The nation is outraged by the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Neither victim deserved to die. And the images of both being shot—Pretti, some believe, 10 times– are difficult to watch. My TV is now off. I will turn it back on when ICE leaves Minneapolis, or the officers that shot Good and Pretti are held accountable for what appears to be severe misconduct.

After turning off the news, I found the 2024 film, The Apprentice, on the streaming service TUBI. This is the film about Donald Trump’s life before he was president. The film, which Trump aggressive sought to block from release, tells the story of how Roy Cohn schooled Trump to be, well, the Trump we know today.

I recommend the film, which is streaming free. It is controversial but represents an attempt to understand Trump. No spoilers here. The most important part of the film is a scene where Roy Cohn, Trump’s lawyer who was notoriously aggressive his entire career, tells Trump his “three rules.”

The rules are first, to always attack as forcefully as possible (stay on the offense). Second, never admit wrongdoing and deny everything, regardless of evidence suggesting wrongdoing. And third, always claim victory, even in defeat.

Trump, it appears, was an outstanding student. Evidence of his living by these rules is everywhere. His propensity to attack may be found today in his daily postings on Truth Social. More dramatic examples include Trump suggesting that Senator Ted Cruz’s father was involved in the assassination  of John F. Kennedy, and the President’s attacks on E. Jean Carroll, the woman who sued Trump for defamation.

Evidence of Trump denying everything is also everywhere, but best found in his claim that he did not try to overturn a loss in the 2020 elections. As you will recall, Trump telephoned Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger to ask him to “find” 11,780 votes. 

Finally, there is the issue of claiming victories. One could point to Trump lying about winning club championships at his various golf clubs without cheating, but a more familiar example is the big one, which the President still repeats, almost on a daily basis—that he won an election that all evidence suggests he lost.

One could argue that Trump’s adherence to the three rules has led him into multiple impeachable offenses, but even if Democrats win the House and Senate in the mid-term elections later this year, Trump is highly unlikely to be impeached and removed from office. And if he is impeached (the equivalent of being indicted), when the Senate fails to garner the 60 votes to remove him from office, he will claim victory. 

Far more serious is what the “three rules” might lead Trump to do in his remaining time in office. Already we are seeing Trump attack the victims of ICE shootings, calling the victims “domestic terrorists” despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. 

We also are seeing Trump claim victory in his quest to annex Greenland, which is not happening. Trump “won” the right for the U.S. to maintain the military base it already has in Greenland (Pituffik Space Base) and the right to build additional bases, which it already has the right to do.

An example of Trump attacking happened earlier this week when the federal government fired the consulting firm Booz Allen from all its federal contracts. The basis? A Booz employee leaked Donald Trump’s and others’ tax returns. Trump seeks to instill fear in all federal contractors not to do anything that displeases him. Booz was fired to set an example. The former Booz employee is already in jail and was clearly a rogue employee. Trump doesn’t care about the penalty fitting the crime.

Most worrisome are Trump’s ongoing and escalating allegations of voter fraud in states that rejected him in 2020 or 2024. He is attacking their leadership and the integrity of their elections. Some say he is setting the stage to attempt to cancel the 2026 mid-term elections.

Do we need to worry that Trump will attempt to cancel elections he thinks he will lose? Yes. And the best way to do that is to get involved now in making sure that Americans get the chance to vote this November and that decent Americans—the people I call Patriots but that Trump calls lunatics—speak out against the outrageous conduct of ICE, Trump’s destructive foreign policy, and evidence of widespread corruption throughout the Trump administration.

It is not too late to save democracy.

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J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, goldendoodles, and other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean is an advocate for democracy, sanity, and the rule of law.

I saw the elephant in the room after I watched the video of the President dropping two F-bombs and flipping a bird at a UAW worker in a Michigan Ford assembly plant. Despite the worker having heckled Trump, the President’s behavior offended me. Is the First Amendment still in effect?

The President’s behavior no longer shocks most people. Just months into the President’s second term, we are used to reporters being called pigs and dozens of perceived political enemies being called lunatics, retarded, and worse. And then there are the lies—thousands of them—things like calling Renee Good a radical leftist. 

And it appears that the more Trump normalizes rude, crude, and offensive behavior and hate speech, the more he resorts to it. What’s going on?

Hanging over the President’s head these days are the Epstein files and, more importantly, the President’s health. He is a man in decline facing the possibility of indisputable evidence being released that he was an active participant in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex crimes—why else is the President doing all he can to avoid releasing the files?

Most of us would do all we can to avoid facing the stress the President is currently under, but, then we would also not have run for the Presidency at age 78 or been Epstein’s best friend for several years. The President has made his own bed. Now he must sleep in it, (Or should I say stay up all night and post hateful messages on his Truth Social account?)

Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that “Trump Presses Prosecutors to Target Foes.”  Unfortunately, some at the Department of Justice are bowing to the pressure. Thus, grand jury subpoenas are being issued to the Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Fortunately, you have other prosecutors who are saying “enough is enough” and are quitting. These prosecutors are nauseated by Trump pardoning the January 6 insurrectionists and  drug smugglers such as the former president of Honduras. They want no part in blocking the investigation and prosecution of police violence carried out by ICE, such as is the case with the agents involved in the shooting of Renee Good.

Many Americans now believe that Trump is a dictator, but others don’t seem to be able to see the oversized, smelly elephant in the room—the blond (or is it pink today?) overweight man who already has launched military actions in Venezuela, Iran, and Syria and is preparing more serious military action in Iran, a takeover of Greenland, and regime change in Cuba.  He is doing all this while at the same time effectively abandoning America’s support for Ukraine. 

I worry about war because one or more of Trump’s “actions” could be the trigger for a military strike against the United States. In the age of inexpensive drones destroying military jets costing millions of dollars, how long will it be before some country, or someone believing that “the U.S. must be stopped,” launches an attack on America? And, more importantly, how will Trump respond?

A friend recently speculated that Trump is minimally involved in most of the foreign and domestic policy of the United States. People like OMB director Russell Vought are implementing the Project 2025 playbook. Stephen Miller is directing border security. And Kevin Hassett, who could be Chairman of the Federal Reserve in a few months, is advising Trump on what to do to lower prices. 

I picture Trump, irritated by interruptions in his monitoring UFC matches, NFL football, and FIFA soccer, by aides seeking his sign-off on the next “Trump initiative.”  Trump lives in his own world and likely spends more time on envisioning monuments to himself, such as the reimagining the White House, the “Arc de Trump” outside Arlington National Cemetery, and similar projects.

In some ways, the Presidency is currently vacant. Of course it is not. There is an elephant in the room, our room, and, thus far, nobody seems to know how to end the madness. That is why I am worried about war, democracy, human rights, and the future.

I would be remiss if I did not include a word of optimism about the 2026 mid-term elections. I read the polls and the news. The sun is setting on Donald Trump. Unless he “fixes” the 2026 mid-term elections, the House of Representatives and, with luck, a Senate, will check his abuses of power next year. That is why everyone must vote and object peacefully to things the President does that hurt our democracy and violate the Constitution. 

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J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, goldendoodles, and other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean is an advocate for democracy, sanity, and the rule of law.

President Trump is obsessed about his legacy. He told one reporter, in an offhand comment, that he was building the White House ballroom as a memorial to himself “because nobody else will.”  Construction on a huge arch, located in front of Arlington National Cemetery and modeled after Paris’ Arc de Triomphe, already is being referred to as the “Arc de Trump,” just as I suspect the President intends. And let’s not talk more about the Trump-Kennedy Center and the self-described “Peace President” adding his name to the building that once housed the U.S. Institute for Peace, an agency DOGE pretty much destroyed.

The President has a problem. His words and actions will be more important to his place in history than whatever buildings he names after himself. Adolf Hitler named all kinds of things after himself, including one of the main streets in Berlin (Adolf Hitler Strasse). Once Germany was defeated, Hitler disappeared from streets, postage stamps, coins, buildings, and much more. There is a lesson here for Trump—you will be judged by what you did and said more than on the size of your ballroom or phony peace prizes.

In particular, future historians will dive deeper into the events of January 6, 2021, despite the President’s aggressive attempts to recast that insurrection as a protest of peaceful protesters who were upset that Trump lost the 2020 election. Historians also will study the criminal prosecutions brought against Trump, including his convictions in New York. And biographers will study how Trump made billions as President, allegedly by manipulating federal policy to enrich himself, his family, and his friends and political supporters.

Let’s not forget the issue of civility—or should we say complete absence of civility. The compendium of Trump’s offensive social media posts is perhaps the best evidence of the state of American politics in 2025. Our civil discourse is in the gutter, which is why our democracy is in danger. 

Finally, historians will ask themselves why voters chose a 78-year-old man as President, especially after that same man brutally attacked his predecessor as senile and too old to serve. With more than three years left in his second term, Trump regularly falls asleep in meetings, forgets names and facts, and appears ready to start using a wheelchair.

Some believe that Trump’s “decoration” of the White House with gold is the product of a deranged man—think what historians will say about the “Presidential Walk of Fame” and Trump’s holding a military parade to honor his own birthday—June 14th, currently Flag day, but likely to be recast as “Trump’s birthday” within the next 36 months.

I could go on and write about abuses of the pardon power, the appointments of misfits like Pam Bondi, Kristi “ICE Barbie” Noem, Ka$h Patel (yes, that is how he sometimes writes his own name), and the sinister-looking nut case, Stephen Miller.   These personalities will be remembered in the future as aberrations—ridiculous appointments that would never have been made by a sane president. 

In a word, the prospects for Trump’s future are “bleak.”  Is he the worst President in American history? Yes. And even if almost-as-bad J.D. Vance succeeds him, Trump’s place in history is secure.

Happy New Year.

 

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J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, goldendoodles, and other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean is an advocate for democracy, sanity, and the rule of law.

Special Note to Spy Readers: This is my last regular weekly column. My pieces will now appear occasionally—and hopefully will comment on good things happening in 2026 and focus more on how to make things better than on what I see as the mess we are in. Thank you to those of you who have regularly read my pieces. And I wish everyone, including my detractors, a happy and safe new year.

 

We might as well admit it:  Donald Trump will never revitalize The Kennedy Center in Washington. It is dead, a victim of the President’s narcissism. Trump hijacked America’s living memorial to JFK. By adding his name to the center, Trump destroyed it. 

And the Trump-Kennedy Center won’t be fit to serve as a living memorial to Kennedy (or anyone other than Donald J. Trump) after Trump “renovates” the building with gaudy gold decorations and other design details better suited for a house of ill-repute. 

John F. Kennedy was a President who loved and listened to classical music, opera, and other fine arts. The national center for the performing arts was an exceptionally appropriate memorial. That makes all of us who have attended concerts, opera, and theater at the Kennedy Center, pausing during our visits to reflect on Kennedy’s memory, sad—and angry. 

Throughout my years in Washington, I regularly attended concerts and other programming at the Kennedy Center. I recall the building opening in 1971 and experiencing joy that the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) finally had a proper home, one with great acoustics, good seating, and a design that shouted out dignity. JFK, I imagine, was in heaven looking down on the memorial dedicated to his memory with a smile on his face.

I hate to think what JFK might have been thinking last Friday as workers installed Trump’s name on the side of the building. Let’s not go there.

Because the Trump-appointed Trump-Kennedy Center board of directors likely did not have legal authority to rename the Kennedy Center, a future Democratic President (yes, there will be one) will remove Trump’s name.  Also going will be what is likely to be a huge bust of Trump’s head, or of Trump raising his fist in the air after the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, in the Grand Foyer. The large portraits of Trump and J.D. Vance also would go, preferably on Inauguration Day. 

Unfortunately, removing the desecration Trump is wrecking on the Center will never reverse the fact that, courtesy of Trump, there is no longer a memorial dedicated to John F. Kennedy in Washington. Some crimes cannot be undone. 

 Trump killed the Kennedy Center. It almost would have been better had he simply razed it, just like he did with the East Wing of the White House. I don’t expect to ever attend another concert or play at the Center. Period.

But what should I do if I am in Washington and want to hear the NSO perform? Unfortunately, unless something is done, the NSO will have nowhere for its concerts, at least nowhere appropriate. 

One idea, one I would love to see, would be for donors, large and small, to build a new home for the performing arts in Washington, one that would not be funded, operated, or controlled by the federal government. It would be private, immune from the destructive impulses of a future Trump. 

Americans that want to see JFK honored again should fund the construction of a new Kennedy cultural center and create a sizable endowment to guarantee its independence from future Presidents like Trump. 

Ideally, the new Kennedy Center would, like the former one, include a world-class concert hall, a home for the Washington Opera, and a theater. It could also include high quality restaurants (no McDonald’s, please) and a small museum dedicated to JFK’s presidency. I would call the museum “The Camelot” museum and love to see “Camelot” performed in the new theater as the first production after opening.

What should happen to the “Trump Kennedy Center?” I would suggest Congress turn it over the Trump family with the stipulation that Kennedy’s name be permanently removed. Then the Trump family could take full responsibility for the facility. If the family wants to turn it into a venue for UFC cage matches or offer screenings of the upcoming Melania Trump biopic, titled “Melania,” of course, good luck to them.

President John F. Kennedy deserves to be honored with a cultural center that reminds all of America that Presidents can and should be role models that inspire Americans to ask not what the country can do for them, but what they can do for their country.

Happy Holidays! 

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J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, goldendoodles, and other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean is an advocate for democracy, sanity, and the rule of law.

Season’s Greetings. I hope you are in the holiday spirit. Me? I’m trying to get there. My strategy is to follow the advice (for a change) of my mother. Knowing my propensity to find fault in others, she advised me not to say anything when I couldn’t find anything nice to say about someone. 

Given the holidays, I’m not writing about you-know-who today even though, in recent weeks, he has been providing truckloads of material for columns each week. (Oops—my mom would not be pleased.)

The holidays this year have already been a blessing. We have heard from many friends, some of whom seem to contact us (and vice versa) only during the holidays. It is always good to hear from friends, old and new, and discover how they and their families are doing. I count friendships as among the best holiday gifts.

I also confess to liking snow, which is easy for me to do when I don’t have to drive in it. Snow is beautiful, as are rivers when they are frozen. A few years ago, a gaggle of more than 120 geese took temporary residence on Island Creek. I’m told they were sleeping while standing on the ice. I still cherish that memory.

Among the things that are remarkable about the season are the random acts of kindness and goodwill that I encounter. Sometimes, being the often-negative person that I am, I am surprised that people can be so empathetic, kind, thoughtful and cheerful in a world that sometimes seems upside down. I’m envious of these people and try to emulate them, remembering that goodwill is contagious. (Maybe if I hung out more with people of goodwill, I’d be a better person.)

I also like Christmas lights. Not the Clark Griswald variety—too much of a good thing is not a good thing. But the subtle decorations that I often see on houses at this time of year. I like seeing houses decorated. They remind me that there are people inside celebrating the holidays—and that there is more to life than politics, economics, and world news.

For several days last week, I watched ABC News with David Muir. I like his reporting, but I was watching because he is visiting small businesses that make and sell things made in America. Each night, a segment included some free advertising for small businesses that would never be able to reach a national audience. What is remarkable is how happy, functional, and positive the people are. 

Finally, I like reading about Christmas meccas—places like the European Christmas markets that make a special effort to become mini-Christmas-Disneylands to create a destination where entire families, can enter a wonderland of holiday gifts, foods, smells, lights, and so much more.   (Easton is becoming such a mecca and the Washington Post even reported on it.)

I will do my best to stay positive for the next few weeks and, with luck, even remain positive into the new year. On that last part, I may need some help. I’m worried about affordability (not a hoax), increases in the cost of health insurance, Venezuela and war, and a lot more. (Sorry, mom—I’ll keep trying.)

Happy Holidays.

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J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, goldendoodles, and other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean is an advocate for democracy, sanity, and the rule of law.

Donald Trump is his own worst enemy, far worse than the lunatics, communists, RINOs, and Democrats he believes are out to get him. The damage done to Trump’s legacy, history will tell us, was not the work of his enemies, but the product of the President himself.

The President was called a narcissist by those who knew him well before he ran for President and even before his fateful encounter with E. Jean Carroll in a department store dressing room. He did not just want to be in the press; he needed to be there. That need drove him to engage in things that often made him look ridiculous, crooked, or just plain stupid.

Consider him disguising his voice to give tips to reporters, usually in the hopes of prompting stories favorable to him. Many reporters were not fooled. Remember that scene in Home Alone 2, where Macaulay Culkin encounters Trump in the lobby of the Plaza hotel? The director did not want Trump in the movie. Trump required the cameo as a condition of filming in the hotel, which he owned at the time.

Some would describe these types of acts as buffoonery and harmless. But once Trump rose from several encounters with financial disaster in the real estate business and changed careers to entertainment, his weaknesses grew. Because his television show, The Apprentice, had a large audience (one that did not include this writer), he came to see himself as both famous and “great.”  And with that “greatness,” he came to see himself as a wise leader.

Trump was not a wise leader the first time he won the Presidency in a brutally nasty campaign that leveraged racism and misogyny to defeat the much-better qualified Hillary Clinton. He did not expect to win. He declined to create a traditional transition team and thus did not hit the ground running. He hit it with a large splat, making dozens of personnel and policy mistakes in four years best summed up as chaotic. Sometimes it seemed he was firing a Secretary of Defense or Chief of Staff on Twitter weekly.

Trump ended his four years in the White House with acts that would best be described as self-destructive were it not for Trump not being destroyed. Convinced that it was impossible for him to lose the election, he sought to retain power through lawsuits, lying, and violence. His effort failed, but even as he retreated to Mar-a-Lago to lick his wounds, he was unable to handle the truth.

Trump’s four years in the wilderness spawned an anger that drives him today. It also landed him in a world of stress that accelerated his aging while eroding his judgment, minimal to begin with. As a result, and thanks to a group of power-hungry right wingers who privately do not like or respect Trump, he found a team of oligarchs willing to fund him and use him as a vehicle to maximize the return on their investments. 

Trump’s new circle of political friends and advisors are different than those of his first administration. For the second time around, he found advisors who knew what keys to play on the piano to mesmerize conspiracy-believing white nationalists or who simply needed someone to sweep away the laws and regulations keeping them from enhancing their stacks of gold. 

Trump seems to have had two principal criteria for selecting his cabinet and senior officials—celebrity and loyalty. He was more interested in how appointees look, how often they are in the press, than in their experience, integrity, or intelligence. Committed a felony? No problem. Wanna be ambassador to France? You got it.

That brings us to Trump 10 and a half months into his second term. He is an old man with “cankles” who frequently and publicly falls asleep at meetings and who, allegedly, has lost control of his bowels and “stinks.”  But, more bizarrely, perhaps recognizing that he is unlikely to live forever, is anxious to create a legacy but knows that his words and actions will not be enough to save the perception that he was twice a miserably failing, dangerous President—a dark chapter in American history.

It is impossible to scroll through the news without reading about the ballroom, Trump finally getting a “Peace Prize,” this one conjured up by FIFA as a thank you for free advertising for the World Cup, and peace agreements that frequently include provisions that may stop conflicts but always seem to include terms to create business opportunities for Trump and his friends. 

Trump is working hard to erase January 6 from the history books, but the video of police being attacked with flag poles repurposed as spears and pepper spray will not be erased by pardoning the thugs he gathered in Washington to do his dirty work. Nor will prosecuting James Comey or attempting to destroy the legacy of his predecessor, “Sleepy” Joe Biden do the trick.

If the Epstein scandal, allegations of war crimes, increasing evidence of grift, and what appears to be outright criminality by Trump, his family, and his business associates, don’t destroy Trump’s legacy, don’t forget that the Trump show still has almost three and half more years to go.

We have not seen the worst of Trump or Trumpism yet. Our only hope is Democrats will win the House (or House and Senate) next year, or for a combination of Democrats and Republicans to finally stand up and tell Trump the show is over.

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J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, goldendoodles, and other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean is an advocate for democracy, sanity, and the rule of law.

Just as the Epstein scandal was temporarily disappearing from the daily news, The Washington Post reported a more horrific story. Self-dubbed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is reported to have ordered a second strike on an already-destroyed suspected drug smuggling boat to kill two survivors. If the story is accurate, the United States may have committed a war crime.

Those of us familiar with the history of the Vietnam War will remember the Mai Lai Massacre, where between 347 and 504 unarmed Vietnamese adults and children were killed. The Hegseth incident is, of course, much smaller, but the legal issue is the same. An illegal order was given resulting in unarmed people being killed.

Much is being written about who gave what order. Donald Trump, unsurprisingly, says he knew nothing about it and that Pete Hegseth denies giving the order. No surprises here, but if Trump and Hegseth are lying, it may not protect them from accountability. The bipartisan leadership of both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees have announced investigations. 

A phrase featured on The X-Files television series comes to mind: The truth is out there.

Legal pundits are pouring over details of the attack that killed the two survivors. The issues are complex, but, assuming that the account is true, the answer is simple: Murder.

Among the issues involved is the legitimacy of characterizing Venezuelan boats suspected of smuggling dangerous narcotics as an attack on the United States. Another issue is why; after releasing video footage of the first attack on the suspected drug boat, the Department of Defense did not release the second or report that a second strike had been carried out. Was there a coverup? If there was a coverup, does that prove that whoever ordered it knew an illegal order had been given and executed?

Also, if Hegseth did not give the order, who did? And are Hegseth, Trump, or others responsible or was someone else insubordinate? Is someone going to be thrown under the bus? (As of this writing, the betting is on US Special Operations Command commander Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley.) 

I won’t review the Law of War or the U.S. Code of Military Justice, but the law is clear that killing civilians who pose no threat to U.S. military members, even in a war zone, is murder. Read 18 U.S.C. § 2441-War Crimes and judge for yourself.

In coming weeks, articles of Impeachment will likely be filed in the U.S. House of Representatives against President Trump, Secretary Hegseth, and others. The coming House and Senate Committee investigations, which the President is unlikely to be able to stop, could not only assign responsibility for what appears to be a horrific war crime, but also document a coverup likely to put Watergate to shame.

When I started work on this week’s column, I was going to write about accountability and the absence of it in the age of Trump. If the Post reporting is accurate, and many in Congress, including Republicans, believe it is, accountability may finally come to Donald J. Trump.

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J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, goldendoodles, and other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean is an advocate for democracy and the rule of law.

 

Happy Thanksgiving and thank you for reading The Spy today.

We live in troubled times, but there is much to be thankful for, especially on the Eastern Shore. 

I am grateful for my wonderful wife, Maria, who learned how to run a boat this year. I can hardly wait until Spring.

I’m also fortunate to have many friends, near and far. I’m sending them notes thanking them for being good friends. 

Music. Talbot County is blessed with rich opportunities to hear music live. I am grateful for Chesapeake Music’s fantastic June chamber music festival, for the Avalon Theater, and for the Gabriela Montero exceptional concerts held at the Ebenezer Theater. I love the Mid-Shore Atlantic Symphony. When Maria and I moved to the Eastern Shore many years ago, we didn’t realize we had arrived at a cultural mecca.

Speaking of friends, I must mention the birds. They’re magical. The Eastern Shore is blessed with herons, egrets, osprey, eagles, ducks, and, of course, Canada geese. 

Lucca. A 15-year-old goldendoodle–the best goldendoodle on the planet

Genuine Chesapeake Bay Blue Crabs. There is no substitute. I’d like to see the “Maryland-Style” crabcakes peddled in Florida banned.

Rockfish. Don’t tell my friends, but I prefer it over grouper, Chilean sea bass, salmon, and walleye.

 No catastrophic hurricane damage on the Eastern Shore this year. Tropical Storm Chantal visited in July and Hurricane Erin passed offshore in August, but there were no direct hits. My fingers are already crossed for 2026.

The reopening of the federal government. The federal government should never have been closed. Now, with a little luck, families and friends travelling this Thanksgiving will be spared the nightmare of cancelled flights. And, more importantly, federal workers may be able to salvage the holidays. 

A short note to Congress and the President:  Please don’t close the government down again in January. Please. It’s harmful and it’s counterproductive.

Democracy. Given our political divide and the events of the past year, I’m more grateful than ever for Democracy. 

The Spy. I look forward to the Spy Daily Intelligencer arriving in my email box at 3 p.m. There is always something interesting to read. Thank you, Spy, for being our spy. Your insights and information about the Eastern Shore help make us a thriving community.

One last thing. Thank you for those of you who read my editorials, even those of you who disagree with my points of view. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to share my perspective on politics with you this past year.

That’s it. Happy Thanksgiving!

J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, goldendoodles, and other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean is an advocate for democracy and the rule of law.

These are dark days for democracy. I could be over-reacting, but I believe we are in the middle of a scandal worse than Watergate—and with my name, I should know. In Watergate, there was a crime followed by a coverup. Will history repeat itself with a coverup that ends a Presidency? 

The President is acting like he has something to hide. He is avoiding the press and, on Friday, directed the Attorney General to investigate Democrats who may have engaged in crimes at the invitation of Mr. Epstein. The Attorney General, of course, immediately announced that she has assigned a prosecutor to investigate.

What is going on here? One possibility is that Trump hopes Democrats’ fear that incriminating evidence on President Clinton and other prominent Democrats will be disclosed which will prompt them—the Democrats—to kill or limit the release of the files.

The second possibility is that the newly-announced DOJ investigation will be offered as justification not to release the files or to make further redactions—redactions that could remove all references to Trump.

Both possibilities (and there are others) sound like coverups.

I regretfully missed this year’s Waterfowl Festival. If I had been there, I would have recalled the saying, “if something looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it’s probably a duck.” 

Where there is smoke, there is fire. The President is feeling the heat.

Tragically, the Epstein scandal is but one of several brewing around Donald Trump. The others involve violations of the Constitution, allegations of corruption, and illegal military strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats. More than 80 people have now been killed. I suspect some of them did not deserve to die.

Don’t forget the illegal closure of federal agencies, the firing of federal employees, and the disgusting abuse of the judicial system. Representative Eric Swalwell has just been added to those being investigated for mortgage fraud. And the list will grow longer. 

If I sound disgusted with Trump, I am. And do not tell me I am suffering from “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”  I would not be as focused on Trump as much as I am if there were not so much to focus on—most of it extremely troubling. If what seems to be happening is happening, America has a corrupt President who has been swallowed by his own narcissism and obsession with power. 

Writing about Trump is not fun, believe me. Reviewing Trump’s words and actions to prepare to write about them is a challenge, which is why sometimes, as I write about Trump, I try to avoid the sordid details.

As I was writing this column, I thought about Maria Grant’s recent piece in The Spy about pieces of music to listen to when depressed about the state of the world. Her piece prompted me to make a list of my own. 

My list consists of songs about Trump and the mess he has created. I share my list with a cautionary note: Sexual abuse of underage girls (or of anyone) is not funny. Similarly, Trump’s policies and actions not only reflect badly on him, but they also hurt people—people who depend on the government for social services and support and the people who work for the federal government. 

So, please do not mistake my list as making light of this dark period in our national history.

Here’s the list:

You’re No Good Linda Ronstadt. Very simply, Trump is no good. 

Smiling faces Sometimes by The Temptations and The Undisputed Truth. Trump smiles a lot (for example, when he is awake and in social settings like the recent “Gatsby-themed” celebration at Mar-a-Lago). When Trump is smiling, he often is lying.

Liar, Liar by The Castaways. President Trump may not have won the Nobel Peace Prize, but he belongs in the Guiness Book for the number of lies by an American President. 

Money by Pink Floyd. Money is the most important thing in the world for Trump. I don’t think he realizes that he can’t take it with him. . . 

Goldfinger by Shirley Bassey. The President love gold, even more than the title character of the James Bond movie, Goldfinger.

Little Red Riding Hood by Sam the Sham, and the Pharaohs. This one is a reference to possibility of major trouble for Trump in the Epstein files.

Stray Cat Blues by The Rolling Stones. The Stones regret releasing this song, which appeared on the album, Sticky Fingers, but it fits when thinking about Trump’s one-time best friend, Epstein.

You’re So Vain by Carly Simon. I have never encountered anyone as vain as Donald Trump. And hope I never will. 

I’m a Loser, The Beatles. Trump lost the 2020 election. He’s on track to lose the 2026 mid-terms unless we, the people, stop him.

They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Ha! by Napoleon XIV (Jerry Samuels). Have you read Trump’s social media posts of the last 10 months? If Trump is ever prosecuted for crimes he is alleged to have committed both as President and as a private citizen, he will have the defense of insanity available.

I have additional songs on my list, but politics is serious business. Those of us who cherish democracy, civil rights, human decency, and empathy need to get to work on the 2026 mid-term elections and in supporting democracy. 

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J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, goldendoodles, and other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.

President Trump describes himself as a consequential President. Regrettably, that is true. There is little doubt he will leave America different than it was when he took office. 

Donald Trump has worked hard to be consequential. But he hasn’t done this by working with Congress. Instead, he has aggressively expanded Executive Power beyond that exercised by any recent President. (Trump also has worked overtime to make sure he is remembered after he leaves office, unfortunately through stunts like proposing to rename the Kennedy Center after himself, building his ballroom, festooning the White House in Gold, and, planning to hold an Ultimate Fighting Championship fight at the White House next June.) 

Many of us have been horrified by some of Trump’s actions. The firing of thousands of federal employees shortly after Inauguration Day comes to mind, as do the recent military strikes on suspected drug boats, and the unnecessary and irresponsible closure of the federal government. 

But many others, presumably including the President’s MAGA base, praise Trump’s actions, citing “successes,” including border security and “cutting government waste,” as well as ICE raids and deportations, “ending DEI at elite colleges” and, ironically, “ending the weaponization of the Department of Justice.”

One friend of mine who is reluctant to criticize Trump suggests that fear of change prompts opposition to Trump’s policies and actions. As the friend puts it, “You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs.”

President Trump has broken a lot of eggs, but what is often more disturbing than the particulars of some of the eggs being broken is how he went about breaking them. When legislative authorization did not exist, as was the case with the Trump tariffs and dozens of other actions taken via Executive Orders, he has moved forward without one. 

In Trump’s mind, his ends justified the means. To me and the eight million people worried that Trump sees himself as a king, the ends don’t. Simply put, even if I were to agree with Trump policies, he should not pursue them in violation of the Constitution. 

In recent conversations, I have been surprised to find otherwise reasonable people tell me that while they don’t agree with “everything Trump is doing,” they hesitate to suggest that Trump is destroying the Constitution by violating it. 

Do you agree with President Trump that his ends justify his means?

I don’t. I want the President to act in accordance with the Constitution—and I mean with the Constitution as written, not as the current Supreme Court sometimes interprets it. I do not want suspected drug boats to be destroyed in a macho “shoot first and let God sort it out” attacks, even if fewer shipments of deadly drugs headed to America are intercepted. 

And I don’t want federal agencies and programs authorized and funded by Congress to be closed via Executive Orders. I want Congress to determine the laws of the land. I want the President to carry out those laws. Period.

The Constitution and democracy have become endangered species because we have a President who believes he is above the law. That is scary. It is also why Congressional power must be restored in the 2026 mid-term elections. 

Don’t forget that election day 2026—November 3rd— is less than a year away. It’s time to get busy.

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J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, goldendoodles, and other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.