Progressive Thinking

Donald Trump scolding James Comey for lying is like Al Capone scolding someone for tax evasion. A Wisconsinite calls out the King of Liars for his world-class hypocrisy.

LAKE GENEVA, WI - Donald Trump pointing his stubby finger and screaming that James Comey is going to be indicted for lying is the political equivalent of a fox accusing a chicken of theft. Honestly, it would be hilarious if it weren’t so pathetically transparent.

This is the man who has taken lying and raised it to an art form. Forget Picasso, forget Mozart — Trump is the Rembrandt of falsehoods, the Shakespeare of bullshit. He lies the way most people breathe — automatically and constantly.

Let’s run the tape. It started with the size of his inauguration crowd — a lie so obvious the photographic evidence alone made him look ridiculous, but he doubled down anyway. Then there was the infamous Sharpie-altered hurricane map, a preschool-level stunt to cover up a mistake.

He called his call with Ukraine “perfect,” even as the evidence showed otherwise. And of course, the hush money to Stormy Daniels — first denied, then admitted, then denied again, as if we couldn’t keep track.

His pièce de résistance was the Big Lie itself, the claim that “the election was stolen,” the fattest whopper of them all, one that continues to poison our politics.

And then came his stump tours — the traveling circus of deceit — where he stood in front of adoring crowds and spun fairy tales about jobs magically flooding back, Mexico footing the bill for his wall, and windmills somehow causing cancer. It was pure theater — entertaining for the faithful, maybe — but there wasn’t a shred of truth in it.

Trump doesn’t do rallies. He does improv comedy where the punchline is always a lie.

And let’s not forget, his own fixer — Michael Cohen — went to prison for lying to Congress on Trump’s behalf. Cohen admitted he shaded the truth about Trump Tower Moscow to match Trump’s fairy tale version of events. Why? Because lying is the Trump family crest. It’s the only glue that holds his empire of grift together.

But now, Trump wants us to clutch our pearls because James Comey supposedly “lied.” Please. Coming from him, that’s like Al Capone demanding people pay their taxes on time.

It’s laughable. It’s hypocritical. It’s projection so obvious you could see it from space.

The truth is, Trump can’t survive without lying. It’s his oxygen. It’s his currency. It’s his brand. And yet he still believes he has the moral authority to wag his finger at anyone else.

If irony burned calories, Donald Trump would be thin as a rail.

So forgive me if I don’t take the King of Liars seriously when he pretends to care about “perjury.” The man has lied so much, he could probably perjure himself just ordering a cheeseburger.

Free speech dies when leaders get to decide what’s “acceptable,” and America is one tantrum away from making that mistake.

LAKE GENEVA, WI - Here’s the dirty little secret every dictator knows: the first step to power isn’t winning hearts and minds. It’s shutting them up. Hitler did it with book burnings and propaganda. Stalin did it with gulags. Mao did it with humiliation parades and “thought reform.” North Korea still does it by banning internet, jokes, and reality itself.

And now Donald Trump — thin-skinned, grievance-soaked, wannabe strongman — is trying to add America to the list.

### Free Speech Under Siege — Late Night Edition

When Jimmy Kimmel cracked jokes after the Charlie Kirk assassination, ABC yanked his show off the air faster than you can say “political pressure.” Affiliates blocked it, advertisers fled, and the FCC chair — a Trump crony — threatened action against ABC for not being “in the public interest.” Translation: say anything critical of Dear Leader Trump, and you’ll pay.

Stephen Colbert? He called it what it is: censorship. He even resurrected his old Colbert Report swagger to hammer the point home. And he’s right — because if comedians can’t mock politicians without losing their shows, we’re not a democracy anymore. We’re a dictatorship-in-training.

### Trump’s Authoritarian Playbook

Let’s be clear: Trump doesn’t just dislike criticism. He wants it outlawed. He calls reporters “enemies of the people,” brands every tough question a “witch hunt,” and uses lawsuits as gag orders. Now he’s openly celebrating Kimmel’s suspension, drooling at the thought of silencing Colbert, and dreaming of the day when all media outlets carry only one story: how great Donald J. Trump is.

That’s not America. That’s Stalin’s Moscow. That’s Mao’s Beijing. That’s Kim Jong-un’s Pyongyang. And now, apparently, it’s Trump’s fantasy White House.

### The Shameful Choir of Enablers

And don’t kid yourself: Trump’s not pulling this off alone. Every Republican lawmaker, media executive, and trembling yes-man who goes along with this gag order is just as guilty. If you cheer when your guy silences a comedian, don’t pretend you care about the Constitution. You’re not defending America. You’re dismantling it.

Because here’s the thing: free speech isn’t about protecting speech you like. It’s about protecting speech you hate. If Trump and his followers can’t handle a late-night joke without reaching for the censor button, they don’t want freedom. They want control.

### The Cost of Silence

History is littered with the corpses of societies that gave dictators the power to decide what people could say. Nazi Germany. Stalin’s Russia. Mao’s China. North Korea today. The pattern is always the same: kill free speech, kill the truth, kill the people.

Trump and his sycophants are running the same playbook — weaponizing outrage, bullying the media, and twisting government power into a gag order. And the rest of us? We either stand up now, or we watch the First Amendment bleed out on live TV.

New on *Don’t Blink!*: *Dictators Hate Free Speech — And Trump Wants to Muzzle It in America*. When Trump cheers censorship, it’s not about “fake news” or “decency.” It’s the same old dictator playbook. Read my takedown of Trump and the spineless enablers helping him suffocate free speech — and share it before they try to silence us all.

Republicans can’t condemn political violence while excusing the January 6 insurrection, worshiping Trump, and pardoning insurrectionists. Hypocrisy this deep isn’t just ugly, it’s dangerous.

LAKE GENEVA, WI - Republicans love to climb on their high horse about political violence. They point fingers at liberals, scream about “radical leftists,” and pretend they’re the guardians of law and order. But here’s the problem: you can’t wag your finger at Democrats one day and then kiss the ring of a man who incited an insurrection against the United States and then pardoned the people convicted of that violence. Sorry, folks — you can’t have it both ways.

January 6: The Insurrection They Pretend Wasn’t

Let’s not rewrite history. Donald Trump told a crowd to “fight like hell” and then sat back and watched as his supporters smashed windows, beat police officers, and hunted down lawmakers like they were prey. They stormed the Capitol with Confederate flags, bear spray, and gallows. That wasn’t “tourism.” That wasn’t “legitimate political discourse.” It was a violent insurrection against democracy itself.

Five people died. Hundreds were injured. Thousands were traumatized. And what did Republicans do? They downplayed it, excused it, or flat-out lied about it. Trump went even further — he handed out pardons to convicted insurrectionists like candy at a campaign rally. The “party of law and order” wants to unleash the very people who tried to overthrow the Constitution.

The Hypocrisy Olympics

Fast forward to the assassination of Charlie Kirk. A horrific act, no question. Violence should never be tolerated. But Republicans wasted no time weaponizing Kirk’s death, pointing their fingers at liberals, as if an entire political ideology pulled the trigger. Suddenly, they’re preaching about the dangers of political violence — as though they hadn’t been defending, minimizing, and even celebrating violence when it served their own agenda.

So which is it, Republicans? Is political violence unacceptable across the board, or is it only unacceptable when it happens to someone you like? Because right now, your message is clear: when it’s Trump’s mob, it’s patriotism. When it’s anyone else, it’s terrorism.

The Dangerous Double Standard

This hypocrisy isn’t just disgusting — it’s dangerous. By excusing January 6 and pardoning insurrectionists, Republicans have signaled to their base that violence is a legitimate political tool. But by condemning Kirk’s assassination with self-righteous fury, they’re admitting they know violence is wrong. They just don’t care when it benefits them.

You can’t have it both ways. Either political violence is unacceptable, no matter whose side it’s on — or you’re just lying to everyone, including yourselves.

My Take

Republicans don’t get to claim moral high ground when they’ve been wallowing in the muck. They don’t get to condemn political violence while worshiping a man who incited an insurrection, pardoned its foot soldiers, and promises to unleash it again. And they sure as hell don’t get to point their bloody fingers at liberals while their own hands are still stained from January 6.

If you want to stop political violence, start by cleaning up your own mess. Until then, sit down, shut up, and spare us the lectures.

New on *Don’t Blink!*: *Republicans Can’t Have It Both Ways*. They excuse the January 6 insurrection, worship Trump, and pardon insurrectionists — yet point their fingers at liberals after Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Read my no-holds-barred takedown of Republican hypocrisy on political violence.

Trump has a long history of firing anyone who tells the truth—from health officials and intelligence experts to election workers and generals. Now he’s firing the Commissioner of Labor Statistics because the job numbers weren’t flattering enough.

LAKE GENEVA, WI - Donald Trump’s America has always had its own logic: deny, deflect, distract—and when all else fails, fire whoever told the truth.

Now he’s at it again. This time, it’s the Commissioner of Labor Statistics, booted because the most recent jobs report didn’t match Trump’s fantasyland version of the economy. The markets stumbled, the numbers disappointed, and Trump—true to form—shot the messenger.

Sound familiar? It should. Trump has been doing this since day one. If the truth doesn't serve him, then truth itselfbecomes the enemy.

Remember when he fired FBI Director James Comey for investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election? Or when he fired Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, a decorated war hero, for testifying truthfully during Trump’s first impeachment? How about Dr. Rick Bright, who was removed for criticizing the government’s COVID-19 response? Or Christopher Krebs, the top cybersecurity official, who was axed for stating that the 2020 election was not rigged?

Hell, he even turned on Dr. Anthony Fauci, mocking and sidelining him after decades of public service, simply because Fauci wouldn’t lie to make Trump’s botched pandemic response look better.

And let’s not forget the time he tried to pressure the Georgia Secretary of State to “find” just enough votes to overturn the election—and when that failed, he turned his rage on state officials who had the audacity to count votes honestly.

This is a man who thinks government employees exist to protect him, not the people. That the job of a statistician, doctor, judge, or general is to make him look good, even if it means rewriting reality.

Now he’s tossing out the nation’s top labor data expert for doing his job. What’s next? Fire the National Weather Service if it rains on his golf course? Fire the IRS if he owes back taxes? Fire gravity if he trips?

In Trump’s world, if a fact hurts his image, it’s fake. If an expert disagrees, they’re disloyal. If a result isn’t flattering, it’s sabotage. That’s not governance. That’s narcissistic delusion with authoritarian tendencies.

The firing of the Commissioner of Labor Statistics is dangerous not just because it's petty and absurd, but because it undermines the entire purpose of objective, independent government institutions. What’s the point of having experts if they’re punished for telling us the truth?

This isn’t about bad job numbers. It’s about Trump’s lifelong war against facts, accountability, and reality itself. He’s not just unfit—he’s actively corroding the foundation of American democracy by treating every fact he doesn’t like as a personal betrayal.

Imagine firing your doctor for giving you a diagnosis you didn’t want. Or demanding your mechanic lie and tell you your car is fine—just before the brakes go out. That’s where we’re headed.

Trump doesn’t want truth-tellers. He wants spineless sycophants. He doesn’t want public servants. He wants servants. Period.

And if we don’t collectively stand up and say enough, we’re telling every honest person in government that the price of integrity is unemployment.

Progressive Laura Kiefert comments on the latest Trump garbage dragging Barack Obama into his deranged circus with talk of treason and prison? Hell no. That’s not politics — that’s delusion with a bullhorn.

LAKE GENEVA, WI - I’ve sat through a lot of crap over the years. I’ve watched Donald Trump lie, rant, threaten, and throw around schoolyard nicknames like a drunk uncle on Facebook. I didn’t like it — but I stomached it. I rolled my eyes through “Sleepy Joe,” grit my teeth through “rigged election,” and let the “Hunter’s laptop” noise roll off my back like static.

But now Trump wants to haul Barack freaking Obama in front of a court and slap him with treason charges?

Get real. Get a grip. Get a clue.

You want to talk about delusional? This isn’t just political theater — this is a full-blown cult meltdown. Obama didn’t commit treason. He committed the unforgivable sin of being a brilliant, calm, compassionate, Black man who ran the country with grace — and made it look easy. And Trump has never gotten over it.

Let’s call this what it is: a pathetic attempt to rewrite history and distract from Trump’s own avalanche of crimes, lawsuits, and disgrace. The man’s got more indictments than most people have pairs of socks. He’s a convicted felon, a pathological liar, and a walking violation of decency. But sure, let’s toss Obama in prison for… what exactly? Hurting Trump’s feelings?

This isn’t about justice. It’s about vengeance. It’s about weaponizing the legal system to punish anyone who dared outshine the orange messiah. First Hillary. Then Biden. Now Obama. Next — what? Rachel Maddow? Mr. Rogers?

And let’s not forget, this all comes from the same lunatic who pushed birther conspiracies for years because Obama had the audacity to be born with a name like Barack Hussein Obama. Trump built his entire political identity on undermining Obama’s legitimacy — and now he wants to seal that hatred with a prison sentence?

Give me a break. Hell, give me a damn whiskey.

Obama led with class. He didn’t whine, he didn’t grift, and he didn’t throw tantrums on Twitter. He passed the ACA. He killed bin Laden. He never once called for his political enemies to be locked up. And now we’re supposed to believe he is the traitor?

No. Just no.

I’ve got plenty of bones to pick with politicians, left and right. I can argue policy all day long. But if you think it’s okay to send a former president — especially one as admired and scandal-free as Obama — to prison over paranoid fiction, you’re not just wrong. You’re part of the problem. You’re lighting matches under the very foundation of democracy.

So go ahead and chant “lock him up” if it makes you feel powerful. But know this: when you start throwing treason charges at Obama, you’re not draining the swamp. You’re drowning in it.