Politics – Elections – education and deconstruction.com

Where We Keep the Light

[Please note: The word “Featured” on the left side above was NOT inserted by this blogger, but apparently was inserted by WordPress, and it cannot be removed. NO post in this blog is sponsored.]

The Book of the Week is “Where We Keep the Light, Stories From A Life of Service” by Josh Shapiro, published in 2026.

Born around 1973, Shapiro grew up in the metropolitan areas of Kansas City, Philadelphia and New York City. In this slightly sloppily edited career memoir, Shapiro recounted some of his experiences in a few different elective public-service offices in the State of Pennsylvania.

When Shapiro was a county commissioner, he helped significantly improve the efficiency of the jobs of child welfare workers through the use of technology. It is common for such previously backwards offices to want to maintain the status quo, even thought the status quo is wasteful and inefficient. Automating a bloated staff means:

scapegoated local politicians for job losses;
supervisors who get a reduced number of subordinates– reducing the supervisors’ power;
high expenses for technology (but on the other hand, a new sweetheart contractor); and
stress for employees resistant to change, who must learn the new system.

In 2016, while running for the position of Pennsylvania’s attorney general, Shapiro and fourteen other state attorneys-general sued the Trump administration for banning all Muslims from seven countries from entering the U.S.

In summer 2018, a grand jury issued an 884-page report in connection with cases of sex-abuse by Catholic priests over the course of decades, in dioceses in 54 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. Shapiro wanted the findings made public, including the names of the perpetrators.

The scandal was egregious because “…not only did they [the Catholic Church’s bishops] get reports of these many thousands of abuse cases, but they recorded them, and kept them, for decades on end. And they did nothing about them. They made a point not to share their secret file with law enforcement.”

Shapiro named examples of how he OPENLY met with people of different faiths, and with people in the Republican Party after traumatic incidents, especially shootings; unlike certain public figures who are petty, vengeful and mean of spirit– who wouldn’t dare be seen with the “enemy” for fear their peers would ostracize them. Shapiro didn’t have a top-secret meeting with them for political gain. For him, serving everyone is a habit, a lifestyle.

The name, “99 Problems” of the book’s chapter VI refers to the rap lyrics, “I got 99 problems, but a bitch ain’t one.” When Shapiro was vetted for the candidacy of vice president to Kamala Harris after she had become the 2024 presidential candidate, SHE was the one who mentioned the rap song. According to her, when Joe Biden was president, he expected one hundred percent loyalty and blind obedience from her– not becoming one of his 99 problems. But, in that particular context, by her referring to her role that way, she actually set the women’s movement back decades!

Read the book to learn of how Shapiro dealt with a serious crime committed against his own family, and other episodes of his behavior in his public service career thus far.

Chasing Freedom

The Book of the Week is “Chasing Freedom, Coming of Age at the End of Empire” by Simukai Chigudu, published in 2025.

Born around 1986, the author told the life stories of his parents and himself (all three were dark-skinned), and conveyed some history of Zimbabwe and other African countries. The two takeaways are these: It is impossible for anyone to escape irony and hypocrisy, regardless of one’s time and place, due to biases formed during one’s lifetime; there are similarities in political behavior the world over.

Chigudu’s parents both believed in sending him to the best schools, first in Rhodesia, where they lived, and then elsewhere. The Rhodies (whites) at his rich kids’ school were racists and bullies.

The 1970’s saw the trend of James Bond wannabes planning to foment revolution in many countries of the world; including the United States, a few of whose political groups were: the Symbionese Liberation Army, MOVE, Weathermen, and the Black Panthers. In Africa, it was the alphabet soup of ANC, MPLA, SWAPO, ZAPU and ZANU.

By 1971, Rhodesia’s whites constituted less than five percent of its population: about six million. But whites ruled the country. In 1974, Chigudu’s political-dissident father moved to Uganda to attend university, having been exiled by Zimbabwe. He had been inspired to join the armed struggle for his country’s liberation. He studied Marxism, Pan-Africanism, and white supremacy of Zimbabwe’s white leader, Ian Smith. Chigudu’s mother initially found religion when searching for her place in the world. After she met Chigudu’s father at university, she began to question why Christianity was paternalistic.

Beginning in 1980, Robert Mugabe (dark-skinned), who ruled by fear and force in Rhodesia (renamed Zimbabwe), actively consolidated his power by inciting his base of dark-skinned, dissatisfied, poor, angry young men who were desperate for social belonging– to fight for the decolonization of their homeland. He whitewashed history, blaming colonialism rather than his own corruption, for the country’s problems.

By the turn of the twenty-first century, Zimbabwe’s government was imposing land reform– seizing farmland owned by whites and giving it to blacks. Whites fled the country amid the political violence. The blacks who had previously been workers on the whites’ farms stayed, even when they didn’t get to own the land, because they had nowhere else to go. Kind of like after the American Civil War, when freed slaves remained where they were– it was the only life with which they were familiar.

The United States expressed phony outrage at the land reform, claiming Mugabe was undemocratic. But as usual, the United States was cherry-picking a country to punish for ulterior political motives. Its plan was allegedly going to usher in “peaceful democratic change and equitable growth.”

The ultimate irony is that the author ended up doing graduate studies at Oxford– the institution of his homeland’s colonizer. Read the book to learn a boatload more about the author’s quest to allay his emotional trouble, and find himself.

We Will Never Ever Feel Shame – BONUS POST

Please Note: The word “Featured” on the left side above was NOT inserted by this blogger. NO post in this blog is sponsored.

The following is what Trump and his claques, flacks and sycophants are singing.

INFINITE disclosures of their criminality will NEVER shame them into better behavior. Those disclosures are meant to inform voters about the actions of the Republican Party, which has held a Congressional majority for the last several years.

The only way to stop this charade is to vote out this rotten clique. One hopes this won’t be deleted again by hackers.

WE WILL NEVER EVER FEEL SHAME

sung to the tune of “There Is Nothing Like A Dame” (the 1958 South Pacific movie version, up until the “Hup two, three…” dialogue) with apologies to the Estates of Rodgers and Hammerstein, and to whomever else the rights may concern.

To Trump we lend a HAND. It’s national securITY. SO ICE detention and AI data centers you cannot SEE. You little people are all losers and you are all lame. WHAT ain’t we got? We ain’t got shame!

We got women blamed and fired. We have distractions. We have SHOWs. We do speeches from our leader and defend against our FOES.

Put lipstick on the liberals’pig. We deny Trump’s brain is STALLED. What do we get? Spoils for us ALL!

We make world peace. Our country is the biggest and, the best. We protect all of you. We do it all at, Trump’s behest.

We will never-ever feel SHAME. Never ever ever. To us, it’s a great-big GAME. We never ever-feel-any shame.

We feel macho and we feel bold. We miss Epstein Island sex. We feel the rope getting tighter, and tighter, around our necks. We’re still strong and innocent, in your pesky hearings game. What DON’T we feel? We don’t feel shame.

Lots of things, we have done. We are still, in POWER. That shows we’ve done nothing wrong in any way shape or form, ha ha. You GLOWER.

We will never-ever feel SHAME. Never ever ever. To us, it’s a great-big GAME. We never ever-feel-any shame.

No other government’s the same. Biden failed the world. He was soft and lazy, and lame. We’ll put a tariff on his name. There is absolutely nothing about which, we feel shame.

Peter the Great

The Book of the Week is “Peter the Great, His Life and World” by Robert K. Massie, originally published in 1980. In this hodgepodge of a volume, the author recounted in great detail, from the mid-1600’s to the first quarter of the 1700’s: the territorial conquests of various European countries’ leaders with their infantry, artillery, cavalry and navies, including those of Tsar Peter of Russia; the book’s title was thus misleading.

Russian Tsar Alexis’ wife died giving birth to their fourteenth child in March 1669. In February 1671, the tsar, at forty-one, found another wife. She, nineteen, was raised by a foster royal-family whose wealth and power rivaled the first wife’s. In May 1672, she gave birth to Peter. The tsar died of illness when Peter was three and a half.

Peter’s older sister Sophia became Peter’s regent, a surrogate tsar, until Peter was old enough to lead Russia. There ensued a power struggle for which heir would become tsar, as the other two candidates had health issues. Peter eventually became co-tsar with his older half-brother Ivan. Sophia had military protection from the Streltsy, about twenty thousand soldiers. She was a power-grabber, and for her time and place, afforded opportunities and a well-rounded education unusual for her gender.

When Peter was fourteen, he formed an army of about six hundred of his peers, called the Preobrazhensky Regiment. They were trained and paid like real soldiers. He acquired battle-smarts, rather than academic smarts. His mother hoped to produce a male heir to increase his family’s power, by marrying him off. She also felt the need to rein him in, as he was off learning the design and carpentry of warship-building instead of following protocol by attending royal ceremonies. His arranged marriage took place in January 1689.

At the dawn of the 1700’s, Peter imposed a draconian policy of a mandatory twenty-five years of military service for all young men. By June 1701, one quarter of all the church bells in Russia had been melted down to be used to make cannon because time was too short to refine new metals for arms-making. After the Russians defeated the Swedes in Poltava, many nations tried to curry favor with Russia.

In winter 1711, Peter considered himself the liberator of the Balkan Christians. He tried to solicit the assistance of soldiers of various religions to fight the Muslim Ottomans in Arabia. After losing that war, he transferred his military resources from the Black Sea region to the Baltic Sea, trying to preserve his namesake city, St. Petersburg, at all costs.

Read the book to learn about the shifting alliances and wars among and between Peter’s Russians, the Turks of the Ottoman Empire, the Crimean Tatars, Ukrainian Cossacks, Swedes, Danes, Saxons, Poles, Hanoverians, Prussians, French, Scottish, etc.

I Have You, Maine – BONUS POST

As the United States heads for an economy of Jimmy Carter’s administration, it’s midterms time again. Candidates from all different states have all different brands. The ones who profess to be religious, must be careful not to engage in tax evasion in connection with their religion, while candidates who are fixtures in their states must not be complacent. U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) is one of the latter. Here’s what she should sing.

I HAVE YOU, MAINE

sung to the tune of “I Got You Babe” with apologies to the Estate of Sonny Bono, Cher and to whomever else the rights may concern.

Platner’s got skeletONS, he’s gone low, said he had PTSD, SOME time ago.

Well, I don’t know if all that’s true, but you have me, and Maine, I have you.

Maine, I have you, Maine. I have you, Maine.

They say I’ve got a liberal bent, but I patiently listen to YOUR every lament.

Well, so the earth’s getting hot. I’m keeping Maine, a cool vacation spot.

Maine, I have you, Maine. I have you, Maine.

I’m mature, in compromi-SING. Serving you well, is my thing. And when I can, I make policy sound. And when it’s time to vote, I’m always around.

There are good reasons I’ve been here so long. With your help, we can keep Maine going strong.

So keep my perfect attendance in mind.

I fear neither bullies not haters. I’m in my prime.

Maine, I have you, Maine. I have you, Maine.

To my constituents, I lend a hand. I’m egalitarian, you understand.

We see so much hypocrisy. I want us to keep democracy.

I help you sleep at night. I honestly do what I think is right.

I have you, I won’t let go. I keep fighting for you, you know.

I have you, Maine.

I have you, Maine…

Dead Center

The Book of the Week is “Dead Center, In Defense of Common Sense” by Joe Manchin, published in 2025.

Born in 1947, Manchin grew up in West Virginia. He was elected governor of West Virginia in 2004. In January 2005, he privatized the state’s workers compensation system, because the system was an extreme financial burden to the state budget.

At that, the unions feared they would lose their benefits. The plaintiffs’ lawyers got mad as hell because the system had been a gravy train for them. Some workers did have legitimate claims because West Virginia’s economy is based on drilling for and mining of natural resources and the major resource– coal– is an extremely dangerous business.

Manchin levied a tax on coal to pay down West Virginia’s crushing debt load. He was a straight shooter. He wrote that he tried to add other kinds of revenue-generators such as tourism, infrastructure and small businesses, to the state’s economy.

Manchin came around to agreeing that term-limits for elected officials, including Congress members, would be good for the country. A limit of two terms would force a public servant to take quick actions in their first term to get reelected, and then, if they want a legacy, they’ll have to continue to try to help their constituents.

If, however, as seems to be the case with career politicians– their motives for getting elected to office are simply power-hunger and greed. If they’re limited to two terms, they’ll accelerate their patronage piggishness and profiteering in their first term, and get complacent in their second term (if they get one) because they know they’ll be long gone when it hits the fan.

Moreover, “It is an iron law of politics: Stopping stuff is always more popular than compromising to get things done.” Read the book to learn what Manchin actually got done; as someone who truly cared about his constituents and voted pursuant to his conscience, he was willing to compromise.

Never on Sunday – BONUS POST

When American playwright Arthur Miller visited China (a one-Party state) in 1978, he commented, “…the Party is the people and cannot oppress itself, and therefore there is no need for lawyers or the Western idea of a separate body of professionals to protect the innocent.”

In these interesting times, the U.S. has shifted to the extreme end of the spectrum– a large number of guilty people have been protected. Societal breakdown is occurring because white-collar criminality has become the new normal. Unlike in 1974, in 2026: The United States Supreme Court is corrupt. The “Nixon” figure (Trump) hasn’t been shamed into resigning, and his cronies aren’t kicking him out.

The only punishment Trump has ever received for crimes in his lifetime has been fining. Neither job loss nor jail time. Fining is hardly a deterrent to bad behavior for someone of his ilk.

So it will take decades longer than it did fifty years ago– to right the ship this time.

In the meantime, Democrats should start to practice what they preach. When they regain sufficient power, they need to get their regulatory game on. It is likely that in 2028, the American people will elect another saintly president like Jimmy Carter, because they are sick of the sinner Donald Trump, who considers himself a saint. The macho men who wish they could get away with what Trump did, are now blaming him for their own personal problems, because he broke his campaign promises.

In connection therewith, this is what U.S. senatorial candidate James Talarico (D-TX) is singing to his opponent Ken Paxton (R-TX).

ON SUNDAY

sung to the tune of “Never on Sunday” with apologies to The Chordettes and to whomever else the rights may concern.

We saw your felony on money-day, on money-day, on money-day, which wasn’t very good.

And we saw your bribery on Tuesday, on Tuesday, on Tuesday, as we knew we would.

And we saw you bailed out on Wednesday, on Thursday, your unfaithfulness on Saturday, no less.

But I won’t oppose-you on Sunday, on Sunday, on Sunday, ’cause that’s my day of rest.

All my days, as you might have guessed, I love thy neighbor, and my day of rest.

I’m anti-billionaire, in my democracy quest.

I’m a Ron Howard-lookalike, in this political contest.

I’m staying moral on a school day, a holiday, a Wednesday, whichever day you choose.

We saw your greedy play, in your heyday, on a payday, and that’s what I refuse.

You were bailed out on a bleak day, a dark day, a weak day, at GOP’s behest.

I won’t oppose you on a Sunday, a Sunday, the one day, I need a little rest.

You were bailed out on a bleak day, a dark day, a weak day, at GOP’s behest.

I won’t oppose you on a Sunday, a Sunday, the one day, I need a little rest.

Strongmen – BONUS POST

The Bonus Book of the Week is “Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present” by Ruth Ben-Ghiat, published in 2021. In this hodgepodge of a volume, the author described the traits and behaviors of a “strongman” through a few real-life examples of dictators of the past hundred years.

A strongman is a male leader who finds ways (that happen to be nefarious) to maximize and maintain his power; including: causing needless deaths and ruined lives in the forms of propaganda (repeated scapegoating, generating crises and other brainwashing techniques), waging war, engaging in sexual conquests, seeking political dominance and enriching himself, usually through looting resources from the territory or territories he rules.

In October 1922, in an Italy of about forty million people, approximately thirty thousand people comprising the Fascist Party appointed Mussolini as prime minister. In the next two decades, in order to rule by fear and force, Mussolini formed various political and military groups, and passed laws that violated human rights. He incited excessive violence, and had dissidents killed.

In July 1925, Mussolini pardoned all political criminals (those who would help him stay in power). But by 1926, he had run out of money. Fortunately for him, he had friends in high places. Thomas Lamont– his contact at the American financial institution, J.P. Morgan, arranged a loan of one hundred million dollars for him. At that time, Hitler actually looked up to Mussolini and eventually got friendly with him, in order to get mentored. By 1933, the German industrialists had fallen for Hitler’s populist rhetoric.

In 1965, Mobutu, who engaged in drugs and arms sales, (with the help of the CIA) came to power in Zaire. He, along with a number of other dictators, had been war heroes, so they had military backing. Beginning in 1969, oil money allowed Gaddafi to give his government a socialistic bent– funding Libyans’ education, housing and other basic needs.

In 1994, Italy’s Berlusconi controlled very nearly all the messaging heard and seen by his people. He crafted laws to: give himself a get-out-of-jail-free card, and his businesses, to weasel out of legal and financial trouble. His propaganda screamed that immigrants were criminals. Gaddafi and Berlusconi (who should have been enemies) became besties– keeping their friends close and their enemies closer. Libya got weapons from Italy, and Italy got oil from Libya.

In Trump’s United States, “Women advance their careers by making it easier for the leader and his inner circle to harm other women.” Another strongman technique Trump uses is to put his assets in foreign bank accounts. In 2014, Eric Trump said, “We [Trump Organization] don’t rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need from Russia.”

Like Berlusconi, Trump and his media outlet, Fox News, have repeatedly, emphatically smeared immigrants as criminals, and he has used his military, ICE, to detain or deport them. The author named locations of various detention camps that had inhumane conditions: in Florida– Homestead, and in Texas– Clint, McAllen, Rio Grande, and El Paso del Norte.

In sum, once the strongman has stolen all he can get from his citizens, his next tricks are to negotiate a peace treaty and schedule elections.

Read the book to learn much more about how the above-named and a few others have used strongman tactics to turn into not-so-benign dictators.

ENDNOTE: Here’s a song that describes Trump’s strongman tactics.

MODERN STRONGMAN

sung to the tune of “Modern Woman” with apologies to Billy Joel and to whomever else the rights may concern.

You see Trump on the idiot box touting his high-tech war-toys of his cronies’ design.

With his continual cruel smears he aggravates the tension. Tries to save face while losing his mind.

Now Trump’s in trouble. He fired all the intellectuals. He always figures voters aren’t very smart.

Or maybe he hopes his hype covers up his conflicts. Oh, he’s got to use PR tricks ’cause his wrongdoing’s off the charts.

He always puts on an ACT of ranting-frat-boy modern strongman. And he’s an old fascist man. He understands just what he’s doing. He’s a modern strongman.

His mean streak is exceptionally unprofessional. He’s got a lot of cockiness, it’s easy to see. You don’t want to be rude but you get so furious when he’s so injurious to American democracy.

He’s got bile and he’s got billionaires’ money and lots of attorneys so his-foes, he quickly disarms. His slow rise means you may not realize, YOU’RE jeopardized by his gradual harm.

He’s got his plan of attack and got the power-play knack of modern strongman. And he’s an old fascist man. He understands just what he’s doing. He’s a modern strongman.

The king won’t die. There is no president. He says he loves you but he treats you unkind. In the morning he detains you. You’re accused by your neighbors. It’s a cagey situation for an old fascist guy.

Times have changed, and you cry in vain, lately. He’s become extreme in his bad attitude. His cock-and-bull just used to be for kicks. But now he controls your politics. After 2026, you might get a clue.

You can’t relax and face the facts of modern strongman. And he’s an old fascist man, he forces your hand in the things he’s doing.

He’s a modern strongman. He’s a modern strongman.

He’s got the sociopathic zip that allows the grip of the modern strongman.

The Rebels

The Book of the Week is “The Rebels, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (hereinafter referred to as “AOC”) and the Struggle for a New American Politics” by Joshua Green, published in 2024. In this hodgepodge of a volume, the author described some practices of the U.S. government that has led to its currently precarious economic state of affairs.

As of early 1978, president Jimmy Carter had failed to keep three economics-related campaign promises with which he tried to incite the hard-working American masses: income-tax reform (angry at the rich’s business tax-deductions); a stimulus (because stagflation was dogging everyone’s pocketbook); and an energy bill (due to rising oil prices). June 1978 saw California’s voters approve a huge reduction in property tax.

In October 1978, the Carter administration passed a tax-bill– the Revenue Act– that actually favored the rich and Wall Street. The bill cut capital gains taxes; funds were shifted from investing in factories and equipment to gambling in the securities markets. The president could have vetoed the bill, but instead, he sold out because his party would benefit with mere weeks to go before midterm election-day. Ironically, Ralph Nader, who was known for advocating for consumers, urged the government to deregulate airlines and trucking. It turned out that deregulation of these exceptional industries was to hurt consumers (and their employees!) in a few short years.

There also occurred the privatizing of retirement funds in the form of 401(k). As is well known, it was touted as a tax shelter, but it gave Wall Street more control over Americans’ hard-earned money.

After Carter lost his bid for reelection, Democrats such as Paul Tsongas, Mike Dukakis, Bill Bradley and Bill Clinton pivoted toward neoliberalism– appeasing the corporate community with anti-union legislation, deregulation, and allowing monopolistic practices.

Unsurprisingly, the above, and the implementation of a bunch of other unwise economic policies, led to the 2008 financial crash. The American people were understandably very angry to learn that the government bailed out the crash’s institutional perpetrators (whose obscenely paid executives had jobs that weren’t pay-for-performance, and who still got their bonuses); never mind helping hard-working ordinary Americans.

According to the author, the bailout cost U.S. taxpayers $32 billion instead of between $700 billion and $1.5 trillion. It is impossible for laypeople to believe that “experts” can accurately estimate those kinds of numbers, given the pressure on “experts” to propagandize. Ever since, there is almost total disbelief of all economics numbers spouted by those “experts.” It is actually the age-old activity of lying with statistics.

The author wrote that, as a newly elected U.S. senator from New York State, Hillary Clinton paid her dues by playing well with others, making friends with strange bedfellows, while U.S. senator from Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren, nearly a decade later, behaved in a confrontational manner that garnered applause from the little people– grassroots supporters.

The author contended that the aforementioned Warren paved the way for the Independent Bernie Sanders’ surprising popularity among the young voters in the 2016 Democrat primary election for president. His presence in the primary affected the choices of voters in the general election, adversely affecting Hillary’s chance to win.

The author explained why AOC achieved what most politicos thought was going to be impossible. “Running as a Democratic Socialist, she [AOC] drew a large, multiracial progressive coalition that overwhelmed an incumbent, in [Joseph] Crowley, who personified the Wall Street-friendly Democrat uninterested in local concerns but assumed to be too powerful to be held to account.”

Read the book to learn much more about how the individuals named in the book’s title have influenced American politics in a major way in the last fifteen years.

ENDNOTE: In sum, American voters would like to see their government return to rule of law, civility and transparency! They would also like to see political workers and candidates: answer the questions asked of them, and clarify what they mean. Various terms of late have been given emotionally-charged interpretations to incite people who easily get upset at political news. For example, climate change and woke mean different things to different people. Instantaneous communication among Americans has made them hyper-aware of shenanigans in the staged and scripted reality show that is currently American politics.

Election Meltdown

The Book of the Week is “Election Meltdown” by Richard L. Hasen, published in 2020.

This short, slightly sloppily-edited volume named names of incompetent or criminal election workers, and unethical, influential political workers, in connection with specific political races of the past couple of decades. The offenders are listed below, in no particular order. The location of their actions, where applicable, is in parentheses.

The incompetent ones included:

Brenda Snipes (Florida)
Susan Bucher (Florida)

The criminal ones included:

Brian Kemp (Georgia)
Mark Harris (North Carolina)
Mark Anderson (Florida)
Leslie McCrae Dowless, Jr. (North Carolina)

The unethical ones who spread disinformation (one or more lies) via social media included:

Ken Paxton (Texas)
Donald Trump
Kris Kobach (Kansas)
Hans von Spakovsky (Kansas, Missouri)
Jesse Richman (Kansas)
J. Christian Adams (Florida)
Hillary Clinton
Kamala Harris
Michael Cohen (Trump’s former New York attorney)
Paul Ryan (former Speaker of the House)
Kayleigh McEnany
Christie McCormick

The author also named elections experts, lawyers and judges who refuted the claims of the above.

The author related that the Clintons argued that the reason for investigating voter suppression is to make sure it doesn’t affect the outcome of the election. But that should not be the most important reason. The most important reason to make sure there is no voter suppression, is to ensure that everyone eligible to vote, has a chance to vote. The reason Americans should vote is to show they believe in the process of free and fair elections.

Democracy requires that a significant number of people believe in it for it to work.

The bottom line is: Democracy is compromised when political workers engage in voter suppression, election crimes, or spreading of disinformation. All of those can result in low voter turnout, which in turn, can end badly. For example, in 1972, low voter turnout resulted in the reelection of the war-criminal Richard Nixon.

Read the book to learn many additional details regarding the above-named individuals’ actions, and about those who called out the liars.