Oh, oh, you can tell the 2024 elections are heating up. The political stunts by both sides, but especially the Republican Party, are nothing short of  a national embarrassment.

Former President Trump has such a hold on the Party that many Republicans fear they will be targets in his "retribution" campaign. The former president is already attacking those who have endorsed his GOP opponents or have crossed him in other ways.

In the recent Nevada primary, Nikkii Haley lost to a ballot option to vote for "none of the candidates listed".

Trump’s ridiculous "Immunity" claim last Tuesday fizzled out after the federal appeals court has unanimously ruled that Donald Trump can be put on trial for trying to stay in power after losing the 2020 election. The court dismissed the idea that Trump’s impeachment was an obstruction to his criminal prosecution. In doing so, it also undercuts a common refrain about the impeachment from Trump — and  further embarrassed some of the senators who rose to Trump’s defense. Forty-three Senators who voted to acquit him relied on a variety of concerns, many of which had nothing to do with whether he committed the charged offense,” said the court decision.  

In the page turning 57-page unanimous opinion, the panel of three DC Circuit judges wrote that the justice system allowed for a former president to face charges for actions he took while in office, and that the public interest in holding a potentially criminal president accountable outweighed any potential “chilling effect” on the presidency.

“We cannot accept that the office of the Presidency places its former occupants above the law for all time thereafter,” the opinion says. Basically the court decision stated Presidents do not have ‘unbounded authority to commit crimes’.

The immigration reform bill went down in blazing fashion, even though it was mainly the work of very conservative Oklahoma Republican Senator James Lankford, who  crafted the deal.

Trump let potential Republican supporters know that it was thumbs down on the current bill. Republicans opposing the bill said they were not going to vote for it because it could give Biden a bipartisan victory in an election. Right-wing media lambasted the bill for weeks before the text was released and some "Rs" immediately rejected the bill minutes after its release, even though they never read it.

Unfortunately, a few Democrats also joined the refrain thinking the bill was not liberal enough.

That, along with the soaring job growth and much improved economy deflates Trump’s claim that Biden and the Democrats caused the earlier inflation fiasco, instead of the leading COVID and supply chain break-downs Biden inherited. 

No, people have not yet latched on to the improved economy, but it is only a matter of time as the November elections near.

Trump has let it be known that RNC (Republican National Chair) Ronna McDaniel, holding the chair since 2017, is on her way out. Her defenders say McDaniel has held the party together during seven difficult years and that Trump was to blame for much of the party’s struggles, not McDaniel.

The longtime leader of the Republican Party finds herself under fire as the party faces a cash crunch and people close to Trump make moves to cement total control of the organization. “Is it time for Ronna McDaniel to step aside?” a Newsmax reporter asked Trump in a televised interview Monday. “I think she knows that, I think she understands that,” Trump responded.

The past "election fraud" claims were all but thrown to the garbage heap as the cases were either dismissed, or found to be false. This still has not stopped Trump, or his minions claiming the election was stolen, something sure to surface after the 2024 elections.

But wait! Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has all but guaranteed that any bill that includes money for Ukraine would never past muster. 

Why? Because Trump friend Russian President/Dictator Vladimir Putin wants a win.

Of course Trump lap dog and former FOX news host/annalist (?) Tucker Carlson miraculously announced an upcoming interview with Putin, a leader he and Trump have praised for years. In a statement posted to social media, Carlson said he will interview Putin "because it’s our job. We’re in journalism. Our duty is to inform people." Carlson has been critical of the United States and its involvement in the region ever since Russia invaded Ukraine. Carlson also has been critical of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

I imagine it will be a smiling Putin, with justifications on why the Ukraine needs to be brought back into the fold of his power and why so many Ukrainians had to be wiped out.

I also imagine that Trump and his hold on the Republican Party is why any U.S. aid to the Ukraine war has been held up.

 The Ukraine fighting forces are running out of ammunition and weapons, something both Trump and Putin are smiling about.

House Republicans failed Tuesday to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in an embarrassing setback for GOP leaders, who have already been struggling to pass key legislative priorities. 

The articles to impeach Mayorkas failed by a razor-thin margin of 214-216. Three Republicans opposed impeaching the secretary over concerns the GOP simply harbors policy disagreements with Mayorkas over how to address the crisis at the southern border.

Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis. and Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., were the three GOP lawmakers who voted against impeaching Mayorkas.

I guess those three voting common sense over political pressure are now on Trump’s proverbial ‘shit list’.

I have received "anonymous" texts and warnings about my anti-Trump tirade along with a few subscription cancellations. I consider/relate "anonymous" with "cowards" and a few cancellations as a badge of honor allowing free speech to continue. I will continue to fight Trump’s campaign to dictatorship and the nation’s political downward spiral.

It has become so obvious that this nation’s democracy is crumbling... It would be funny, if not so sad.