Tuesday, January 27, 2026

Michael Jochum: Our Country Needs Voices That Refuse the Lie

Trump is doing what he always does when the blood gets too visible: tossing his own minions under the bus and calling it leadership. Trump is suddenly the great “moderator,” the fake grown-up in the room, pretending he’s reining in the very monsters he personally unleashed. Noem, Bovino, Homan, Miller, the FBI court jester, they’re the new sacrificial goats, paraded out so he can play musical chairs with blame while polishing his image as the reluctant emperor who “didn’t really mean it.” It’s political ventriloquism: he throws his voice, they take the fall.
But let’s be clear for anyone still pretending to be confused: he hired them. He empowered them. He fed them their fascistic marching orders, applauded their brutality, backed their lies, and sanctified their cruelty with the seal of his own narcissism. These aren’t rogue actors, they’re franchise employees. They are the uniform, not the virus. The virus is the orange mouth that issues the orders and the reptilian brain that confuses vengeance for governance.
Now he wants applause for “reining them in,” for “resetting the tone,” for staging some bogus relenting and counterfeit conversion, as if arsonists deserve medals for picking up a garden hose after the house is gone. Don’t fall for it. This is the oldest con in his rotten playbook: create the disaster, deny the disaster, blame the underlings, then demand praise for pretending to clean up the mess.
The buck doesn’t stop with Noem.
It doesn’t stop with Bovino.
It doesn’t stop with Homan.
It doesn’t stop with Miller.
It stops with him, at that ugly orange mouth and that lizard-brain throne of grievance and ego. Full stop.
Do not let him slither away. Do not let him bask in false glory. Do not let him rebrand brutality as restraint or fascism as “correction.” History doesn’t care about spin, and neither should the court of public opinion. This is his machinery. This is his policy. This is his cruelty. And it belongs to him, entirely, permanently, and without escape.
Your country doesn’t need silence. It needs memory. It needs voices that refuse the lie. It needs people who understand that accountability isn’t theatrical, it’s direct. And the direction is clear: The buck stops with Trump.
Not Just a Drummer: Reflections on Art, Politics, Dogs, and the Human Condition

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