Graphic Nature of Gun Violence Should Be Shown On News, Public Needs To See Results Of Gun Culture

On By dekeriversIn Gun Control, Guns, Journalism, Media, SocietyLeave a comment

The murder of Charlie Kirk this week was caught on video by a cell phone camera. It was graphic. Ghastly. Horrific. Nothing we ever want to see. But I argue it is what we must see. After all, this is what far too many of our nation’s school children are forced to witness in classrooms.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the dastardly crimes being committed through orders from President Putin’s generals, along with the mass deaths needlessly perpetrated by the violence committed by Israeli Defense Forces in Gaza, make for graphic and painful images on news programming 24/7.  But when it comes to the carnage in our own nation from gun violence, news editors trim the tape and sanitize the coverage.

News coverage of gun violence should not be stripped of its visceral reality. There must be an awareness in newsrooms of being franker about what is actually occurring many times each day when guns are fired at other people in this nation. There is no purpose in airing only sterile statistics, distant headlines, and sanitized videos or soundbites. This detachment breeds complacency among the citizenry. The media shielded the public from the graphic truth of what a bullet did to Kirk, as blood pumped out of a gaping neck wound. When our news media limit the scope of what happens by not airing graphic video, it only aids in normalizing the violence from guns, making it abstract and easier to ignore as it becomes just another daily event.

I contend that journalists have a professional responsibility not just to inform, but to confront. (In a far different time and in a different context, when working at WDOR radio, I did a week-long series that ran on most of the daily newscasts dealing with HIV and pressing how it was not a gay disease. It was a factual 3-minute report each day, but some listeners found it highly controversial. The station owner, a man then in his late 70s, took my side as it was news reporting the way it should be undertaken.) When it comes to showing the raw, unfiltered consequences of gun violence, it can better inform and jolt viewers out of numbness and into awareness. That, too, is a role for news reporters to work at in their profession.

When journalists do their jobs fully and news editors and publishers allow it, there can be positive outcomes. It then forces a reckoning among the readers, listeners, and viewers of the news. It humanizes victims, exposes brutality, and underscores the urgency of, in this case, gun control laws and reforms that are needed. Sanitized coverage may protect the sensibilities of those who are too fragile to live in the world created by the NRA, but it also protects the status quo. If we want change, we must first see the cost.

Wednesday In America: Charlie Kirk Shot And Killed, Another School Shooting, 13-Year-Old Arrested With 20 Guns

On By dekeriversIn Gun Control, Guns, Society2 Comments

Today, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot while speaking at Utah Valley University. That is a horrible action that sends shivers up the national conscience. I would like to think this horror will shake every American to their core about gun violence and political violence in our nation. After all, Kirk, known for his outspoken views, was simply engaging students in open dialogue. Public discourse of the type that our country is known for and takes great pride in. It was then that a single bullet ended his life. This was far more than the killing of a man; I would argue it was an open attack on civic discourse itself.

But the shooting in Utah needs to share headlines with the three people who are in critical condition (as of my writing this column) after a shooting at Evergreen High School in Colorado on Wednesday afternoon. We were also reading today about how police in Washington state arrested a 13-year-old boy accused of making threats to kill. When he was arrested, they found he had “everything ready to go to commit a mass shooting”, including a trove of more than 20 guns in his home.

While advocating for gun control in this nation and pressing my growing disgust about polls that show public support is growing for the acceptance of political violence, I am also disgusted that so little ever gets done by legislative bodies to address gun violence.

Today we must say it again, and I cannot fathom we even need to say it, as it should be so (******) obvious. Political violence is unacceptable. Full stop.

It was just a few months ago, at the time when a gunman dressed as a police officer killed Melissa Hortman, a Minnesota Democratic state representative, and her husband at their home, and injured a state senator and his wife in a separate attack, that I wrote the following. That same outrage rises today with the news of Kirk’s shooting death.

There is no middle-of-the-road line or some squishy or impotent way to respond today. We absolutely have to be unequivocal: Political violence can never be tolerated. This is not a partisan issue; it is a fundamental threat to the democratic process. Leaders from all sides must condemn these acts, and law enforcement must ensure that those responsible are swiftly brought to justice.  

I well understand the type of coverage the right-wing media will have this evening on their broadcasts. They will not use this moment as a teaching moment or one of reflection about how our nation landed at this sad time. I do not mean just about the horrific news today, but I also include the gun violence over the decades, such as the slaughter of a classroom of children and teachers in Connecticut in 2012. None of these events is a random act. They are symptoms of a culture increasingly desensitized to gun violence. Today, there is the additional and pathetic layer of gun violence as a form of political expression.

Polling shows a disturbing rise in the number of Americans who believe violence is justified to achieve political ends. That belief that was once relegated to the fringes is sadly seeping into mainstream rhetoric. Social media amplifies it. Conservative cable news normalizes it. And our leaders, too often, fail to condemn it with the absolute urgency it demands.

It was reported that Kirk was shot from roughly 200 yards away. Think about that. That distance speaks volumes about what is happening in our nation. Not just that there was a soulless person with a gun, but that the shooter had the accessibility of firearms capable of such precision at such a range.

Even after this dreadful and bloody event, you and I both know that the extreme and perverse interpretation of the Second Amendment will actually grow among the conservative base in the nation. I bet if we monitored gun sales, we would find there will be a boon in the next week for gun sellers. The cycle of gun violence that I started writing about with a letter to the Waushara Argus when I was in the 6th grade has become far worse than ever imagined. Not just by me, but by everyone.

We need a national reckoning when it comes to guns in America. But it needs to be said today, in light of Kirk’s death, that we also must get a grip as citizens about the erosion of democratic norms.

I know all too well the many times over the past 19 years on this blog where I have stressed the ways we can move the needle to stem gun violence and deaths. At this awful moment in our nation, I will again list them.

• Enact universal background checks and red flag laws.

• Ban high-powered rifles from civilian use.

• Teach civic tolerance in schools, not just civics.

• Hold media platforms of all types accountable for amplifying violent rhetoric.

What really rankles me, as I need to write about Charlie Kirk’s death, is that he was merely exercising a fundamental American right. Free speech. That right must be protected going forward. Not with more guns or more security but with just a dose of courage and spine from those elected officials who carry water for the NRA and, in so doing, prevent needed gun control laws from being passed.

I have written so many times in various ways that we are at that moment in our nation when there is a breath of hope about some real changes in gun laws. That is my optimistic nature that I am glad still leads me through life concerning a bevy of issues. We are at a crossroads, and we know that by doing nothing, we will only have more bloodshed making headlines. If we choose to take a different path as a country, the citizens will have to rise up and shout so loud that no one can claim not to have heard our demands.

Charlie Kirk’s death is proof positive that this nation is in the grips of the NRA, gun manufacturers, and gun sellers. It’s time to stop pretending otherwise.

—

DeForest Village Board Recall Election: Conservative Candidate Running Muddy Campaign

On By dekeriversIn Conservatives, DeForest, Elections, Hancock, Republicans, Wisconsin, Wisconsin PoliticsLeave a comment

A very spirited uprising of democracy has been occurring in the Village of DeForest. Just as the seeds of discord were about to be removed with the recall of Trustee Bill Landgraf, who proved unworthy of holding the position through his troubling behavior both on and off the board, comes the news that an under-the-radar conservative candidate has decided to try to sneak past the voters’ public inspection. It is this type of candidate who cannot pass muster in the fullness of electoral scrutiny that has caused tensions to build in communities across the nation. This time, it is DeForest, a gentle, homey place in Dane County that has so many people watching with interest.

If you followed this blog over the years as a reader (and thanks, by the way), you know I don’t consider civics to be a series of concepts. History has demonstrated that democracy is loud, messy, burly, and very much a participatory undertaking. That is one reason why the recall effort against Landgraf caught my attention. But make no mistake about why this matters for readers across the state or nation. This recall effort is far more than a mere local political skirmish. I argue it is a case study in how communities hold their leaders accountable, how science must be respected in public policy, and how democracy empowers citizens to demand better. Now, another reason has been added to the mix.

DeForest residents successfully petitioned to recall Landgraf this summer, prompting well-qualified and most capable Alicia Williams, a woman who ran as a write-in candidate in the April election, to run again. But then conservative Republican Stacey Petersen also filed as a candidate, triggering a primary election to be held Sept. 16. It is Petersen, however, who is creating concern among voters for what she is trying to hide from the electorate.

She describes herself as a mom and a veteran’s wife, but does not say if she prefers vanilla ice cream on her apple pie. Those who know her and live in the village have a differing view from the one she presents for public consumption.

Recently, Stacey proudly posted a photo out to dinner with local MAGA Republican activists, including current DeForest trustee Rebecca Witherspoon. Witherspoon has spent much of the summer publicly attacking residents who don’t share her far-right political beliefs.

Stacey’s track record doesn’t exactly scream “bridge-builder.” Last spring, during a local race, she helped both Witherspoon and fellow trustee Bill Landgraf (the one being recalled right now) circulate hateful posts about candidate Alicia Williams. She even shared photos from inside Alicia’s home and now wants us to believe she’s an advocate for civility?

Adding to the concern: Stacey says she wants to set up an anonymous tip line for “community issues.” Given her past behavior, some of us are wondering who exactly she plans to target.

She is refusing to state her stance on several very important topics in DeForest: fluoride in drinking water and whether she supports members of hate groups being brought to our community to canvass for MAGA candidates.

The reason this issue strikes hard at Caffeinated Politics is due to these harsh conservatives who try to get into local office without facing the needed glare of transparency. Make no mistake about what is happening in DeForest with the Petersen effort. A conservative political maneuver is unfolding that has been used nationwide. It’s not loud. It’s not flashy. But it’s deliberate. Right-wing operatives and ideologues are quietly running for local office across the country under the guise of neutrality, masking their affiliations and agendas until after the ballots are cast. This stealth strategy is corrosive. The citizens of DeForest have already seen this play out on the board, hence, why this recall was needed in the first place.

Each time these conservative stealth-type candidates run, they present themselves as either concerned parents, civic-minded neighbors, or budget hawks. They avoid party labels, downplay ideological commitments, and sidestep hot-button issues during campaigns. But once elected, their true priorities emerge. Picture a twin of Rebecca Witherspoon.

As a process (small d) democrat, meaning that I value standards and procedures both in running for office and in how governing occurs, I am very concerned about how conservatives too often seek to undermine the very foundation of democratic choice. First and foremost, voters deserve transparency. When candidates obscure their true intentions, deflect, and hedge from questions presented by voters, they then rob communities of informed consent. That then means elections become simple bait-and-switch operations, where the public unknowingly installs ideologues who govern with agendas far removed from the community’s values. Or, as in the case before DeForest voters, replacing one outlandish conservative with another equally outlandish one.

As I have written at length in past posts about this recall election, my dad served 40 consecutive years as a local town board supervisor in rural Hancock, Wisconsin. I learned a great deal about why people want to be asked for their votes, listened to after the votes have long been counted, and dealt with honestly. During my young years, I learned why trust matters in government. Even as that town board met in our family home around the kitchen table on a monthly schedule, while mom served her famous brownies (coconut was the key), or I streaked as a seven-year-old in the midst of a meeting. (I trust the minutes did not reflect that moment.) It would have been beyond the scope of possibility for anyone in our area to have run against another member of the board without complete openness and candor with the voters. Yes, I write of what for me started in the 1970s and continued into the 21st Century. But surely that same decency and frankness from candidates with a mindfulness for the needs of the voters exists in DeFoest in 2025.

I trust the voters of DeForest, who have proudly displayed their love of democracy during this long process cast their ballot on September 16th for Alicia Williams.

Gun Control Wins With Largest Jury Verdict In U.S. History

On By dekeriversIn Gun Control, Guns, Law, SocietyLeave a comment

This is the type of news story that should provide hope for Americans who are so very tired and ashamed of the deadly gun violence that plagues our nation.

A Baltimore jury has delivered the largest verdict ever leveled against a gun dealer in American history: $62 million in damages against Hanover Armory, a gun retailer in Hanover, Maryland, accused of flooding Baltimore with untraceable ghost gun kits. After just 90 minutes of deliberation, the jury found the gun store negligent and concluded that its business practices directly contributed to Baltimore’s gun violence crisis.

Baltimore first began its legal fight against ghost guns in June 2022 when the city, working with Brady United Against Gun Violence, sued Polymer80 — once the largest ghost gun manufacturer in the country — and Hanover Armory for allegedly selling unserialized Polymer80 gun-building kits without conducting background checks on customers, creating a public nuisance. In announcing the verdict, Baltimore noted that ghost gun recoveries had surged nearly 1,500 percent in the city between 2019 and 2022, and were generally “linked to shootings, homicides, and youth-involved crimes.”

In a statement, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott’s office noted that the amount paid by Hanover Armory will be distributed to three community violence intervention groups.

Like other gun control advocates nationwide, I am thrilled with the courtroom outcome. We are all too aware of the neutered political landscape where too many lawmakers are beholden to the National Rifle Association. As such, the courtroom has emerged as the most potent battleground for gun control supporters to place their efforts. I recall conversations with friends in the 1990s that the courtroom was the best place for those of us demanding the right to gay marriage in the country. The news from last week of the $62 million verdict against Hanover Armory is far more than a legal milestone. Make no mistake about what this means for cities all across the nation. This is a roadmap for how cities can reclaim their streets from the grip of the madness of unchecked firearm proliferation.

Hanover Armory thought they figured out a nifty trick to tap into the criminal and juvenile market for guns: sell guns disassembled in a box, call them “kits,” and throw those “pesky laws” that are in place to stop gun dealers from selling guns to kids and criminals out the window. Laws like asking for IDs, conducting Brady Background Checks, and keeping records of sales.

The deadly impact was immediate. Sold without ID checks or serial numbers, law enforcement can’t track ghost guns back to the buyer after they’re recovered. Hanover Armory thought their “nifty trick” pulled the wool over the regulators’ eyes. Hanover Armory thought it could finally tap into the lucrative criminal market for guns.

Since 2006, Caffeinated Politics has demonstrated how the NRA has used its outsized influence over the political system. We have witnessed how the most modest gun reform efforts are smothered in the cradle by the NRA. We only need to look at the undisputed overwhelming public support for measures like universal background checks and bans on assault weapons that are not implemented due to craven pols and greedy and merciless gun manufacturers.

But juries in a courtroom don’t answer to NRA goons. They answer to the law. And to the sense of justice that guides our legal system.

Baltimore’s lawsuit against Hanover Armory was a masterclass in legal strategy. The city argued that Hanover’s sale of untraceable “ghost guns” which are assembled from kits without serial numbers or background checks, created a public nuisance and fueled violent crime. This was far more than a financial win. I argue this was a moral victory. It was also a message with an intended threat to reckless and soulless gun dealers nationwide. If you flood communities with weapons designed to evade accountability, you will be held accountable.

I have been advocating for gun control for over 50 years. I am glad to see, though slow this process has been, that people are investing in legal teams, partnering with cities, and taking the fight to courtrooms. This win last week was more proof that justice is on our side as we work to stem and prevent gun deaths and violence.

Trump’s Partisan Moves Creates Postal Crisis

On By dekeriversIn Donald Trump, International1 Comment

Americans are learning a new term this summer. De minimis. It is a Latin phrase meaning of trifling importance or of minimal things used to describe something so minor or insignificant that it is disregarded by the law, courts, or for accounting purposes. But when it comes to screwing things up that are minimal or insignificant, we are witnessing Donald Trump go to all lengths imaginable to burden the nation with bureaucratic self-sabotage.

I am not sure about your home, but I can say that James and I have experienced the negative impacts of the Trump administration’s abrupt elimination of the de minimis exemption for low-value parcels. No one needs to tell us that Trump has triggered an international postal crisis. Books that we ordered from European booksellers are being held in limbo. This weekend, I read that there has been an 80% collapse in global postal traffic to the United States. That is simply unacceptable due to how this seismic disruption has created havoc in the lives of everyday Americans who rely on affordable international goods, gifts, and essentials.

Many in the country are asking what de minimis is and how it relates to the postal system. For decades, this rule allowed parcels valued under $800 to enter the U.S. without incurring customs duties. For those in our communities who operate small businesses, it has proven to be a practical policy. It supported them and allowed their customers to have goods shipped to homes far and wide promptly. It clearly jazzed up global commerce. With the same protectionist derangement that Trump has rained down upon nations around the globe, he signed an executive order on July 30 eliminating this exemption. What followed has reduced revenues for businesses, and customers are angry and frustrated.

Eighty-eight postal operators around the world have suspended some or all services to the United States. The Universal Postal Union a pillar of international cooperation since 1874, has been blindsided. With no infrastructure in place to collect and remit duties, foreign carriers and postal services were left scrambling. Airlines refused to shoulder the burden. Customs systems buckled. And the UPU, tasked with ensuring the free circulation of mail, was forced into emergency triage.

Talk about a colossal (insert your favorite term). No one can claim this is just a bump in the road or a mere blunder. It can only be labeled as what it is. A massive screwup. Millions of Americans now face delays, surcharges, or outright loss of access to international goods. Small retailers who depend on overseas suppliers are caught in the crossfire. Book readers in this home are left wondering how this mess could be happening in the 21st Century?

What makes this mess worse is the sophomoric way the Trump White House is trying to justify this (again, insert your own term) by claiming the exemption was a “loophole” for criminals and foreign profiteers. (Contractors still owed money by Trump and his family have a thing or two to say about criminals and illegal profiteers.) The worldwide scale of disruption over this issue by the Trump Administration is yet more proof of how dreadful a choice American voters made in 2024.

This reminds me of how Trump had wanted to blow up the ACA and have no replacement to implement upon detonation of the existing plan. With de minimis, Trump didn’t just close a loophole. They blew up a global logistics network without a viable alternative in place. The UPU is now racing to implement a technical fix, including a landed-cost calculator and customs integration tools. That means you and I are going to pay more money for the goods we ordered. The ones who should have their noses rubbed in this mess are the ones in the executive branch, who seem to have no sense of urgency to fix the matter they so completely broke.

This is what happens when the machinery of global cooperation is treated as expendable collateral in a domestic political stunt from a profoundly ignorant person elected by equally ignorant voters.

Great Wisconsin Quilt Show And Trump’s Tariffs

On By dekeriversIn Donald Trump, Economics, TariffLeave a comment

This weekend, the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show was held at the Dane County Alliance Energy Center. There were many creatively designed and colorful examples of craftsmanship and advanced skills. These were pieces of art, and a joy to look at as they were placed in long rows for people to slowly walk along and view. I thought about the women I had watched many years ago gather on a Saturday afternoon in Ozone, Arkansas, working on a quilt that would match the magnificence of the ones this weekend in Dane County. Even when we are aware of the computerized ways to aid with creating a quilt, it was impossible not to think of the traditional ways they were once made while attending the show. But it was the interaction with the sellers of products in the quilt-making world that made the afternoon even more meaningful.

In conversations with vendors from Arizona to Iowa to Virginia, a continuous theme emerged and was expressed by those displaying their goods and promoting their services. Donald Trump’s tariffs are hurting their businesses. The tariffs are not popular. They are costing their businesses money. The tariffs are inflating their purchasing costs. The lower sales and reduction in revenues can be tracked from their previous years of purchasing and profits.

A business owner from Virginia selling cloth and other items told me one of her suppliers had bought ample stock late last year in advance of Trump‘s threatened tariffs on the campaign trail. With that product now distributed and sold, the cost is going to increase. One of the items she pointed out was devices to assist in making blanket patterns, which contained both a plastic portion and a metal portion. The plastic was made in this country, but the metal came from abroad, and the cost would noticeably increase for her next order.

I asked if she would need to increase her prices. “Absolutely,” was her honest response. She then offered the truth about tariffs that this White House continually denies. “Tariffs are a tax increase”.

An Iowa businesswoman said that her cloth averages about $12 a yard, but due to the costs of the tariffs, fabric prices will be increasing by $.50 in the coming months. When I asked what that would do for planning for business costs as she closes out this year and looks to 2026, she told me that she’ll just be buying less product.

An Arizona businessperson said 2024 was a good year, but this year sales are down. “People are not as free with their money. There is uncertainty about the future, and let’s be honest, a new sewing machine when put up against household needs, falls in importance”.

One vendor told me at last week’s quilt show in Michigan, comments were heard about the increased price of cloth, with terms of “cost-gouging” being used by some customers. “It is dawning on regular people that tariffs are costly.”

Summing up, the conversations with business people in the quilting profession leave me with a few conclusions. Profits are down, prices are up, businesses have suffered, shoppers are unhappy with increased costs, and are pulling back on sales. There is no doubt the people I talked with love what they do, even though there were no optimistic hues about the economy to be found among the colorful quilted designs.

(P.S. James asked me if I needed to seemingly talk to everybody. My readers know the answer was yes.)

GOP Deserves Madison ‘Sex Orgy’ Cawthorn, Now That George Santos Is In Prison

On By dekeriversIn Conservatives, Politics, RepublicansLeave a comment

The last time I wrote about Madison Cawthorn was in 2022, when I posted about the conservative Republican congressman from North Carolina donning female lingerie. I said what was factually apparent. The current base of the Republican Party is simply hard to take seriously. Without policy ideas and maturity among much of their elected class, we are left talking about their oddities, outlandish words, and behavior.

Such as today’s latest news about one of the creepier House members, North Carolina’s Madison Cawthorn. His own admitted lies about being invited to sex orgies in the nation’s Capital left some wondering just how much counseling it would take to unwind his spool of troubles.

Then I got to the heart of the matter on Caffeinated Politics.

I couldn’t care less about the personal sex life of the wheelchair-bound Cawthorn, but it does rankle when he plays traditional Christian principles for a cheap partisan purpose while pushing his troubling narrative about a twisted brand of masculinity that damages young males, while also living his double life.

These types need to be called out publicly when they use their interpretation of the Bible along with conservative politics to undermine gay people or transgender people.

Why this man is making headlines for politicos now is that he is preparing to run for Florida’s 19th Congressional District seat. At the start, one has to ask how Bible-thumper Speaker Mike Johnson will deal with someone who clearly does not pretend to monitor his own online porn searches, a practice the Louisiana conservative has publicly talked about engaging in with his son over the years. I already mentioned creepier House members in this post, but if the shoe fits, I’ll repeat the phrase.

For those not aware of this luminary, let me remind readers that Cawthorn alleged, without evidence, that his GOP colleagues used cocaine and invited him to orgies. The accusation angered a wide swath of his colleagues, but Cawthorn later admitted to House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy that his claims were “exaggerated.”

George Santos, doubtless, was taking notes for a future campaign.

Let’s talk a bit about Cawthorn’s assertion that some of his fellow elected members invited him to sexual orgies. Or that cocaine was used in his presence.

The first-term conservative said he received invitations along the lines of: “‘Well, hey, we’re going to have kind of a sexual get-together at one of our homes, you should come’.” The 26-year-old described his response on the podcast “Warrior Poet Society”: “I’m like, ‘What did you just ask me to come to?’ And then you realize they are asking you to come to an orgy.”

The fact that Cawthorn made such a public statement before any sex was actually undertaken is what needs to be addressed. If the offer actually happened, what was to be gained by making it known? But since it was likely a self-generated moment of delusion, one has to then ask what the deeper problem is with Cawthorn?

It is one thing to have an elected official with a zipper problem caught after his affair and publicly embarrassed. The post-coitus (Sheldon Copper terminology) blame game then starts with booze or pills, and a lack of momentary mindfulness being the root cause of forgetting a spouse was back at home.

But how do we explain Cawthorn, who proved to be a walking minefield of odd behavior, creating a sex scandal out of supposed conversations? Washington and the rest of the nation know what a real sex scandal looks like. And what a mere attempt at headline-grabbing looks like, too.

I suspect that Cawthorn misses the headlines and needs some cash, so he is testing the political waters. Serious-minded people within the GOP are unlikely to be duped……….

Oh, wait!

Donald Trump Turns Tasteful Refinement Of White House Into Tacky Bordello

On By dekeriversIn Donald Trump, White House, White Trailer TrashLeave a comment

This summer, a younger friend who has spent time in Europe said the White House with Donald Trump in it looks like Versailles on steroids. I had to laugh, but also very much agree. The people’s home has undergone a grotesque transformation. What we had always known with the White House being a classy reflection of American democracy now features gold trim on the ceilings, doorways, and even the cherubs perched above the fireplace. The Resolute Desk, once a symbol of quiet strength and presidential resolve, is now flanked by golden coasters and Rococo mirrors. The artwork has been stripped of its stylish frames and replaced with gold gaudiness. As my friend says, you can always tell who has ‘new money, as opposed to old money that comes with refined tastes. No one has ever needed to write about people with refined thinking and include Donald Trump.

The White House has long been far more than a physical structure. It has served as a place of continuity for our shared values. It is a place of humility, public service, and a quiet dignity that transcends partisanship. It’s where Lincoln pondered the fate of a divided nation, where Roosevelt steered us through the dreadful Second World War, and where Kennedy pondered the space race and man’s place on the moon. It’s not supposed to look like a casino lobby or a Mar-a-Lago showroom where whores pour drinks. It should not house a convicted rapist or a bed hopper looking for a rich man who posed naked for a magazine. But then, those are just my moral values and views that guide me in life. Republicans have proven to have a far different orange compass they follow.

(Below is a photo of the White House in 2024 and the bordello look in 2025.)

The iconic space in this home has been drenched in gold. Everything from curtains to vases, frames, trophies, platters, and vast amounts of gilding on shiny curlicued moldings to the toilets. Trump’s sycophants say the gold adds “life” to the building. I had to laugh when Vice President Vance claimed his son, age five, loves it because gold is his favorite color. But we should not design the White House to mimic the kid’s idea of a favorite playroom. In this House resides the seat of executive power in the world’s oldest democracy. Our national character should be on display. Not the cathouse hues that are at the center of Trump’s squalid character.

We are aware that Trump has a very limited understanding of many topics; history is just one of the most glaring. So, when I write that what he has done to the White House is tacky, gaudy, and an embarrassment, they are more than just adjectives conveying a visual fact. They are also based on American history. The White House was never meant to mimic European royalty. Our founders rejected monarchy for a reason. They built a republic grounded in common sense, not gold leaf. The original design of the White House was Federalist, restrained, and here is what Trump fails to grasp —–elegant. Even the Rose Garden, once a serene space for reflection and diplomacy, has been destroyed by this profoundly uncouth error of DNA..

I admit that what has sadly happened to our White House is a real reflection of Trump. The core of who he is far more resembles gilded toilets than a man who understands that true power lies in service, not spectacle. Or that serious contemplations and virtuous actions must transcend the lust for greed, continuous flattery, and ego-stroking.

I was at the White House in 1987, and the memory of what for me was a dream remains clearly in my mind. Traditional tasteful furniture, warm woods, soft lighting, and historical portraits were designed to speak of the shared narrative of the nation. The home was filled with dignity. But again, dignity and Trump are not words that have ever overlapped. There are so many stains that will need to be bleached away due to Trump. I look forward again to the time when the soul of our nation is projected from the White House.