Tag Archives: trump-regime

Trump’s Great Gatsby Redux is a Portent

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To say we live in an age of absurdity would be an understatement. But absurdity often accompanies sadism. Case in point: Trump throwing a “Great Gatsby” themed gala on the eve of 40+ million Americans losing their access to food. This is “Let them eat cake” on steroids.

To be sure, Trump has likely never read a book through cover to cover, with the possible exception of Mein Kampf translated into English and his own “The Art of the Deal.” So, the irony of holding a Great Gatsby themed party while millions of his citizens struggle or languish in near intolerable conditions will always be lost on him.

Gatsby, the main character, was a conman who was obsessed with the aristocracy. His nouveau riche credentials didn’t get him the status he craved in their circles, but he threw lavish parties in a mansion he built to display his ostentatious wealth to anyone he could dazzle.

That Trump cannot see such glaring irony is staggering, but not surprising. While he is a narcissist, he is also a proud illiterate and affirmed ignoramus. His dearth of curiosity is legendary. He is only attracted to glitter, gold and gilded mirrors. And he delights in the praise of the vapid courtiers who surround him.

As the nation teeters on economic ruin, Trump has ensconced himself in the illusion of prestige. He lacks the capacity for insight and grows ever more delusional by the day. This does not make him any less dangerous. On the contrary, as he grows even more unhinged by the day he becomes more erratic and paranoid. This is the real reason for the golden ballroom and the renovated bunker that will be rebuilt below.

Narcissism is a poison to its bearer. It promises satisfaction, but only guarantees loneliness and longing. It creates hungry ghosts, never able to sate the empty void within. Trump has cultivated his own narcissism for a lifetime. But no one can avoid the humbling veil of mortality.

Gatsby’s ignominious fate was met while he was floating in his pool. Trump appears to be aimlessly floating for disaster as well. The only problem is that he is taking the entire nation with him.

Kenn Orfanos, November 2025

Tremors in Magaland

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Since the murder of Charlie Kirk, the Trump regime has made it clear that it intends to crush all dissent from the left. US Homeland Security Advisor, Stephen Miller, made the ridiculous allegation that the Democratic Party was a “domestic, extremist organization” before the shooting. After, he practically spat out venom when talking about using the full power of the state to “dismantle the left.” Those thinking these are idle threats haven’t been paying close attention.

But there may be one glimmer of hope. Maga is in disarray since the shooting. Prominent voices, including Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson, Meghan Kelly have been raising questions about Kirk’s allegiance to Israel, with some alleging he was about to shift. Even before Kirk’s murder, Republicans like Marjorie Taylor Green were beginning to stray from the pack.

Just a day before his death, Kirk did an interview with the infamously smug and endlessly irritating genocide apologist, Ben Shapiro. He asked uncomfortable questions about genocide and ethnic cleansing to a visibly shaken Shapiro. This, and other instances, have created a conspiracy theory spiral in Magaland with some indicating they believed Israel was either responsible for or involved in the assassination of Kirk.

Make no mistake, Charlie Kirk was an odious man. His racism, antisemitism, homophobia, misogyny and Islamophobia are on the record for anyone to see. But Israel has banked on unwavering allegiance from the American far right. Evangelical Christians, who make up a large portion of the Republican Party, have a cultlike devotion to the Zionist state, with many believing it is essential for the second coming of Christ. But for others in the far right sphere, particularly gen Z, this bond is beginning to fray.

“There’s rumors going around—maybe Mossad is a part of the Epstein files,” one young male student told Kirk at one of his university events. And he wasn’t the only one to raise these issues. Other students noted that the algorithms on their phones are different to that of their parents. Their feeds are an endless stream of horror and suffering in Gaza. And the fact that Netanyahu was the first political leader to post on social media asking for prayers for Kirk after the shooting has also raised eyebrows, with many of them asking why a foreign leader would be so invested in a far right, American podcaster. So much so, that he was aware of the shooting before even Trump knew.

Kirk knew that the “America first” crowd were tired of wars and foreign investments that cost too much. As its primary colonial asset, Israel gets the lion share of American foreign aid. And he felt the pressure from them, as well as the wealthy, pro-Israel donors who funded Kirk’s Turning Point USA. Even ultra-Zionist billionaire hedge fund manager, Bill Ackman, has been embroiled in this, with accusations of pressure and even blackmail attempts. Something Ackman has denied.

To be sure, it is unlikely Kirk would have changed direction on supporting the genocidal state in light of his political ambitions. But the fractures aren’t something to take lightly. As the American Empire declines and unravels, it becomes a churning mess of conspiracies, suspicion and paranoia.

All of these issues shouldn’t convince anyone that the Trump regime will change course. The killing of Charlie Kirk has provided it with its very own Reichstag fire, undoubtedly thinking it is a perfect distraction from the damning Epstein files and the genocide in Gaza that it wholeheartedly supports. It is feeling emboldened with small victories, like the recent sacking of popular, nighttime comedian, Jimmy Kimmel. But the regime is clearly shaken and fearful. It knows its fragile alliances are unstable and unreliable.

Whatever the regime does now, opposition to its cruelty and sadism must be paramount. Protests against ICE, deportations, concentration camps, attacks on vulnerable communities and the genocide in Gaza must not be thwarted by its threats. Fascist regimes create or capitalize on chaos in order to benefit from the confusion. Giving in to that confusion would be a fatal mistake no one could afford.

Kenn Orfanos, September 2025

Photo Credit: A billboard showing an image of US President Donald Trump (L) embracing Charlie Kirk on the side of a building in Tel Aviv, on September 13, 2025.© Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images

Ultimately, Iryna Zarutska was a victim of Capitalism

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Iryna Zarutska was a 23 year old Ukrainian refugee who had fled her home country after the Russian invasion. She emigrated to the United States, eventually settling in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she got a job at a pizza parlour. But Iryna had ambitions to become a veterinarian. Sadly, her dreams were cut short one night on a light rail train when she was fatally stabbed to death as she sat in her chair by a man with severe and untreated mental illness.

Train surveillance videos captured the entire, gruesome attack from before she sat down to after, when she had collapsed on the floor by her seat, bleeding out. After being stabbed, Iryna looked at her assailant bewildered and in despair. She held her hands to her face crying before losing consciousness from blood loss. None of the people around her came to her aid. It was a few good Samaritans from another car who eventually tried to help her. But it was too late.

Iryna’s story deserves to be told. Her life mattered. But there is another reason people need to know. The far right in the US is using Iryna’s tragic murder as a means to stoke racist hatred. They are also painting the unhoused and people who have mental health struggles as deranged and violent, when in reality only a minute percentage of these populations have aggressive tendencies. The Trump regime has been using it to justify more draconian crackdowns on the poor and unhoused. Even though statistics clearly show a decline in the crime rate in the US.

Progressives and those on the left should not ignore Iryna Zarutska. Her life deserves dignity. It is also imperative to address the conditions that led to her murder. The US, lacking in any kind of universal healthcare, has also steadily defunded mental health programs. And as rents soar, the population of unhoused people has soared with it.

Capitalist systems created these conditions. And its only solution to the inevitable problems that arise is carceral. To lock people up in for-profit prisons. In the end, this only creates more misery, especially for the working class who cannot afford expensive treatments or high end sanitoriums.

Capitalism has also created a culture of indifference. A social milieu where individuality is lauded as a virtue, and selflessness is seen as a weakness. Everything is transactional. Indeed, under the Trump regime, every naked cruelty that capitalism has to offer has been normalized and celebrated. And this is denuding working class communities of agency and solidarity.

Iryna’s life was cut short in a most brutal and heartless way. We should remember and honour her. But we should be reminded that she was ultimately a victim of capitalism. Of its neglect. Of its indifference. And we should not allow her legacy to be used by far right media and politicians to push for even more policies of brutality and heartlessness.

Kenn Orfanos, September 2025

The US Invasion of Los Angeles

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It all started when White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller demanded the abduction of 3000 people a day. 3000 immigrants. A number that is staggering by any metric. If this policy is allowed to proceed, entire communities will be destroyed. Families will be ripped apart. And an entire generation will be traumatized beyond repair. It will also decimate the US economy which is driven by immigrant labour.

As a result of this barbarous demand, a vibrant immigrant community in Los Angeles was turned into a war zone. Jackbooted, heavily armed and masked thugs flooded the streets, attacking anyone they encountered. But they weren’t prepared for the neighborhood to stand its ground. Hundreds of people overwhelmed ICE. That’s when the LAPD came in with unhinged violence and brutality.

The LAPD, arguably the most corrupt and violent police force in the nation, pepper sprayed babies, beat women and choked a grandmother to unconsciousness in front of her family. Dozens of people had to be taken to hospital for treatment. They even shot journalist Lauren Tomasi with a rubber bullet as she was reporting in front of a camera.

But all of this was by design. The Trump regime had been looking for a reason to invoke the Insurrection Act, and it found one. Even though the vast majority of the protests in LA are peaceful, the videos and photos of some people waving Mexican flags, wearing keffiyehs or setting automobiles alight are all the regime needs as a justification for its brutality. Now it can say “look, we told you this was an invasion.” And this manufactured threat becomes the pretext they desire for the final descent into authoritarian fascism.

What happens in LA could determine whether Americans can recover any of their battered, lost or stolen civil liberties. But as I write, there are 500 Marines standing by on the President’s order to invade Los Angeles.

*Photo Homeland Security smashing a woman’s skull and ribcage with the butt of a shotgun.

Kenn Orphan, June 2025