I like to think that this blog isn’t about politics, per se, but about following current events and trying to make sense of them in larger contexts, especially the broad contexts both of history and of what science fiction explores. Though again today, I am cramped for time, so let’s note these items relatively quickly. And obviously I don’t have any final answers.
AlterNet, Alex Henderson, 18 Jan 2026: Inside Trump’s ‘retribution’ against ‘half of America’
AlterNet is essentially a consolidation site (as JMG is), and this item is based on an MS Now (formerly MSNBC) piece by Paul Waldman (formerly of Washington Post).
MS Now, Paul Waldman, 18 Jan 2026: The president of the United States is at war with his own country, subtitled “The Trump administration is engaged in a comprehensive war, and its enemy is half of America.”
Is this not obvious or do I need to quote? OK I’ll quote.
Trump can’t just shut off all federal funding to states he doesn’t like. But no one doubts he would if he could — or doubts he’s trying to. This is more than bloviation. Something important and dangerous is happening. The Trump administration is engaged in a comprehensive war, and its enemy is half of America. This war is being waged in rhetoric and regulation, budget cuts and violence. Its aim is to tear the country in two.
There is no precedent in modern times for this; one might make an analogy to Reconstruction in the wake of the Civil War, in which the federal government forced the South to accept democracy. But that was for the best of reasons, and Trump’s attempt to bend blue states to his will is for the worst.
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This states something fairly obvious.
NY Times, The Editorial Board, 17 Jan 2026: For Trump, Justice Means Vengeance
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And this.
The New Yorker, Susan B. Glasser, 15 Jan 2026: The Minnesota War Zone Is Trump’s Most Trumpian Accomplishment, subtitled “The President may have started out by trash-talking America; one year into his second term, he is simply trashing it.”
