United States of America, Dead at 248

Today is July 4, 2026, what would have been the 250th birthday of the United States of America. Instead, it is a day to mourn the loss of the once-great country that had long been a beacon of hope for self-rule throughout the increasingly connected world.

It was July 4, 1776, when a British Colony across the Atlantic Ocean from England declared its independence from the rule of the “present King of Great Britain” via a Declaration of Independence. The text of that Declaration included the following, in part:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, … But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

The Declaration enumerated a number of “Facts” that included the following, in part, regarding the King:

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. [current example: housing affordability bill passed by House and Senate in June 2026]

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither … [current example began on January 20, 2025 and continues through today]

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices … [current example is the expectation that Justices will serve the person who put them in their positions]

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance. [current example: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids throughout the country]

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States [current examples: pardons for insurrectionists of January 6, 2021 and ICE murders]

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal” was not intended to apply only to white men who joined a Make America Great Again cult (now known merely as MAGA).

“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.” Absolute despotism still exists in the form of monarchies and other forms of dictatorships such as Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and, most recently, the United States of America.

The Declaration of Independence was formally transformed into a Democratic-Republic by the adoption of the “Constitution for the United States of America” about three years later in 1789. George Washington, the man who became the first President of the United States of America, took great pains to ensure the Presidency would not become another monarchy.

Washington’s efforts to prevent the United States of America from becoming another nation ruled by “despotism” succeeded for 236 years (1789-2025). A large part of that success was the taking of oaths to the Constitution by Presidents, military personnel, members of Congress, numerous members of civilian components of the Executive Branch, and many others throughout the United States of America. Specific oaths by position are included at the end of this article. Though there are slight variations depending upon positions of the oath takers, all include the concept of defending “the Constitution of the United States”. Except for the oath taken by Presidents, they each also include “against all enemies, foreign and domestic”.

Oaths to the Constitution of the United States of America began to seriously unravel around 2023 when members of Congress, particularly those who were part of the MAGA cult, ignored their oaths of office to allow Donald Trump to run for President of the United States even though Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution states:

“No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”

Even though there is clear audio visual evidence that Trump instigated the insurrection and attempted overthrow of Congress at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, as supported by the judiciaries in at least two States, Congress did nothing to enforce the Fourteenth Amendment during the election cycle that began in 2023.

Since his hostile takeover of the United States of America on January 20, 2025, Trump has flagrantly, and continuously, violated numerous Amendments to the Constitution, including the following:

1st Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. [Examples: ABC, Paramount, Wall Street Journal, and many, many others being punished by the government for speech Trump didn’t like]

4th Amendment: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. [Examples: warrantless arrests and lengthy detentions of thousands, including United States citizens and green card holders]

5th Amendment: No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. [Examples: warrantless arrests and lengthy detentions of thousands, including United States citizens and green card holders]

6th Amendment: In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence. [Examples: warrantless arrests and lengthy detentions of thousands, including United States citizens and green card holders]

8th Amendment: Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. [Example: Alligator Alcatraz and other inhumane detention facilities]

10th Amendment: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. [Example: Trump’s numerous attempts to take federal government control of elections]

So, the oath violations began at the top and trickled down through the Cabinet, hundreds of members of Congress, tens of thousands of members of the military and veterans, Executive Branch Agency heads and employees, and millions of State and local officials.

Without the Constitution of the United States of America in full force, the United States of America clearly died on January 20, 2025. This latest version of an American Civil War has been won by the Confederacy, and the United States of America will now require a new American Revolution if there is any hope of reinstating the Constitution and having a legitimate President installed.


Oaths to the Constitution of the United States of America

The Oath of Office taken by Presidents is, “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

The oath taken by military officers and members of Congress is, “I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”

The oath taken my military enlisted members is, “I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

Trump's List of Constitutional Violations, Year 1, Term 2

Trump swore an oath, twice: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." In the 12 months since he last said those words, he has trampled over the Constitution rather than “preserve, protect and defend” it. Here are numerous examples of this blatant disregard for the Constitution (by no means a comprehensive list):

1st Amendment Offenses
- Disney/ABC
- Paramount/CBS
- BBC
- CNN
- New York Times
- The Wallstreet Journal
- Harvard University
- Columbia University
- University of Pennsylvania
- Brown University
- Cornell University
- Princeton University
- Northwestern University
- Stanford University
- Rutgers University
- Tulane University
- George Mason University
- Jimmy Kimmel
- Stephen Colbert
- And many more

4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th Amendment Offenses
- Hundreds of thousands of warrantless arrests by ICE including US citizens and green card holders

10th Amendment Offenses
- Threats of Trump government taking control of certain federal elections

Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution (the "Appointments Clause") offenses
- Lindsey Halligan
- John Sarcone
- Alina Habba
- Donald Kinsella

Lack of Law Enforcement Leadership
- Pardoned more than 1,500 individuals convicted in the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol
- Political prosecutions
o James Comey
o Letitia James
o Jerome Powell (Trump appointee)
o Lisa Cook
o John Bolton (Trump appointee)
o Mark Kelly
o Elissa Sltokin
o Jason Crow
o Maggie Goodlander
o Chris Deluzio
o Chrissy Houlahan
o Chris Krebs
o Miles Taylor
o John Brennan

Before long, if he is to continue on his present course, he is going to find it necessary to violate the 2nd Amendment too!

Divided States of America - Part II

I grew up in the 1970s and I remember President Richard Nixon running for re-election in 1972. While Nixon’s Watergate scandal rocked his short-lived second term in Office, the United States (U.S.) remained united in its views of the Executive Office. The Attorney General did his job by appointing a Special Counsel who wasn’t swayed by political pressures. Congress, on both sides of the aisle, provided the necessary balance of powers to force Nixon to resign from Office in 1974. Nixon was replaced by his Vice President, Gerald Ford. With the intent of keeping the U.S. from falling apart, Ford decided to pardon Nixon for the crimes that were committed at the Watergate Hotel under Nixon’s direction. The pardon was not well received and resulted in Ford becoming the only President to never be elected to the Office. For both Nixon and Ford, their actions had consequences and the U.S. moved forward.

In 1986, I entered the U.S. Navy with Ronald Reagan as Commander-in-Chief. For the first time in my young life, I took the oath to “support and defend the Constitution” of the U.S. Years later, in 1990-1991, with President George H.W. Bush as Commander-in-Chief, I fought in Operation Desert Storm, an action designed to free Kuwait from Iraqi occupation. Unlike the Vietnam War, the people of the U.S. came together to support the troops that participated in Desert Storm.

By the end of 1995, with Bill Clinton as Commander-in-Chief, I had served with the Navy under three U.S. Presidents, two Republican and one Democrat. In 1996, having served nine years in the Navy, I joined the FBI where I served for just over twenty years after once again taking the oath to “support and defend the Constitution” of the U.S. Those twenty years were served under Presidents Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, two Democrats and one Republican. I believe the rotation of the Presidency between Republicans and Democrats is what kept the country in balance.

I experienced eight Presidents between Nixon and Obama where each of those Presidents, for the most part, upheld the solemn oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”. Those eight Presidents, balanced by a Congress that performed its function of keeping the Presidency and Supreme Court in check, preserved, protected, and defended the entirety of the Constitution and didn’t pick and choose the parts they liked while ignoring the parts they didn’t like.

Following the terrorist attacks within the U.S. on September 11, 2001, the U.S. began to slowly unravel, and partisan politics soon took center stage. In 2010, the Democrats who controlled Congress played some highly divisive, political games to shove President Obama’s Affordable Care Act down the throats of the Republicans. The games began following the death of Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy and the vote by the people of Massachusetts to replace Kennedy with a Republican who strongly opposed to the ACA. As a result, the Democrats lost their supermajority in the Senate along with their ability to stop a Republican filibuster. Rather than present the ACA to the newly configured Senate, Democrats decided to use a work-around, a budget reconciliation process, to take advantage of a version of the bill that had been passed by the House and Senate before Kennedy had died. The final version sent to President Obama was not the version that had been passed by the Senate with Senator Kennedy’s vote. This was the beginning of a relatively bloodless Civil War between Republicans and Democrats that continues to this day.

Unlike the Civil War of the 1860s, there was no President Lincoln to reunite the country, and soldiers weren’t lining up on battlefields to shoot one another to death. Instead, for example, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell withheld President Obama’s nomination for the U.S. Supreme Court for an unreasonably protracted period of time so that Obama’s Republican successor, Donald Trump, could replace Obama’s nomination with his own. Following the Presidential election of 2020, McConnell fast-tracked a Trump nomination against the vote of We the People, a move that served to fan the flames of War with the Supreme Court as the primary battleground. Essentially, McConnell did to the Supreme Court what Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi did to the ACA, partisan politics in the extreme.

On January 6, 2021, the relatively bloodless Civil War experienced the first substantial sight of blood when thousands of angry U.S. citizens stormed the U.S. Capitol at the direction of Trump in an attempt to stop the ceremonial certification of the 2020 election. Throughout the four years under President Joe Biden, that group of insurrectionists and their staunch supporters, who had become known as MAGA, continued to fan the flames of War with no apparent desire for reconciliation and reunification.

Like the U.S. Civil War of the 1860s, friends and brothers have now become enemies of one another and the U.S. has moved as far as possible away from being united.

Beginning on January 20, 2025, Donald Trump took the War to an entirely new level. Using what he learned during his 2017-2021 Presidency, Trump appointed loyalists that were willing to swear their loyalty to Trump over their oaths to “support and defend the Constitution”. As a result, those parts of the U.S. Government that had been traditionally independent from partisan politics, such as the Department of Justice, the FBI, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Federal Reserve Board are all coming under the direct control of the occupant of the White House.

The despotic evolution of the U.S. is nearly complete as the Constitution has been relegated to the sidelines and both Congress and the Supreme Court are making no effort to stop it. The balance of powers built into the Constitution have ceased to exist, at least for now.

On July 4, 2026, the U.S. would have reached 250 years of independence from despotic rule but has instead fallen short by just under two years. The following excerpts from the Declaration of Independence signed on July 4, 1776, show why the U.S. has fallen short of 250 years:



“when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

“the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”



It seems history is destined to be repeated, especially when those in power choose to relive such histories. With the Constitution out of play, the United States of America has very clearly become the Divided States of America.