listen to them, a shoulder to lay their head on or a hug. Little things mean a lot, especially when you’re not keeping track of their immigration status, race, gender, religious or political views and just seeing the human being in front of you.

Give thanks by giving of yourself. I don’t even need the turkey and stuffing. Have a happy Thanksgiving. Peace.

Kelvin Wade, a writer and former Fairfield resident, lives in Sacramento. Reach him at kelvinjwade@outlook.com.

The immigrant is the sum of all MAGA fears

 December 3, 2025

Fairfield Daily Republic 

The Other Side 

The immigrant is the sum of all MAGA fears

By Kelvin Wade

“Caste” author Isabel Wilkinson was at a party years ago when a white conservative political consultant told her that the 2016 election was about 2040.

Census data has indicated that around 2040 the United States will become a majority minority country. And if you view MAGA in this context, everything we’re seeing makes sense.

MAGA is the confluence of a New York conman, white Christian Nationalists and a majority of white Americans upset at a changing country they no longer recognize. It’s been a backlash to the first black president, the marriage equality decision, trans rights and the feeling that nonwhite immigrants were devouring an even larger piece of an undeserved pie.

Millions of Americans felt they were losing their country, their culture and identity, and in came a New York grifter who exploited this division, surrounded himself with white Christian Nationalists and here we are.

Why else is immigration MAGA’s main animating feature? Why did ‘build the wall’ and the Muslim ban resonate so well?

Why did he call African and Central American countries “s***hole countries” and opine that we needed more people coming here from Norway? Why has President Donald Trump said immigrants are “vermin” who are “poisoning the blood of the country” if this isn’t the corrosive beating heart of MAGA?

Since 2016, more white Americans die every year than are born. More black and Hispanic Americans are born every year than die. Also, Asian and Hispanic immigration is helping drive our population growth. This is why there are “MAGA accounts” in Trump’s big ugly bill.

Every eligible child born between Jan. 1, 2025 and Dec. 31, 2028 will receive a one time $1,000 deposit from the government in an investment account to spur native born American birth rates.

This desire to combat the browning of America is why Trump signed Executive Order 14160 on Jan. 20, basically overturning the 14th Amendment saying children born here from undocumented mothers were not citizens. The Constitution disagrees.

Trump’s mass deportation was supposed to focus on getting bad people out, yet ICE’s own recently released numbers show that nearly 75% of detainees have no criminal record and only 5% have violent criminal convictions.

They’re not solely after violent offenders. but all undocumented brown people. 

He’s terminating temporary protected status for 600,000 Venezuelans, 330,000 Haitians, as well as other places black and brown people come from.

This is why Trump is exploiting the murder and attempted murder of National Guard members in Washington D.C. last week by an Afghan national who the Trump administration granted asylum to. Trump proclaimed he’s permanently pausing immigration from “Third World countries.”

But he goes a step further posting “Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation.”

Trump’s Department of Homeland Security recently tweeted, “Remigration now.” The term remigration is used by far right European groups who not only want to deport undocumented immigrants but legal immigrants, naturalized citizens and people born of foreign parents who are deemed insufficiently assimilated.

Trump has said he plans to strip citizenship away from naturalized citizens who “undermine domestic tranquility” and those determined to be “non-compatible with Western civilization.” Wait until he finds out federal law and the Supreme Court says he doesn’t have such power.

Last week, Trump announced he would be pardoning former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez (JOH) who was convicted of drug trafficking 400 tons of cocaine into the U.S., enough doses to get half the population of the planet high. JOH was sentenced to 45 years in prison by an American court. Why would Trump, who has been extra-judicially murdering people off the coast of Venezuela supposedly to save us from drugs, be pardoning a drug trafficker? When JOH was president of Honduras he was very helpful in stifling immigration to the U.S. To this administration the one thing worse than drugs coming into the U.S. are minorities.

It’s no accident that part of achieving the aims of making America white again is erasing nonwhite history, resurrecting Confederate monuments that have been torn down, extinguishing diversity, equity and inclusion, banning books by and about minority groups, pushing the LGBTQ+ community back into the closet, restricting reproductive rights and promoting traditional families and the manosphere.

The authoritarian playbook isn’t unique. The Nazis and other regimes have used it. Vladimir Putin of Russia and Viktor Orban of Hungary are using it. And it’s happening here right now in America.

Trump didn’t cook up this plan. Trump is motivated by greed and grievance, but his bigotry and xenophobia appears to have dovetailed nicely with plans dreamt up by the Heritage Foundation and people like political theorist Curtis Yarvin, Project 2025 author Russ Vought, tech billionaire Peter Thiel, Thiel’s disciple JD Vance, Steve Bannon, Christian Nationalist Paula White and of course, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.

The goal is to replace democracy with a wealthy ruling technocratic elite class keeping minorities in their place. That elite class pits us against each other so we don’t notice that they’re picking our pockets and eroding our rights.

Judging by Trump’s 36% approval rating in the latest Gallup Poll, millions of Americans are waking up to the fact that they’ve been suckered by a conman. Instead of rubbing their faces in the fact that we were right about Project 2025, extend a hand. Join with us to help fight it.

2016 and everything since then has been about 2040. Isn't it obvious by now? Peace.

Kelvin Wade’s column has appeared in the Fairfield Daily Republic for more than three decades. Reach him at kelvinjwade@outlook.com.

Felon 47 won't uphold the Constitution

 “I don’t know. I’m not, I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know.” --- Donald Trump, when asked by Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker on whether everyone deserves due process

What the actual fuck, America? The alleged President of the United States, who swore an oath to
uphold the Constitution in January, now says he doesn’t know if he has to enforce it. He’s head of the Executive Branch and for those who slept through American government in high school, that branch’s job is to enforce laws. There we had Trump on national TV on “Meet the Press” on Sunday repeatedly saying he didn’t know if he had to uphold the U.S. Constitution.

When MTP moderator Kristen Welker pointed out the Fifth Amendment says everyone is entitled to due process, Trump responded, “I don’t know. It seems --- it might say that, but if you’re talking about that, then we’d have to have a million or 2 million or 3 million trials. We have thousands of people that are -- some murderers and some drug dealers and some of the worst people on Earth. I was elected to get them the hell out of here, and the courts are holding me from doing it.”

How do you determine if someone is a murderer or drug dealer? Due process. Trump, of all people should know this. He received due process when he was arrested, finger printed, photographed, allowed to hire attorneys and vigorously defend himself in multiple criminal trials. He received due process when he was convicted of 34 felonies. (Isn’t it ironic that Trump probably has been convicted of more felonies than anyone he’s deported?)

That statement indicates that Trump knows what the law requires. He just doesn’t want to do it. Too bad. I was elected to get them out and the courts are holding me to the law, he’s crying. That’s the courts’ job. That’s the job of judges. It’s also Trump’s job. He thinks that just because his conspiracy theory guzzling, Constitutionally-illiterate voters want him to violate the law, that he can do it.

Wrong.

Suppose a Democratic presidential candidate ran for office telling voters she would get rid of guns if elected. And when she’s elected she signs an Executive Order repealing the 2nd Amendment because that’s what her voters want her to do. Do you know how much legal weight that would carry? The same amount as Donald Trump’s Executive Order earlier this year trying to repeal the 14th Amendment.

I make no apologies for our Constitution making life difficult for a would be authoritarian. You don’t get to ignore the parts of the Constitution you disagree with. And those judges are members of a coequal branch.

co·e·qual  [ˌkōˈēkw(ə)l]  adjective

equal with one another; having the same rank or importance:

That’s right. Those “radical liberal judges” (including ones that Donald Trump appointed and have ruled against him) are just as powerful as the president. And yes, they (not your lawyers, Drumpf) are there to say what’s Constitutional and what isn’t.

Trump outed himself as the ignoramus that most of us know he is. Judging by his comments and behavior, I don’t believe he’s ever read the United States Constitution and he certainly doesn’t care about what it says.

Trump’s stupidity when it comes to our founding documents was on full display last week when ABC’s Terry Moran asked him what the Declaration of Independence means to him. In what one X user called the “dumbest moment in American history” the supposed 47th President said, “Well, it means exactly what it says, it’s a declaration, it’s a declaration of unity and love and respect, and it means a lot and it’s something very special to our country.” It’s one of those boneheaded Trump sayings that sounds like a kid giving a book report on a book he obviously didn’t read.

The Declaration of Independence declares our independence from the British, including the powerful line “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

It talks about how the government gets its power from the consent of the governed and that the public has the right to abolish a government that doesn’t protect their rights. It also lists many grievances against the king and explains why we’re now independent. It’s a treatise against tyranny.

Our intellectually incurious President is too stupid to know this, and too lazy to actually read the document he has on the wall in the Oval Office. Like Martin Sheen, he just plays a president on TV.

But just because Donald John Trump is one of the stupidest men to ever hold the office of President doesn’t mean he’s not an authoritarian. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t know what he’s doing. All he wants to do is whatever he wants. He’s under the delusion that he has unlimited power, that he’s a King. Anyone trying to uphold and defend the Constitution, you know…the thing Donald Trump swore to do and isn’t….is his enemy.

But here’s the thing…we didn’t vote for a King. We didn’t vote for an Emperor or a Fuhrer. We’re not beholden to Donald Trump. We don’t pledge allegiance to any President. Our allegiance is to the country and to the Constitution, even if Trump and his MAGA cult hasn’t read it and doesn’t believe in it. And one thing we’re good at is dissent. We’re excellent at saying fuck you. And we’re pretty good at kicking the fucking ass of kings and wannabe kings.

So be stupid or play stupid as much as you want. But you’re going to uphold that Constitution. Those coequal judges will insist on it. The majority of Americans who didn’t vote for you are going to insist on it no matter what delusions your sheep may have about due process.

That document on your office wall that you don’t understand and that you like to show off to guests says when the people are confronted with a long train of abuses leading to despotism, “it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

Violate our rights, fail to uphold the Constitution and continue slouching towards autocracy and we will throw off this government. Try us.

Bill Maher drinks the MAGA Kool-Aid

Comedian Bill Maher recently dined with Donald Trump at the White House (along with the UFC’s Dana White and “singer” Kid Rock) and came away with his mind blown. He described Trump as gracious and “not fake.” He says he found that a crazy person doesn’t live in the White House but a guy who plays a crazy person on TV does. 

I’ve been a long time Bill Maher fan, ever since his old show, “Politically Incorrect” on ABC. I’ve watched “Real Time with Bill Maher” since it’s inception. I’ve seen Bill Maher live twice, the second time being just days after Trump won the 2016 election. That comedy show was like a wake with an audience of stunned and horrified liberals and Maher onstage going through the motions, admitting he’d been drinking a lot since the election. 

I considered Bill Maher the second best political comedian working behind the incredible Will Durst. 

But if you’ve been watching Maher in the last few years you’ve seen a shift in the comedian. He claims he hasn’t changed at all but that’s bullshit. Maher used to treat Trump like the dangerous narcissistic authoritarian con artist he is. 

In fact, Bill Maher was one of the early voices saying Trump was never going to leave office. Notice I said “one of.” To hear Maher tell it he was the lone voice out there saying this and he pats himself on the back regularly about it. Lots of us thought he wasn’t going to leave. He was talking about rigged elections before he won the first time, as a way to save face if he lost. 

But a funny thing happened between the first Trump term and the second. Bill started taking up Fox News talking points on “wokeness.” And soon after he started receiving praise on Fox and other right wing circles. They labeled him a truth teller. The same guy who used to roast Trump on his show mercilessly, mock the stupidity of his voters and blast MAGA politicians suddenly found himself being lauded by those right wing voices. And Maher liked it. Maher liked having his ego stroked by the other side.

And what helped push him along was an incident in 2017 when Maher had Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska on his show. When Sasse joked that Bill should come to Nebraska and work the fields, Maher joked, “Work in the fields? Senator, I'm a house nigger!" The backlash came fast and furious. Many called for Maher to be fired. 

The following week Maher had Michael Eric Dyson, Symone Sanders and rapper Ice Cube on his show. Maher apologized for the remark but what really got under his skin was when Cube said, “It's a lot of guys out there who cross the line because they're a little too familiar. Or, guys that, you know, might have a black girlfriend or two that made them Kool-Aid every now and then, and then they think they can cross the line. And they can’t." Maher had long been linked to black women at that point and you could see that Cube’s words left a mark.

Maher didn’t like being held accountable. I believe he felt betrayed by the liberals who watch his show. I think he felt that he’d been a loyal progressive and should’ve been given an easy pass. Ever since, Maher has raged against cancel culture, wokeism and on several shows took blacks to task for complaining about racism, especially in the aftermath of the George Floyd killing, preaching that blacks should be more appreciative of how much progress they’ve made. 

This resentment, coupled with the ego stroking he’s been receiving from Fox News has him believing his loving press clippings from the right. He still criticized Trump but it’s been clear for a long time that his stock and trade now is whataboutism and both sides-ism. He likes to see himself as the lone centrist in the country, floating above us all. Can’t we all just get along? The man who spent years stoking the flames of the left, now suddenly wants to be hailed as some middle ground peacemaker. 

Are you fucking kidding me?

Bill Maher, along with the rest of us, have watched Donald Trump’s rhetoric and behavior for the last ten years. We’ve seen him mock a disabled reporter, admit to sexual assault on camera, be accused of sexual assault by two dozen women, try to ban Muslims from coming to America, call Mexicans rapists, call African and Central American countries “shithole countries,” separate children from their families,  ask his Justice Department to investigate his opponents, try to extort a favor from a foreign president, try to trash the postal service and use fake electors to rig an election, send a mob to stop the count of a lawful election that he spread lies about, pardoned said mob, be impeached twice, steal classified documents and obstruct justice, be held civilly liable for rape, be convicted of 34 felony counts and undermine our democracy and judiciary. Then Maher dines with Trump for two and a half hours and now claims to see the real Trump. Two and a half hours versus ten years.

You got played by a conman, Bill. And you got played because you’ve been seduced by MAGA for years. Trump got exactly what he wanted out of Maher, for Maher to go on his show and report that Trump isn’t crazy. Just misunderstood. And that not dining with him would be like mean girls not letting someone sit at their table. Yeah, he said that. 

It would be laughable that a formerly liberal comedian is prostituting himself on behalf of Donald Trump but it’s no laughing matter when Trump 2.0 disappears people off the street and sends them to a foreign prison, threatens to do the same to American citizens, shakes down universities and law firms, pardons his friends, orders investigations into his enemies, is destroying a good economy with moronic tariffs, has a group of hackers combing through Americans’ private information, defies court orders and muses about running for a third term. Fascism has come to America and it’s a shame that Maher, who used to stand for something, is greasing the wheels.

What I used to like about Maher was that in addition to being funny, I appreciated his intellect and judgement. I have to hand it to Trump. When people get into his orbit, he “trumps” them. They lose their judgement. He somehow charms them into bending to his will. We saw it happen with his White House doctor during his first term. We’ve seen people who used to be respected like Bill Barr, turn into Trump’s puppet once he became attorney general. One after another, we’ve seen formerly respected people get close to Trump and throw their self-respect out the window.  And now, we’ve seen that even Bill Maher isn’t immune to the flattery of a malignant narcissist. 

Finish drinking the Kool Aid, put on the red hat and rebrand your show, “MAGA Time with Bill Maher” you fucking sellout.