Jack Hopkins raises a critical alarm: the unchecked expansion of executive war powers is not merely a policy failure—it is a constitutional and moral crisis. When decisions of war and peace are concentrated in a single office, with minimal oversight, the very framework designed to restrain power erodes. This isn’t hypothetical; it’s the present reality, and the question of accountability is urgent.
Jane, you’re putting your finger on the REAL danger.
This isn’t just about bad policy...or reckless leadership...it’s about what happens when war-making authority...drifts OUT of constitutional containment... and becomes normalized inside the executive branch.
When oversight weakens...accountability erodes quietly...NOT dramatically. That erosion is already underway. This isn’t a future risk...it’s a present condition...and it demands far more urgency than it’s receiving.
Jack, you are right on the money. I recall last year the press telling its readers and viewers that if the Gaza war does not happen, Netanyahu goes to prison. The same is true for Trump. Isreal justified keeping Netanyahu in power because “you don’t change government in the middle of a war!” This is the excuse Trump will use; “We can’t risk diminishing Trump’s power during a war.”
One more thought. Venezuela is not about oil or regime change; it’s about getting the American people used to the government taking police actions because Trump says so and putting the military on the border and in cities like LA and Chicago. I believe that one month before the mid-term elections, Trump will deploy the Guard and the military to every major Democratic stronghold and those cities where the vote may be close under the guise of ensuring safety for the voting public.
Jack’s solution is right on the money. “It’s visibility, pressure, patience, and refusal to emotionally collapse.”
Visibility – Epstein
Pressure – Democratic caucus submit an impeachment resolution every day congress is in session
Patience – visibility and pressure take time, never quit
Refusal to emotionally collapse – tolerate the negative and keep fighting when the threats arrive, which they will.
Steven...you’re tracking the logic of power correctly...and...I want to underline something important before going further.
The comparison you draw to Netanyahu isn’t about Israel...Gaza...or even war itself. It’s about a move leaders make when accountability becomes existential...they wrap themselves in continuity.
“Now is not the time” is one of the oldest shields in politics.
That doesn’t mean every conflict is manufactured for that purpose...but it does mean crises are often used once they exist. And once a public accepts that logic...it becomes reusable.
Where I want to slow the frame slightly is this...the danger isn’t one dramatic moment. It’s normalization...over time.
That’s why I keep coming back to boring...almost unglamorous discipline.
Visibility matters because it prevents quiet drift.
Pressure matters because institutions respond to friction...not outrage.
Patience matters because this is not a single news cycle problem.
And refusal to emotionally collapse matters...because fear is the real accelerant.
On Venezuela...the key question isn’t motive...it’s precedent.
What becomes thinkable. What becomes routine. What no longer shocks.
That’s the terrain where democracies actually lose ground.
The midterm scenarios you raise are exactly why emotional regulation is not a side issue...it’s central.
People who can tolerate uncertainty...and...keep acting...are the ones who preserve space for lawful resistance.
It seems that we have known all along that it would happen sometime if he won. There are too many ways attention was wanted in some ways and needs to be diverted in other ways.
As you pointed out, Steven Erick. the sending of troops and people to certain cities were trials in some ways, stepping stones. The twists he puts on it and his favorite news stations put on it make it sound like there is a need and that he is heroic rather than an instigator with motives. We could see that in the first term. Now the person wants strong glory and every opportunity to “prove” that he must maintain the position. The longer the position is maintained, the less concern there is about any consequences to be faced. It all seems highly calculated.
We must remain patiently vigilant, aware, and determined to get through these tough times.
Thank you to you, Jack, for explaining the categories, causes, and possible expectations of outcomes. Some of it seems tough to follow, but follow your suggestions we absolutely must!
I wish that the items of concern, now in part in progress, including oversight, could all be carried out to perfection soon. On the other hand, those situations fueled the drastic actions we have seen in the first place, and the planning had to have been in the works all along, as i expect still more plans are.
At times I wonder how the situation happened here. Other times I can see it plainly as I consider many people with blind acceptance and strong beliefs, mainly based on one source.
I wish everyone clarity, strength, faith, wisdom, continued guidance from Jack and other good souls, and an eventual peaceful road ahead.
Thank you. Since being on here earlier, I watched the video discussion at this site. Lev Parnas tells so much that we did not know. The plans in part from the first administration are part of what has happened. and much more is to come. I have suspected war and desired ownership of the world, involvement somehow of the two dictators one considers to be his buddies, and much of that is revealed in this long video.
As suspected, more plans are underway, even though we do not know exactly what they are, at the show of the business of the captured Venezuelan president was planned and that a distracting show of his transfer to the court today was exactly that, a show! Lev explained how who all had planned to make a production of the man being taken into court in New York City to arrive in a helicopter was not needed because the facility was only 10 minutes away by a bridge.
The video will also tell us about certain major newspapers having been aware of some of the happenings of early Saturday morning, as I understood it, yet they said nothing. There is so much more revealed at this site, and much more is to be revealed soon.
I apologize for the fact that language used is not my choice. However, I expect many people would like to be aware of the information. Here is the site.
Based on clues in the person’s rallies and speeches, the tangents, the fascination of power and the greed, along with associations and personality type, I feel that hints were there all along, but there still are surprises in this video.
Wayne...I grew up hearing that "time to make hay!" several times a week. And...in the summer...it was often literal. Some of the hardest work I've ever done in my life was bucking small bales of hay...in 100 degree August heat...and stacking it inside of a "no air flow" barn lol. Writing articles is SO much less "body demolishing." :)
Well, It worked for Netanyahu. Funny how security lapsed just in time to stop his corruption trial, let him consolidate power and commit the genocide he wanted for a long time. He got a lot of beachfront property out of it too.
Mary, there IS a pattern worth examining there...and it’s important to describe it precisely.
Moments of extreme security failure...have repeatedly coincided with political survival...for leaders under intense legal or coalition pressure.
In Israel’s case, the aftermath of October 7 did halt Netanyahu’s corruption trial...consolidate emergency authority...marginalize opposition...and place wartime decisions beyond ordinary accountability.
Whether by design...or...by consequence...war shifted the terrain in ways that benefited the executive.
That’s the danger: crises don’t have to be engineered to become politically useful...and once they are...restraint tends to vanish.
Spoke to staffers in our Congressional offices today. One staffer told me, "Well, did you see the senator's statement?" Statement schmatement. I WANT ACTION! I want lawsuits, I want impeachment, I want arrests, I want people put in stocks with cabbages thrown at them.
You are right. This is what I'm here for. And, well, here we are. Thanks for saying the dirty part out loud. At least, with your help, I could see it coming. There's a lot of power in that.
But to take the part that usually stays unspoken...and make it VISIBLE ENOUGH that it loses some of its power.
There’s real strength in seeing things early. Not because it guarantees control...but because it restores agency. When you can name a pattern...you’re no longer just reacting to it.
That’s what I’m here for.
Not predictions.
Not panic.
But ORIENTATION.
If you can see the terrain...you can CHOOSE how to move across it. You can pace yourself. You can decide WHERE to apply pressure...and where NOT to waste energy.
And...you’re right, there is power in that. Quiet power. Durable power.
I’m glad you’re here. We’ll keep doing this the same way...calmly...clearly...and without pretending things are simpler than they are.
Well, you were definitely right about… well everything but for me, especially… the BONUS section. That’s what I was waiting for. What the hell do we actually do? It feels like precious little that we can do but I’m definitely.. Loud.. where I can be. Social media.. friends.. family. I even called my Representative and Senators this morning and I HATE doing that but this is important so I sucked it up. Couldn’t speak with anyone… not that it would’ve mattered but I left messages where I could… my Rep. is Chuck Edwards (R) 🙄 who I got 2 emails from today and neither one even mentioned the situation in Venezuela. I’m not surprised. My Senators are Ted Budd (R) who seems to lean further right by the hour and Thom Tillis (R) who mostly seems to be hiding out.
I wish I could believe that Congress would do something meaningful… but I don’t. Feel free to disagree because I’d love to be wrong here. Is there anyone, anywhere who can or will do anything to stop this? or even slow it down? Trump is getting more and more bold and unhinged with every passing hour. You can see the stress getting to him though. You didn’t mention your thoughts on what he might do next… Will he attack another country? Greenland is a worry because Denmark is a member of NATO. Would he dare go there? He’s really off the rails and seems to be loving this. Mexico? Columbia? Iran? Venezuela again if they don’t… OBEY him? Etc, etc., etc.
I’m not panicked… much… but I am VERY concerned. What comes next? Thoughts?
God I’m glad I’m here or I’d be lost in a fog of rage, grief and despair. You keep me grounded and I guess that’s the best we can hope for in this insane time.
Susan...first, let me say this plainly: what you did this morning MATTERS.
Calling, leaving messages...being loud even when it feels futile...that’s not symbolic. It’s PRESSURE. And pressure only works....when people KEEP applying it even after they’re told it doesn’t.
You’re also right about Congress as an institution. It is slow...risk-averse...and deeply reluctant to confront executive war power once “security” language takes hold.
Historically, Congress almost never stops a president at the front end of escalation.
Where it does matter is in creating FRICTION....delays...scrutiny...legal exposure...and political cost.
That friction is unglamorous...but...it’s REAL.
As for whether anyone can slow this down: yes...but not in the way people usually imagine.
The brakes are not one heroic actor. They are SYSTEMS under strain:
*Courts and injunctions
*Career military leadership wary of open-ended escalation
*Intelligence agencies concerned about blowback
*Allies who refuse to cooperate
*Markets that react badly to instability
*Bureaucrats who slow-walk dangerous orders
*And sustained public visibility that raises the cost of recklessness
NONE of those stop things cleanly. What they do...is complicate...delay...and expose. That matters more than people think.
On “what comes next”...the pattern to watch is not WHICH country... but what kind of MOVE.
BIG wars are risky. Smaller escalations...threats...strikes...coercive shows of force...are FAR more likely. They test boundaries. They condition the public. They expand precedent.
Greenland...Mexico...Iran...those are not random fears. They’re all useful as leverage points. Whether any specific one happens depends less on desire and more on resistance.
You’re also right about one important thing most people miss: stress is showing.
And stress...PLUS power...is not calming...it’s disinhibiting.
Finally, Susan...and this matters...what you wrote at the end is not small. Fog of rage... grief...and despair...is exactly what power feeds on. Staying oriented...connected...and mentally steady is not passive. It’s a form of resistance that keeps everything else possible.
You’re not wrong to be concerned.
You’re not alone in it.
And...no...this doesn’t end because ONE person “does the right thing.”
It bends...when ENOUGH people...REFUSE to emotionally collapse...and keep applying PRESSURE where they can...even when it feels inadequate.
Thank you Jack. You answered all my questions and concerns and more. I appreciate the time you take to do that. It matters to me and it helps more than you can imagine… even when it’s not what I want to hear. Understanding the situation is the first step in dealing with it. The clear analysis you provide makes all the difference.
Being here is such a blessing, Susan, and I understand your feelings. I feel so fortunate to read Jack’s newsletter and the many comments. (I wish I could read more tonight, but the eyes give out sooner these years, leaving me to hope what I wrote says what I intended!)
Great article Jack! I love how the #1 draft dodger doesn’t see this as ‘nation building’ because it’s not far away! Trump is just fucking nuts, which he proves more and more every day! #HOLDFAST
Elizabeth...you're welcome. I like, "Trump is just fucking nuts..." because it communicates a fairly factual thought...to the emotional part of the brain. There are some realities we need to not just think about...but FEEL.
I just finished watching Lawrence O'Donnell rail against Trump saying that Trump wants to help Marco Rubio realize his dream of a liberated Cuba. O'Donnell must have been hard up for a story line tonight. Trump doesn't care about anyone but himself. So his defense of Rubio is a diversion, and O'Donnell bought into it.
47 has five grandsons whose birth years reportedly are 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2016, and thus are, at least, ten years old. Within the next eight years, they will be required to register with the Selective Service. Do you predict, that as the madmen of the current U.S. administration engage in activities that may very well cause WW3, the military draft will be re-enacted? If so, do you think the sons of wealthy men will get a bye?
Mary E, this is a fair question...and it deserves a sober answer...not reassurance theater.
Fortunately, I was prepared to answer this, as I had a long and thorough holiday discussion with a family member who is more deeply informed on this specific topic than I am.
First, on the likelihood of a draft:
A reinstated draft is not the default...even in a major conflict.
The modern U.S. military is built around a professional volunteer force...contractors...and allied capacity.
Politically, a draft is one of the most EXPLOSIVE moves any administration can make.
Leaders avoid it until manpower strain becomes...undeniable...and...unavoidable.
That said, Selective Service exists for a reason. It’s a contingency mechanism. If a conflict were to expand dramatically...multiple theaters...sustained casualties...long duration...the political resistance to a draft would weaken.
Not overnight. But...it WOULD weaken.
So...the honest answer is: possible...but not imminent...and dependent on scale...duration... and attrition...not rhetoric.
Now...to the harder part: would the sons of wealthy men get a bye?
History says this:
They don’t get an official exemption...BUT...they get structural insulation.
In Vietnam...deferments...medical classifications...education status...National Guard placements...and political connections all mattered. Today, the mechanisms would look different...but the effect would rhyme:
*Legal maneuvering
*Medical and psychological disqualifications
*Safer assignments
*Guard and reserve pathways
*Delay and exemption strategies unavailable to families without resources
The draft doesn’t fall evenly. It never has.
That doesn’t mean it’s a foregone injustice...BUT...it does mean inequality shows up fast when systems are stressed.
The more important point, though, is this:
Draft fear is NOT what drives restraint at the top. Political COST is.
Public visibility. Institutional resistance. Allied pushback. Economic reaction. Legal friction.
That’s where pressure STILL matters.
And...I want to say this directly: worrying about your children doesn’t make you alarmist. It makes you attentive.
The mistake would be letting that fear turn into paralysis...or despair. The people who keep societies from sliding...are the ones who stay engaged BEFORE the worst-case scenarios harden into policy.
This is not a moment for panic.
It is a moment for clarity...steadiness...and pressure.
Hold fast doesn’t mean “assume the worst.”
It means don’t look away...while the future is being shaped.
Went thru basic training with a bunch of 24/25 year old college graduates; that had all joined the National Guard once their college deferments expired upon graduation...we called them Nixons Girls...
Thx, Jack, I hadn’t thought about contractors and as far as ‘allied capacity’ goes, I don’t know who would be allied with us anymore, although I think a few countries may have issued statements of support, to greater and lesser degrees, for our invasion of Venezuela, so maybe we do have some allies remaining.
Jack, no one has raised an issue that is bugging me. If the reason for all of this is to bring Maduro to justice, or get the oil, or whatever the excuse is tomorrow that means it was not about drugs and therefore the attacks on the boats were completely unfounded. It was just murder of innocents to set up their ultimate goal. Despicable.
Y'all, it's not just trump. He's simply their useful idiot. There is A LOT more behind this. Venezuela is part of the Project 2025 Plan (See Andra Watkins, "For Such a Time as This" SubStack). The Maduro kidnapping has been in planning, preparation and practice for months.
When I read what had happened, Knew he was going to continue if possible with more countries as every time he says he is thinking of something he is projecting his next move. Many people don't believe he is going to do the next thing..My thoughts recently have coincided with some of things you have written about. He has already increased the national debt, his tariffs are not going to cover that. I would think the money people would realize going to war and all thiscrap that has been done in the caribbean and pacific with the military what have the cost been and how much did this recent activity with Venezuela cost us??? Then all the crap being done to the oval office, the tearing down of the east wing and all his other shenanigans like plastering his name on the Kennedy Center (which really made me almost throw up!!!) I am betting he has already stiffed the people he has doing this stuff. Jack I must thank for the glycine..I have been able to sleep like a baby compared to before using it.
Jack Hopkins raises a critical alarm: the unchecked expansion of executive war powers is not merely a policy failure—it is a constitutional and moral crisis. When decisions of war and peace are concentrated in a single office, with minimal oversight, the very framework designed to restrain power erodes. This isn’t hypothetical; it’s the present reality, and the question of accountability is urgent.
Jane, you’re putting your finger on the REAL danger.
This isn’t just about bad policy...or reckless leadership...it’s about what happens when war-making authority...drifts OUT of constitutional containment... and becomes normalized inside the executive branch.
When oversight weakens...accountability erodes quietly...NOT dramatically. That erosion is already underway. This isn’t a future risk...it’s a present condition...and it demands far more urgency than it’s receiving.
#HoldFast
-Jack
Yes Jane! 👍👍
YES!
Jack, you are right on the money. I recall last year the press telling its readers and viewers that if the Gaza war does not happen, Netanyahu goes to prison. The same is true for Trump. Isreal justified keeping Netanyahu in power because “you don’t change government in the middle of a war!” This is the excuse Trump will use; “We can’t risk diminishing Trump’s power during a war.”
One more thought. Venezuela is not about oil or regime change; it’s about getting the American people used to the government taking police actions because Trump says so and putting the military on the border and in cities like LA and Chicago. I believe that one month before the mid-term elections, Trump will deploy the Guard and the military to every major Democratic stronghold and those cities where the vote may be close under the guise of ensuring safety for the voting public.
Jack’s solution is right on the money. “It’s visibility, pressure, patience, and refusal to emotionally collapse.”
Visibility – Epstein
Pressure – Democratic caucus submit an impeachment resolution every day congress is in session
Patience – visibility and pressure take time, never quit
Refusal to emotionally collapse – tolerate the negative and keep fighting when the threats arrive, which they will.
Steven...you’re tracking the logic of power correctly...and...I want to underline something important before going further.
The comparison you draw to Netanyahu isn’t about Israel...Gaza...or even war itself. It’s about a move leaders make when accountability becomes existential...they wrap themselves in continuity.
“Now is not the time” is one of the oldest shields in politics.
That doesn’t mean every conflict is manufactured for that purpose...but it does mean crises are often used once they exist. And once a public accepts that logic...it becomes reusable.
Where I want to slow the frame slightly is this...the danger isn’t one dramatic moment. It’s normalization...over time.
That’s why I keep coming back to boring...almost unglamorous discipline.
Visibility matters because it prevents quiet drift.
Pressure matters because institutions respond to friction...not outrage.
Patience matters because this is not a single news cycle problem.
And refusal to emotionally collapse matters...because fear is the real accelerant.
On Venezuela...the key question isn’t motive...it’s precedent.
What becomes thinkable. What becomes routine. What no longer shocks.
That’s the terrain where democracies actually lose ground.
The midterm scenarios you raise are exactly why emotional regulation is not a side issue...it’s central.
People who can tolerate uncertainty...and...keep acting...are the ones who preserve space for lawful resistance.
So...yes, Steven...stay visible. Stay procedural. Stay stubborn.
Not because it guarantees a clean outcome...nothing does...but...because it preserves agency...which is what authoritarian systems try to erode first.
You’re not wrong to think this way.
And...don’t let the thinking turn into anticipatory exhaustion.
That’s the line I’m always watching.
And I’m glad YOU are here doing the work alongside the rest of us!
-Jack
It seems that we have known all along that it would happen sometime if he won. There are too many ways attention was wanted in some ways and needs to be diverted in other ways.
As you pointed out, Steven Erick. the sending of troops and people to certain cities were trials in some ways, stepping stones. The twists he puts on it and his favorite news stations put on it make it sound like there is a need and that he is heroic rather than an instigator with motives. We could see that in the first term. Now the person wants strong glory and every opportunity to “prove” that he must maintain the position. The longer the position is maintained, the less concern there is about any consequences to be faced. It all seems highly calculated.
We must remain patiently vigilant, aware, and determined to get through these tough times.
Thank you to you, Jack, for explaining the categories, causes, and possible expectations of outcomes. Some of it seems tough to follow, but follow your suggestions we absolutely must!
I wish that the items of concern, now in part in progress, including oversight, could all be carried out to perfection soon. On the other hand, those situations fueled the drastic actions we have seen in the first place, and the planning had to have been in the works all along, as i expect still more plans are.
At times I wonder how the situation happened here. Other times I can see it plainly as I consider many people with blind acceptance and strong beliefs, mainly based on one source.
I wish everyone clarity, strength, faith, wisdom, continued guidance from Jack and other good souls, and an eventual peaceful road ahead.
#Holdfast!
Well thought out. Keep up the fight
Thank you. Since being on here earlier, I watched the video discussion at this site. Lev Parnas tells so much that we did not know. The plans in part from the first administration are part of what has happened. and much more is to come. I have suspected war and desired ownership of the world, involvement somehow of the two dictators one considers to be his buddies, and much of that is revealed in this long video.
As suspected, more plans are underway, even though we do not know exactly what they are, at the show of the business of the captured Venezuelan president was planned and that a distracting show of his transfer to the court today was exactly that, a show! Lev explained how who all had planned to make a production of the man being taken into court in New York City to arrive in a helicopter was not needed because the facility was only 10 minutes away by a bridge.
The video will also tell us about certain major newspapers having been aware of some of the happenings of early Saturday morning, as I understood it, yet they said nothing. There is so much more revealed at this site, and much more is to be revealed soon.
I apologize for the fact that language used is not my choice. However, I expect many people would like to be aware of the information. Here is the site.
https://levremembers.substack.com/p/while-he-was-inside-the-white-house?publication_id=4218057&play_audio=true&r=17g578&utm_medium=email
Based on clues in the person’s rallies and speeches, the tangents, the fascination of power and the greed, along with associations and personality type, I feel that hints were there all along, but there still are surprises in this video.
#HOLDFAST
Markets agree with you Jack, it's time to make hay! (is that an antiquated expression, or what?)
Wayne...I grew up hearing that "time to make hay!" several times a week. And...in the summer...it was often literal. Some of the hardest work I've ever done in my life was bucking small bales of hay...in 100 degree August heat...and stacking it inside of a "no air flow" barn lol. Writing articles is SO much less "body demolishing." :)
Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
-Jack
It’s a very normal expression, Wayne. “Make hay while the sun still shines!”
Well, It worked for Netanyahu. Funny how security lapsed just in time to stop his corruption trial, let him consolidate power and commit the genocide he wanted for a long time. He got a lot of beachfront property out of it too.
Mary, there IS a pattern worth examining there...and it’s important to describe it precisely.
Moments of extreme security failure...have repeatedly coincided with political survival...for leaders under intense legal or coalition pressure.
In Israel’s case, the aftermath of October 7 did halt Netanyahu’s corruption trial...consolidate emergency authority...marginalize opposition...and place wartime decisions beyond ordinary accountability.
Whether by design...or...by consequence...war shifted the terrain in ways that benefited the executive.
That’s the danger: crises don’t have to be engineered to become politically useful...and once they are...restraint tends to vanish.
Keep the pressure on, Mary!
-Jack
Spoke to staffers in our Congressional offices today. One staffer told me, "Well, did you see the senator's statement?" Statement schmatement. I WANT ACTION! I want lawsuits, I want impeachment, I want arrests, I want people put in stocks with cabbages thrown at them.
Roberta...I LOVE that fire, and...the exactness of your communication. Well done!
-Jack
Overripe cabbages!
Thanks for the ability to share this! As usual, great stuff.
#HoldFast
You're welcome, James. Thank YOU.
#HoldFast
-Jack
You are right. This is what I'm here for. And, well, here we are. Thanks for saying the dirty part out loud. At least, with your help, I could see it coming. There's a lot of power in that.
Coco, that’s exactly the point.
Not to scare people.
Not to overwhelm them.
But to take the part that usually stays unspoken...and make it VISIBLE ENOUGH that it loses some of its power.
There’s real strength in seeing things early. Not because it guarantees control...but because it restores agency. When you can name a pattern...you’re no longer just reacting to it.
That’s what I’m here for.
Not predictions.
Not panic.
But ORIENTATION.
If you can see the terrain...you can CHOOSE how to move across it. You can pace yourself. You can decide WHERE to apply pressure...and where NOT to waste energy.
And...you’re right, there is power in that. Quiet power. Durable power.
I’m glad you’re here. We’ll keep doing this the same way...calmly...clearly...and without pretending things are simpler than they are.
#HoldFast
-Jack
Well, you were definitely right about… well everything but for me, especially… the BONUS section. That’s what I was waiting for. What the hell do we actually do? It feels like precious little that we can do but I’m definitely.. Loud.. where I can be. Social media.. friends.. family. I even called my Representative and Senators this morning and I HATE doing that but this is important so I sucked it up. Couldn’t speak with anyone… not that it would’ve mattered but I left messages where I could… my Rep. is Chuck Edwards (R) 🙄 who I got 2 emails from today and neither one even mentioned the situation in Venezuela. I’m not surprised. My Senators are Ted Budd (R) who seems to lean further right by the hour and Thom Tillis (R) who mostly seems to be hiding out.
I wish I could believe that Congress would do something meaningful… but I don’t. Feel free to disagree because I’d love to be wrong here. Is there anyone, anywhere who can or will do anything to stop this? or even slow it down? Trump is getting more and more bold and unhinged with every passing hour. You can see the stress getting to him though. You didn’t mention your thoughts on what he might do next… Will he attack another country? Greenland is a worry because Denmark is a member of NATO. Would he dare go there? He’s really off the rails and seems to be loving this. Mexico? Columbia? Iran? Venezuela again if they don’t… OBEY him? Etc, etc., etc.
I’m not panicked… much… but I am VERY concerned. What comes next? Thoughts?
God I’m glad I’m here or I’d be lost in a fog of rage, grief and despair. You keep me grounded and I guess that’s the best we can hope for in this insane time.
Thank you Jack!
#HOLDFAST
~Susan
Susan...first, let me say this plainly: what you did this morning MATTERS.
Calling, leaving messages...being loud even when it feels futile...that’s not symbolic. It’s PRESSURE. And pressure only works....when people KEEP applying it even after they’re told it doesn’t.
You’re also right about Congress as an institution. It is slow...risk-averse...and deeply reluctant to confront executive war power once “security” language takes hold.
Historically, Congress almost never stops a president at the front end of escalation.
Where it does matter is in creating FRICTION....delays...scrutiny...legal exposure...and political cost.
That friction is unglamorous...but...it’s REAL.
As for whether anyone can slow this down: yes...but not in the way people usually imagine.
The brakes are not one heroic actor. They are SYSTEMS under strain:
*Courts and injunctions
*Career military leadership wary of open-ended escalation
*Intelligence agencies concerned about blowback
*Allies who refuse to cooperate
*Markets that react badly to instability
*Bureaucrats who slow-walk dangerous orders
*And sustained public visibility that raises the cost of recklessness
NONE of those stop things cleanly. What they do...is complicate...delay...and expose. That matters more than people think.
On “what comes next”...the pattern to watch is not WHICH country... but what kind of MOVE.
BIG wars are risky. Smaller escalations...threats...strikes...coercive shows of force...are FAR more likely. They test boundaries. They condition the public. They expand precedent.
Greenland...Mexico...Iran...those are not random fears. They’re all useful as leverage points. Whether any specific one happens depends less on desire and more on resistance.
You’re also right about one important thing most people miss: stress is showing.
And stress...PLUS power...is not calming...it’s disinhibiting.
That’s why staying GROUNDED matters. Panic accelerates escalation. Clear-eyed resistance...slows it.
Finally, Susan...and this matters...what you wrote at the end is not small. Fog of rage... grief...and despair...is exactly what power feeds on. Staying oriented...connected...and mentally steady is not passive. It’s a form of resistance that keeps everything else possible.
You’re not wrong to be concerned.
You’re not alone in it.
And...no...this doesn’t end because ONE person “does the right thing.”
It bends...when ENOUGH people...REFUSE to emotionally collapse...and keep applying PRESSURE where they can...even when it feels inadequate.
That’s what hold fast actually means.
I’m glad YOU'RE here too!
#HOLDFAST
-Jack
Thank you Jack. You answered all my questions and concerns and more. I appreciate the time you take to do that. It matters to me and it helps more than you can imagine… even when it’s not what I want to hear. Understanding the situation is the first step in dealing with it. The clear analysis you provide makes all the difference.
#Holdfast
PS. Wayne is right. Wall Street is preparing to take full advantage of this war. They always do in my limited experience.
Being here is such a blessing, Susan, and I understand your feelings. I feel so fortunate to read Jack’s newsletter and the many comments. (I wish I could read more tonight, but the eyes give out sooner these years, leaving me to hope what I wrote says what I intended!)
#HOLDFAST!
Great article Jack! I love how the #1 draft dodger doesn’t see this as ‘nation building’ because it’s not far away! Trump is just fucking nuts, which he proves more and more every day! #HOLDFAST
Elizabeth...you're welcome. I like, "Trump is just fucking nuts..." because it communicates a fairly factual thought...to the emotional part of the brain. There are some realities we need to not just think about...but FEEL.
#HOLDFAST
-Jack
Really well phrased.
I just finished watching Lawrence O'Donnell rail against Trump saying that Trump wants to help Marco Rubio realize his dream of a liberated Cuba. O'Donnell must have been hard up for a story line tonight. Trump doesn't care about anyone but himself. So his defense of Rubio is a diversion, and O'Donnell bought into it.
Yes...agreed. And, then he had Hakeen Jeffries on. Why...I don't know.
I want to send your article to every member of senate and house. How do I do that?
Barry...see if you can copy and paste and then place it in an email. I think that will work. If not...let me know. Great idea!
-Jack
47 has five grandsons whose birth years reportedly are 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2016, and thus are, at least, ten years old. Within the next eight years, they will be required to register with the Selective Service. Do you predict, that as the madmen of the current U.S. administration engage in activities that may very well cause WW3, the military draft will be re-enacted? If so, do you think the sons of wealthy men will get a bye?
Mary E, this is a fair question...and it deserves a sober answer...not reassurance theater.
Fortunately, I was prepared to answer this, as I had a long and thorough holiday discussion with a family member who is more deeply informed on this specific topic than I am.
First, on the likelihood of a draft:
A reinstated draft is not the default...even in a major conflict.
The modern U.S. military is built around a professional volunteer force...contractors...and allied capacity.
Politically, a draft is one of the most EXPLOSIVE moves any administration can make.
Leaders avoid it until manpower strain becomes...undeniable...and...unavoidable.
That said, Selective Service exists for a reason. It’s a contingency mechanism. If a conflict were to expand dramatically...multiple theaters...sustained casualties...long duration...the political resistance to a draft would weaken.
Not overnight. But...it WOULD weaken.
So...the honest answer is: possible...but not imminent...and dependent on scale...duration... and attrition...not rhetoric.
Now...to the harder part: would the sons of wealthy men get a bye?
History says this:
They don’t get an official exemption...BUT...they get structural insulation.
In Vietnam...deferments...medical classifications...education status...National Guard placements...and political connections all mattered. Today, the mechanisms would look different...but the effect would rhyme:
*Legal maneuvering
*Medical and psychological disqualifications
*Safer assignments
*Guard and reserve pathways
*Delay and exemption strategies unavailable to families without resources
The draft doesn’t fall evenly. It never has.
That doesn’t mean it’s a foregone injustice...BUT...it does mean inequality shows up fast when systems are stressed.
The more important point, though, is this:
Draft fear is NOT what drives restraint at the top. Political COST is.
Public visibility. Institutional resistance. Allied pushback. Economic reaction. Legal friction.
That’s where pressure STILL matters.
And...I want to say this directly: worrying about your children doesn’t make you alarmist. It makes you attentive.
The mistake would be letting that fear turn into paralysis...or despair. The people who keep societies from sliding...are the ones who stay engaged BEFORE the worst-case scenarios harden into policy.
This is not a moment for panic.
It is a moment for clarity...steadiness...and pressure.
Hold fast doesn’t mean “assume the worst.”
It means don’t look away...while the future is being shaped.
You’re asking the right questions, Mary E!
-Jack
Went thru basic training with a bunch of 24/25 year old college graduates; that had all joined the National Guard once their college deferments expired upon graduation...we called them Nixons Girls...
Thx, Jack, I hadn’t thought about contractors and as far as ‘allied capacity’ goes, I don’t know who would be allied with us anymore, although I think a few countries may have issued statements of support, to greater and lesser degrees, for our invasion of Venezuela, so maybe we do have some allies remaining.
It's only poor boys who go off to war. The legacy draft dodger will make sure his progeny are protected.
Agreed, CLF, or, as an alternative, they would get a cushy assignment and then, in the future, can claim having had military service.
Jack, no one has raised an issue that is bugging me. If the reason for all of this is to bring Maduro to justice, or get the oil, or whatever the excuse is tomorrow that means it was not about drugs and therefore the attacks on the boats were completely unfounded. It was just murder of innocents to set up their ultimate goal. Despicable.
Y'all, it's not just trump. He's simply their useful idiot. There is A LOT more behind this. Venezuela is part of the Project 2025 Plan (See Andra Watkins, "For Such a Time as This" SubStack). The Maduro kidnapping has been in planning, preparation and practice for months.
Focus on the Epstein files, people! That’s how we topple this whole dangerous and disgusting house of cards
When I read what had happened, Knew he was going to continue if possible with more countries as every time he says he is thinking of something he is projecting his next move. Many people don't believe he is going to do the next thing..My thoughts recently have coincided with some of things you have written about. He has already increased the national debt, his tariffs are not going to cover that. I would think the money people would realize going to war and all thiscrap that has been done in the caribbean and pacific with the military what have the cost been and how much did this recent activity with Venezuela cost us??? Then all the crap being done to the oval office, the tearing down of the east wing and all his other shenanigans like plastering his name on the Kennedy Center (which really made me almost throw up!!!) I am betting he has already stiffed the people he has doing this stuff. Jack I must thank for the glycine..I have been able to sleep like a baby compared to before using it.