POLITICS - Speaking out and preparing for the upcoming election crises.

Greetings,

Welcome back to Mostly Asian History, the column where I strive to share a weekly column on Asian, Chinese, or Chinese-American history, but occasionally interrput myself to vent and share insights on current events in the USA. Topics vary widely within this broad realm, and I do try to share an essay on Asian studies each week. Except when the nation is in crisis. And as regular readers know, I just got back from a few weeks in Vietnam, widely known as home to the most Vietnamese language speakers of any nation anywhere, even more than Orange County, California! And while I had planned a post for this week on languages, language learning in general, and my experiences trying to teach myself (bad) Vietnamese, the basic structure and things to know if one is interested in learning Vietnamese, I began sharing a few thoughts on Trump’s Thursday night speech and it expanded into a full column. Alas. I do hope that we can reach a point in six months where this nasty man stops taking up so much space in our heads and interfering with more interesting projects. But in the meantime, let’s focus on preserving American democracy, and I will share an Asian studies column soon with a reprint of a favorite column on Tuesday and hopefully a brand new one soon after that.

And so now we have a bit on American politics and Trump’s future plans and his Thursday night speech. If that’s not what you wanted, apologies. We will return to our regularly scheduled programming soon.

As long time readers know, when the column was started in March of 2024, the plan was to avoid politics and never, ever mention the name “Donald J Trump,” who at the time was the very divisive, former US President known for lying, cheating and swindling, and turning American against one another and inciting hatred and animosity. And then he somehow became president again. And then things became bad, and then I began speaking out and writing about him here. How can we as Americans resist? Many ways but one way is to speak out, speak up, speak loudly, and do it in large numbers, so I do my part. Therefore, due to the speech last Thursday, please indulge me while I write a bit on politics.

At one time I announced I was going to split the political columns off into their own entity but, alas, I just don’t have the time to do so.

And on that note let me give a shout out to the “Cats on a Couch” page. Back during the election, at some point, the man who is currently but has not always been known as “JD Vance,” the man who is the protégé and subordinate to eccentric, anti-democratic, pro-tech-dictatorship billionaire Peter Thiel, made a comment about “childless, cat ladies” and the problem he felt they pose for the future of American values and the USA. Now having lived upstairs for a couple years from a crazy, childless cat lady and being aware of the threat to normal functioning that an apartment full of odorous, poorly tended cats collected by an eccentric, oblivious person with unmet emotional needs can pose, I am not blind to this problem, however, I do not consider such people to be a threat to national security and American values and the future of Western Civilization, just more of a general health and sanitation and quality of life issue. Surely not something that one should campaign on in a national election.

However, Amanda McGonigle, an American woman with cats and presumably no children, took much more offense than I did and things recently became interesting as her anti-Vance social media platform (s) Cats on a Couch by Amanda McGonigle came to the attention of the US Secret Service, she was denied admission to an event where JD Vance was speaking because of her criticism of this creepy man, and now she and the ACLU are suing the federal government over the matter. You can learn more here and by checking out her Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and other pages. Check them out.

You can can get an introduction here. Note that she says the “f-word” a lot. Some people like that. Some people don’t. Whatever. And while it might seem a bit childish in a way, we are now at a point where we need people to just stand up and speak out and say “Hey, this is not the way the President and his cabinet should act, and I am going to speak out and not be frightened by them,” f-word or not, so more power to her.

Honestly, while Trump’s a definite threaten to American values, American democracy, the rule of law, human rights, and many other good things, the truth is he’s not terribly clever or difficult to figure out. Really. The key to understanding Trump is to simply assume that when he opens his mouth he is lying and that he is lying to benefit himself and he does not give a sh*t about the lives, safety, dignity, and well being of anyone else anywhere, except, of course, in a negative way. Trump does like to hurt, humiliate, and corrupt people and cause them to suffer. It makes him feel good. And he likes to make money, not because he needs money, just because he has unmet emotional needs and it makes him feel competent despite insecurities and a general feeling of being indequate and second rate.

So, having said that, if you have been reading this column, or understand what is going on, nothing in his speech should really have surprised you.

Basically, the take away, IN PART, is that Trump is very fearful of the likely results of the next election. Let’s spend a moment to explain his fear.

While he himself is not up for election, the US government is divided into three branches. These are the Executive branch consisting of the President and his cabinet, the Legislative Branch or Congress ( see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Congress ), and the Judicial Branch which is basically the SupremeCourt.

Now these three branches are supposed to balance each other out, providing checks and balances in the event that one of the others tries to grab more than its share of power. In the last few years, however, this system of checks and balances has not worked as designed. Conservative Trump appointed and otherwise Conservative Supreme Court judges have been making unprecedented decisions that would be unthinkable to most supreme courts (for instance “Presidential immunity” and the recent change allowing widespread racially determined redistricting.) Similarly, the Executive branch is not only numerically dominated by Republicans, but they have shown a strange, often completely unprincipled, amoral or even immoral pattern of decisions along party lines. This is unusual and not typical for American politics or American history. Obviously, these things should be looked into, but at this point, who is it exactly who has the authority and ability to look into them? (The obvious answer is the press, which is one reason Trump is fearful and hostile towards the press, but for the moment it is difficult to identify a neutral governmental agency with the authority and ability to do so.)

How exactly Trump controls these members of the Congress and the Supreme Court so tightly is open to speculation. Obviously, he does not hesitate to retaliate against principled individuals who stand up against him, but personally I think there is something else going on. Personally, I believe that there is some sort of blackmail going on. (Honestly, with and without the Epstein files and the weird relationships between Trump, Putin, and Netanyahu, and the way his cabinet is full of drunken sex offenders (really, please see my articles on that.) Honestly, and I’ve been doing a lot of this sort of thing since Trump was re-elected, it’s very, very strange and it looks like a crazy sounding, nutty sounding conspiracy theory might actually be true. Consider this speculation and not a statement of fact. A theory at best, and nothing more at this point.

On November 3, 2026, in a little over three and a half months from the day you read this, there will be a major election. While the position of President will not be affected, there should be major changes in the Congress and the Legislative branch. All 435 seats in the house are up for election and out of the 100 voting senators (2 from each state), 33 of these are scheduled for election. Since Donald Trump and his hardcore supporters are extremely unpopular, they are not expected to do well in the election. Democrats, independents, and Republicans of conscience who distance themselves from the MAGA movement and Trump are expected to do well.

See:

Tuesday, November 3, 2026: Election Day

• All 435 House, 33 Senate Seats up for election

• New Members Sworn In, Jan 3, January 2027, when the 120th Congress Convenes

If everything goes smoothly, then the newly elected representatives are expected to be sworn into office on January 3, 2027.

If they have the political clout, and it is very likely that they will, concerned representatives will begin procedures to assess the damage done in the last two years since Trump took office, evaluate what remedies and corrections are in order, and determine which violations of law and constitutional procedures have taken place. There are likely to be discussions of impeachment and criminal charges against the worst offenders in this cabinet and Trump himself.

The Epstein files should finally be released in accordance with pre-existing laws that have not been properly followed.

Donald Trump has already been impeached twice (even if he was not removed from office). It seems inevitable that he will be impeached again (there are already official calls for his impeachment filed, but as they lack the required popular support or votes, even many of those who would support the impeachment of Donald Trump have largely ignored them.) He is likely to be impeached again and criminally charged for numerous offenses that he appears to have commited while in office or even before assuming office.

That is if everything goes smoothly and procedures are followed.

But things are not likely to go smoothly.

Quick answer. I don’t know. I have training in history, the study of the past. And I don’t believe in psychics or people who have paranormal or supernatural abilities to know the future before it happens.

But I don’t think things will go smoothly.

And I think this because of the way Donald Trump reacted the last time an election made him unhappy. In 2020, Donald Trump, as we know, lost not only an election but what may be the most examined, re-examined, and carefully inspected election in American history, an election whose results have been checked and who our glorious President is now ordering the FBI to recheck yet again.

I think what you will see after this election is something similar to what we saw after the last election that Donald Trump lost.

There will be countless temper tantrums and strange public outbursts. There will be calls for inspection, re-inspection, checking, double-checking, triple-checking, and then double, triple, quadruple checking the results. There will be multiple attempts to threaten, cajole, flatter, bribe, corrupt, and blackmail officials and public servants at all levels into manufacturing the results that he wants to hear and for people to see.

And as we saw on January 6, 2020, there may very well be calls from the President for violence to achieve his goals. (And, as we saw on January 6, 2020, these goals might not even be well thought or realistic ways to achieve the desired outcome. While I have no idea what would have actually happened if the Trump supporters had hanged Vice-President Pence and the election results had not been properly accepted, I can’t imagine that it would have led to four more years of Trump rule without objection. )

This is one of those situations where you should never underestimate Trump’s stubbornness, flexibility, sociopathy, or willingness to sacrifice others for a chance to achieve his own goals.

If you watch him, he is building a bunker. He is also trying to assemble and collect people willing to commit violence for him.

Now, at this point, I think it’s safe to say most Americans know that Trump is a pathological liar and the words that come out of his mouth basically mean nothing, despite that there is a solid core of people who will and do believe anything he says.

So when he says, as he said in his July fourth speech (easily available on line), the true enemy of democracy and the United States government is “the enemy within” and “Communists,” despite this being ludicrous, false, and stupid sounding to most of us, there are people out there, fellow US citizens, who believed every word he said.

Same for the speech last Thursday. When Trump basically said “We cannot trust the results of our elections these days” (paraphrased) although the experts and knowledgable people basically went “WTF is this kooky old senile man talking about?,” there is a small percentage out of the millions of people who live in the USA who believed it. And this small percentage is ultimately a large number of people.

And when Trump receives the results from this November’s election, and they don’t say what he wants them to say, it is very likely that, just as he did in January of 2020, he will reach out to these gullible people and make a call to action. This is a very bad thing, but on the positive side, if there is one, it will probably be easy to see. Keep your eyes and ears open and watch for calls from Trump and the usual places for people to gather and hold rallies. Then expect bad things to follow.

Some quick facts:

PoliticalPolls & Surveys

Federal elections are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. In 2026, that’s November 3.

• Polls typically open 6-7 AM and close 7-8 PM (varies by state and county)

• If you’re in line when polls close, you can still vote

• Bring valid ID if required by your state

• Find your polling place at vote.gov

Results Timeline:

• Election night: Most results reported within hours, but close races may take days

• Mail-in ballots: Some states count these after in-person votes, delaying final results

• Network projections: News organizations “call” races when outcomes are statistically certain

SOURCE: https://www.congresscountdown.com/info/election-timeline-2026

An interesting round up of perspective and views on US and Chinese politics. I recently discovered this. It’s interesting and I generally agree with it.

https://www.davidbrin.com/discussion.html

David Brin is aPhD astrophysicist by training and a writer of hard science fiction novels by profession. While I have enjoyed his novels and short stories and read many of them over the years, I am recommending that you follow him for his observations and insight into current events and what’s going on with this current wacky federal government that we now have.

Now Brin occasionally seems paranoid to many, sharing conspiratorial ponderings about corrupt officials and blackmail and so on, but the closer we get to the November election and impending likely crisis, the more worthwhile his insights are.

FYI, I cannot recommend Heather Cox Richardson enough. Informative, cheerful, realistic, well informed, give her a listen or a read if you are not doing so already.

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