Monday, May 26 was Memorial Day in the United States. In a strange, unhinged, rant on Truth Social, Trump wished all, “Including the scum who ruined our country over the past four years” a Happy Memorial Day. A vitriolic message threatening to wreak retribution on all his political enemies.

Memorial Day is not a festive “Happy” holiday. It is a day to honor the ultimate sacrifice made by those in defense of their country. A day of reverence that demands humility and respect for the nation’s fallen heroes.

Former President Biden’s recent diagnosis of Stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer has raised questions about when he was first aware that his prostate cancer had metastasized, thereby becoming increasingly more aggressive.

The vast majority of patients suffering from a disease not uncommon for men in their 70s, had they adhered to annual check-ups and screening protocols, would have been identified with such an aggressive cancer at a much earlier stage. Which raises the question whether those surrounding the former president had kept that information away from the public.

Biden had showed no cognitive or physical decline during the first two years of his presidency, when he delivered an outstanding legislative performance. A performance that gave the Democrats a convincing win in the 2022 mid-terms. Sadly, this success prompted Biden to break his pre-election promise of being a one-term, transitional president, and to seek a second presidential term. A most ill-thought of and selfish decision, considering, even had he won re-election, he would have been 86-years old at the end of his second term.

Signs of cognitive decline and physical disability had become obvious during the final two years of his presidency. It is entirely possible that Biden’s prostate cancer had metastasized during this time, and his allies, out of a misplaced sense of loyalty, had indeed covered up the illness. A fatal mistake, one that may well have cost the nation its democracy.

The final evidence of Biden’s complete cognitive collapse was shown during the presidential debate of June 27, 2024, when he displayed visible exhaustion, stammering through unintelligible arguments, staring blankly, mouth agape, as Trump lobbed one verbal attack after another. Trump smirked. That was the moment he knew he had won a second shot at the presidency.

Biden’s subsequent withdrawal left the new candidate, Vice-President Kamala Harris with insufficient time to mount a successful challenge. The presidency was gifted to Trump, who readily won both the popular and Electoral College votes in November.

This great mistake by the Democrats of handing over the presidency and both Houses of Congress to a Party led by a convicted felon with authoritarian ambitions has changed the geopolitical structure of the world today. Trump is openly hostile to the nation’s long-standing allies, its neighbors and the nations of NATO. He appears to be throwing the ideological lot of the United States with the strongmen and dictators of the world.

Trump’s economic and tariff policies have, in four short months, transformed the strongest economy in the world he inherited from the Biden administration, to one of economic and societal chaos, rampant corruption and contempt for the rule of law and the constitution.

Coined by Robert Armstrong of the Financial Times, Wall Steet has introduced a new TACO trade. The acronym, which stands for trades resulting in Trump Always Chickening Out, illustrates how markets fall on Trump’s vow to impose high tariffs on imports, and then jump back when he announces “pauses” on those very tariffs. He imposed tariffs on Liberation Day, April 2, 2025, which he declared “the day of American economic independence”. When the stock market crashed the following day, he realized he had made a colossal mistake, and announced indefinite “pauses” of these tariffs, causing further economic uncertainty and instability.

Last week, Trump announced the imposition of a 50% tariff on imports from the Union, causing a sharp drop in the markets. A few days later, saying he had a “good call” with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, he was “giving the EU until July 9 to reach a deal with the US”. And he took credit for the immediate rise in the markets caused entirely by his Chickening Out – and God only knows what will happen on July 9. More TACO trades, without a doubt.

The economic uncertainty caused by Trump’s manic tariff policies may have ended, at least on a temporary basis. Last Wednesday, the Manhattan-based Court of International Trade blocked Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs from going into effect, ruling that the president had overstepped his authority by imposing tariffs. The Court ruled that “the US constitution gives the US Congress exclusive powers to regulate commerce with other countries, that are not trumped by the president’s emergency powers to safeguard the economy”.

The panel of three Judges who made up the Court was appointed by Presidents Reagan, Obama and – you guessed it – Trump!

However, to further muddy the waters, the US Appeals Court for the Federal Circuit “paused” the ruling of the Court of International Trade that blocked Trump’s tariffs, which now allows Trump’s tariffs to stay in effect, while the ruling is on appeal. The White House has immediately appealed the ruling, asking the Supreme Court to intervene.

Trump’s feud with Harvard University is reaching fever pitch. He demands the university bans the admission of international students, interferes in its academic curricula, claiming that it teaches its students the real history of the nation, like Critical Race Theory, instead of the modern, white-washed Christian version, spreads communist propaganda, and many other “woke” theories that go against the new American (Republican Version) Gospel: The 2025 Project.

Harvard’s President, Alan Garber, received thunderous applause when he opened his Commencement Day address on May 29, with the words, “Members of the Class of 2025, from down the street, across the country and around the world…. Around the world, just as it should be”. Gerber called for universities to stand firm against the Trump administration which has waged war against Ivy League schools in recent months.

Harvard University, one of the most prestigious seats of learning and research in the world, has been around since 1636, long before the birth of the United States. It will be in existence long after its future distinguished historians condemn the blasphemous, white supremacist Project 2025 and the dumbest, most corrupt president in US history.

Trump’s basic argument against Harvard, that the university provides an education for the benefit of foreign students, depriving homegrown students of a first-class education, is false. In fact, the opposite is true.

American universities like Harvard, Yale and the other Ivy Leagues lure the brightest of foreign students, usually from the third world, offering them grants and loans, enabling them to study for undergraduate degrees, at no initial cost. After they complete their degree, they are anchored to the United States for at least eight years, the period it takes them to repay their student loans. By which time, they have obtained US citizenship, secured high-level jobs, bought homes, found partners – America has become their home. And their world-class talents, enriched by the best education money can’t buy, remain for the benefit of the USA.

According to a new study of the non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to public policy research on trade, immigration and other issues of national importance, the National Foundation for American Policy, “The achievements of immigrants in the form of Nobel Prizes, thriving businesses and contributions in other fields are a testament to the American Dream. Being open to immigration allows America to reap the benefits of scientific and technological innovation”.

So who are the victims of the brain-drain? Trump’s recent public speeches, consisting of the most incomprehensible word salads, provide absolute proof of his continuing cognitive decline. Space permits me to cite just a few extracts of his “oration” at the press conference at Doha, Qatar, during his recent four-day swing of the Middle-Eastern nations of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. Drivel which brings to mind the words of the treacherous Antonio, who said, in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, “Whereof what’s past is prologue”, and is certainly worthy of verbatim quotation. If only to ponder the question:

Will the United States, as a nation, ever again be able to carve the sublime past of the soaring oratory of an Obama, out of the ridiculous prologue of the crazed utterings of a psychopath?

Hand to heart, these are a few faithful extracts of this press conference:

“When you look at what’s happening with Russia and Ukraine the drone is killing tremendous numbers of people. You hide behind a tree and the drone comes down and circles you with fire.

You don’t have a chance and the tree comes down also by the way.

“Do you know that Sean Duffy, the head of the Transportation Department, who’s working right now on the airports and getting a system because Biden didn’t do a thing for four years and Pete Buttigieg was the head and he goes bicycling to work.

“He takes a bicycle to work, can you believe it? What a — And they say he’s going to run for president, I don’t see it. Who knows, right? But I don’t see it.

“But, when I look at what they’ve done, it’s so horrible what they’ve done and the work they did do, wasted billions of dollars. They tried to hook up air systems to….Copper. They tried to hook up copper to glass and the glass doesn’t work with the copper and….

“They had 30,000 contractors different contractors doing 30,000 different jobs, and when they put it all together, they spent billions of dollars. It didn’t even come close to working and we’re going to be giving out a brand-new system.

“Sean Duffy, the head of Transportation. He’s a great Sean though, I have to tell you but Sean Duffy was the world champion for five years climbing trees and down, up and down, world champion! So that’s what you call a serious a lumberjack…. But he’s doing a fantastic job at Transportation.

“But this has been a very historic trip”.

Words spoken at a press conference in the presence of leaders of Qatar and other Arab nations, and the international press, describing the success of his four-day swing of the Arab nations of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. But all was not in vain. Trump snagged the illegal “gift” of a 13-year-old, hand-me-down $400 million flying palace from the Emir of Qatar.

Former President Biden was forced out of contention of a second term because of public evidence of cognitive deficiency of a word salad during the presidential debate. Extracts from the drivel shown in Trump’s rants above provide conclusive evidence of the cognitive collapse of a man who belongs in a psychiatric facility for felons, not in the White House.

Trump has made no progress whatsoever, economic or societal, in the first four months of his second presidential term. Contrary to the campaign promises he made, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza are still raging (his buddies, Putin and Netanyahu have been playing him like a fiddle, as Ukraine and Gaza keep burning). Prices of groceries and inflation continue to increase. His on/off tariff deals keep causing economic and stock market chaos. He continues dealing with his illegal cryptocurrency under the aegis of the presidency. His personal real estate deals with, and lavish, unconstitutional personal gifts from, Middle-Eastern despots, have enriched himself and his family beyond their wildest dreams. The White House Gift Shop has introduced a section, specializing in Presidential Pardons for Cash, with employee discounts. And his administration thumbs its collective nose at due process, the judiciary, the rule of law and the constitution.

Only 44 months to go. What else could possibly go wrong?

by Kumar de Silva ✍️