Mean-spirited authoritarians—backed by greedy billionaires and bolstered by weak legislative branches—are leading many countries, including ours. I’m really concerned about the future of our world and our shared economy going forward.
Do you remember the massive loss of jobs, homes and businesses after Wall Street crashed the world economy in 2008-2009? I do.
Do you remember the unnecessary death and disease, the shattered families, the price increases, the supply chain disruptions and the corporate profiteering during the COVID19 pandemic and Donald Trump’s first term? I do.
All of this could all happen again but worse.
In the first segment, What Are You Buying … or Not?, I discuss the stock market bubble and current economic situation in the US and the world. I believe Trump's proposed economic strategies--like mass firings, tariffs, trade wars and land grabs-- will be disastrous for the US economy. Is it wise for consumers to make major purchases before the US crashes the world economy again? Maybe. If you have a financial cushion and there are items you know you will need in the near future—like the stove I just purchased—buy them now before tariffs and war spike prices and cause supply chain disruptions.
Segment 2, 10 Ways to Fight Back, I discuss many ways to avoid feeding the billionaires—from protesting to “buy nothing days” to saying no to fast fashion and corporate surveillance. It was so exciting to see 1000 Tucsonans protesting the Trump/Musk Administration at the local Tesla dealership. The New York Times reported that Tesla stock is overvalued. The Tesla protest are a golden opportunity to push back. There were many stories in the news about people participating in the February 28, 2025 Buy Nothing Day. We have the power of the purse. We have to hit the billionaires where it hurts—in their bottomline.
In the last segment, Dementia and Drugs in the White House, I discuss Trump's befuddle speech, numerous lies and erratic behavior and ask the question: How much plaque is in his brain? Does Trump believe the lies he is peddling? It’s one thing to lie for profit. It’s another thing to not know the difference between fact and fiction. The American public deserves transparency regarding the mental and physical health of the president. Also, what’s Musk on?
Here is a link to the A View from the Left Side (AVLS)podcast website, where you can see all of the segments and hook up with AVLS via your favorite podcast network. A View from the Left Side is on multiple podcasting services such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, I Heart Radio, Podcast Index, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Deezer and others. YouTube podcast videos and original Legislative update videos can be found on my YouTube Channel and Substack.
Podcast Time Stamps
Time Stamps | Segment 1: What Are You Buying ... or Not? | 0:24
| We Are in the Midst of a Western Movie with No Hero | 4:34
| Where's Our Hero? | 6:21
| It's Time for Octogenarian Politicians to Retire | 6:59
| Jon Stewart Cuts from Billions from Budget in Seconds | 8:25
| Will the US Crash the World Economy Again? | 10:13
| Segment 2: 10 Ways to Fight Back | 13:59
| #1 Go to a Protest | 15:04
| #2 Buy Nothing Days | 17:49
| #3 Be a Choosy Shopper | 18:51
| #4 Go on a Social Media Diet | 20:52
| #5 Protect Your Personal Data, Information and Images | 23:05
| #6 Cut Back on Online Shopping | 12:40
| #7 Say Good-bye to Fast Fashion | 26:37
| #8 Don't Wear Logo Gear | 28:42
| #9 Be Self Reliant | 30:09
| #10 Find Community in Real Life | 31:19
| Segment 3: Dementia and Drugs in the White House | 31:53
| Lying for Profit | 32:36
| Does Trump Believe His Own Lies? | 34:09
| Drugs and Diagnoses: The Public Has a Right to Know | 35:18
Podcast Text
This is the text of the podcast. The delivery is somewhat extemporaneous.
Season 3: Episode 4, Buying Power, Fighting Back and Diagnosing Donald
Season 3: Episode 4 of A View from the Left Side—Buying Power, Fighting Back, and Diagnosing Donald—was recorded on February 27, 2025.
Segment 1: What Are You Buying—or Not?
Economic forces are shifting in the United States and in the world. If you have been considering making a major purchase, now might be the time to act ... or not.
Last week, I made two major purchases that I have been mulling over for more than a year—a new stove for the kitchen and a small sleeper sofa for the office … which is also the craft room, the music room, the second bedroom, and a great space to relax. The sleeper sofa wasn’t a difficult decision, once I realized that the local Copenhagen Furniture store still had “The Monika” in stock.
Determining the optimal way to squeeze a new stove into a vintage kitchen took a lot more time and planning, but the current instability of our government and the uncertainty in the financial markets compelled me to move ahead now.
Mean-spirited authoritarians—backed by greedy billionaires and bolstered by weak legislative branches—are leading many countries, including ours. I’m really concerned about the future of our world and our shared economy going forward.
Do you remember the massive loss of jobs, homes and businesses after Wall Street crashed the world economy in 2008-2009? I do. Do you remember the unnecessary death and disease, the shattered families, the price increases, the supply chain disruptions and the corporate profiteering during the COVID19 pandemic and Donald Trump’s first term? I do.
All of this could all happen again but worse.
Right now, in the US, Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, and his shadowy group of young acolytes are using unorthodox and haphazard methods to simultaneously fire thousands of employees, dismantle the federal government and rig what’s left of it to favor the rich. To cover up what’s happening in the backrooms and basements of federal buildings in DC, a steady stream of lies, putdowns, threats and goofy AI videos floods social media.
Where’s the President? When Trump’s not rambling in front of a microphone somewhere or spewing lies on social media, he’s golfing. Where’s the Vice President? J.D. Vance has been in Europe preaching free speech absolutism and telling the Germans that the Nazis weren’t so bad. (At least Vance hasn’t tossed out a Nazi salute at a public rally like Trump advisors Musk and Steve Bannon have.)
Where’s the Speaker of the House? When Mike Johnson took the speaker’s chair in late 2023, he told us he would read the Bible for guidance. That worried me at the time, but now I’m concerned that he’s thrown out all of his Bibles and made a deal with the devil. What would Jesus do in Congress? He wouldn’t be thoughtlessly firing and deporting hardworking people, throwing families into crisis, stealing from poor, ignoring the sick and starving the hungry to feed a $4.5 trillion tax cut for the richest people in the United States! Where are the Democrats? They’re mulling over their messaging, checking the polling data and picking their battles.
We are in the midst of a John Wayne western with no hero in sight.
Close your eyes and picture a dusty road at the Old Tucson movie set. Drunk with power and new in town, trigger-happy gunslingers Trump, Musk and Vance swagger into the saloon, brandishing their six-shooters. They violently flip over the poker table in the middle of a game. The poker players—the local mayor, the sheriff, a dude-suited European tourist and a dirt-poor farmer who happened to be in town to buy groceries—watch in slow motion as the cards and all of their money fly up into the air and scatter on the saloon floor for the bar-fly bankers and hucksters to steal.
Dressed in black and looking like a sinister Yul Brenner, Putin and the Authoritarian Gang smile as they peer over the saloon door from the outside. A Godly man, who would never set foot in a place of sin, Preacher Johnson clings to his Bible and cross, while he stands with The Authoritarians and watches the destruction unfold. In the corner of the saloon, Democratic Minority Leader Hakeen Jeffries plays the honkytonk piano, collects tips, keeps his head low and waits for the right moment to stand up. (One must be careful, after all. Piano players in old Hollywood westerns often get shot when they stand up.)
Where’s our hero? Where’s John Wayne? Where’s our modern-day Martin Luther King Jr. or Ghandi or Eleanor Roosevelt? A handful of politicians are speaking out like Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and Congressional Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jamie Raskin and Jasmine Crocket, but with all due respect far too many members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, are over 80 years old. We are seeing an anti-system revolt in the US. Elderly establishment candidates should graciously step aside and make way for new leadership.
As for speaking truth to power, the comic pundits are going crazy with all of the outlandish and often horrific things that are happening. We owe a lot to Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, Saturday Night Live and Jon Stewart, along with the Daily Show co-hosts and reporters. Sometimes the news headlines are just too stressful to read. Getting the news with a little humor is easier to take. This week, Stewart said he’s not “anti-DOGE”; he’s “DOGE-adjacent”. He wants government to work better and use our money more wisely. (I agree! I saw a lot of redundancies, make-work, incompetent bosses and wasted funds in my 14 years at the University of Arizona and six years in the Arizona Legislature. In fact, I have a 2022 YouTube video about waste in the Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature.) On the Daily Show, Stewart cut billions from the US budget in 11 seconds by eliminating corporate subsidies. Yay! No more corporate welfare!
But where is our hero?
The United States has crashed the world economy with greed and bad decisions in the past, and we can do it again.
Tariffs, trade wars, land grabs, broken agreements, befuddled thinking, mass firings, mass deportations, lusting for minerals, abandoning our allies, pardoning felons, gladhanding dictators and embracing the billionaires— these are all bad strategies put into place during the first 38 days of Trump 2.0. They’re doing all of this while ignoring—and often hurting—everyday Americans who voted for lower grocery prices.
Meanwhile, besides all of the uncertainty, chaos and self-inflicted wounds created by the Trump/Musk Administration, the market has its own drama going on. Since November 2022 and the release of the ChatGPT artificial intelligence (AI) platform, the market has been booming with billions of dollars invested in the AI arms race. As more big tech players entered the AI arena, everyone wondered which American tech giant with dominate AI worldwide in the near future. That was until DeepSeek, a far cheaper Chinese AI platform, burst onto the scene recently. What will happen to the AI investment bubble now that mega-profits are not such a sure thing?
Reckless economic and governmental decisions made by an elderly president and his brazen advisors + an impotent Congress + a backlash from the American public + a backlash from former allies + getting stabbed in the back by dictators we shouldn’t be trusting + a speculative bubble on Wall Street + disinformation on social media …
What does this mean for us? Buy only what you need, protect what you have, keep your friends, family and pets safe and close and hunker down for a bumpy ride.
The Trump/Musk Administration is obviously working for the billionaire class—and no one else. The budget recently passed the US House on a party line vote is a prime example. It guarantees $4.5 trillion in tax cuts (that would primarily benefit the wealthy) and $2 trillion in spending cuts (that would primarily hurt the rest of us, including cuts to healthcare and food stamps).
So … is it time to make major purchases before the crash? Maybe. If you have a financial cushion and there’s something you’re going to need in the near future—like my stove—it is probably better to buy it before the tariffs spark trade wars and supply chain disruptions. Buying only what we need may be the only way to protect ourselves and our assets.
Segment 2: 10 Ways to Fight Back [Don’t Feed the Billionaires]
Wealthy men are controlling our government and engineering a brighter future for themselves. The rest of us are nothing more than obedient consumers, data points in a marketing plan and dollar signs on a spreadsheet.
We are not powerless. We have brains and ingenuity. We have free will and freedom of speech—at least for now.
We don’t have to give them our personal data or our money.
We don’t have to blindly follow their clickbait marketing promos.
We have the power of the purse.
There are many little ways that consumers can fight back against the greedy corporatists who are plundering our country and snooping on our private lives.
Here are 10 ways you can fight back against Corporate America. Which ones will you try?
1- Go to a Protest. If you have been itching to take to the streets to express your discontent and protest the destruction of our government, there are protests happening. Nationwide there have been protests at local government buildings and at Telsa dealerships (since unelected co-president Musk owns Tesla). Here in Tucson, the Tesla protest on February 22, 2025 reportedly drew 300 people. They’re hoping for 500 on Saturday, March 1, 2025 at 9:30 AM on at the Tesla dealership on North Oracle Road. There was also a good showing at the protest in the downtown plaza near the city, state and federal buildings last week. [One Thousand people showed up to protest at the Tesla dealership on March 1 in Tucson.] Also, we shouldn’t forget our elected Congressional representatives’ offices, when planning protests. Democrat or Republican—they all have a role in the federal government, and they are all supposed to be working for us. When he was recently in Southern Arizona, fake moderate Republican Congressman Juan Ciscomani voiced modest concern for constituents who would be hurt by spending cuts the House Republican budget, but he voted for it anyway when he was back in DC. Southern Arizona Democratic Congressman Raul Grijalva, who has been undergoing cancer treatment for a year but ran for reelection anyway, missed the budget bill vote—along with most other votes in the past year. Both Ciscomani and Grijalva need to hear from Southern Arizonans. We can’t allow Ciscomani to play the slick fake moderate when he’s in Arizona and vote with right-wing extremists in DC. As for Grijalva, Dude, thank you for your service. Is this job more important than your life? If you’re too sick to do your job in DC, resign, stay home and take care of yourself. The loyal opposition needs all hands on deck, and Southern Arizona needs a fighter in the House of Representatives, since Ciscomani is worthless.
2- Buy Nothing Days. This Friday, February 28, 2025, has been designated as Buy Nothing Day – a national day of protest against the oligarchy and corporate greed. Buy Nothing Day is the exact opposite of Black Friday, when we are pushed to buy, buy, buy! So, plan ahead for Buy Nothing Day. If you miss this Friday’s economic protest, there are several social media lists that offer dates for targeted “buy nothing” days focusing on specific corporations like Amazon, Walmart, Target and McDonalds. I’ll look for a list and put it in my Substack post with this podcast. We need to hit the corporations where it hurts—in their bottom lines. We have the power of the purse! We need to use that power wisely.
3- Be a Choosy Shopper. “Choosy Moms Choose Jif” was Jif Peanut Butter’s slogan many years ago. I suggest that we should all be “choosy” shoppers. If corporations are doing things you disagree with, don’t do business with them. I hate Amazon and for years I have avoided them, as much as possible. After Amazon owner Jeff Bezos, second richest man in the world and owner the Washington Post, told the newspaper to pull an editorial endorsing Kamala Harris for president, more than 200,000 people cancelled their subscriptions and many authors quit. Just yesterday, Bezos offered another content directive to the Post opinion section. Going forward, only commentaries on “personal liberties and free markets”—and no other content—will be published in the Post. Great! More censorship from the free speech absolutists. The Post’s opinion editor resigned as a result of this ultimatum. I see more Post subscription cancelations and more resignations in the future. I’m a New York Times/Guardian kinda gal and never had a Washington Post subscription, but this action by Bezos cemented my stance against his businesses—Amazon, Amazon Prime and Whole Foods. Don’t feed the billionaires if you don’t like what they’re doing. Be a choosy shopper.
4- Go on Social Media Diet. Many billionaires are making gobs of money by stoking outrage and collecting our data, words and images on social media and on our devices. This group includes Musk, Trump, Mark Zuckerberg, third richest man in the world and founder of Meta/Facebook, and the guys at Microsoft, Apple, Google, ChatGPT, etc. Deleting all social media accounts would be difficult for many people, but I found cutting back to be doable and beneficial. Last spring I took Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, WhatsApp, WordPress and many other apps off of my smart phone and went through all of the smart phone settings to eliminate notifications and tracking. I also began wearing a vintage analog wrist watch instead of my Apple Watch. I was amazed at how much less distracted I was and how my social media use decreased after this. So, delete what you don’t use and try cutting back, stay away from toxic spaces, curate your friends lists, delete social media “friends” that you don’t know in real life or who are angry and argumentative. Continuously arguing with people—who may not even be people—in a public forum isn’t good for anyone’s mental health.
5- Protect Your Personal Data, Information and Images. Corporations, artificial intelligence and bad actors are watching you; stealing your data, information and images; and learning from your every click, photo, bet or share. Think twice before posting personal information or photos – particularly of children – on social media. Do you have social media accounts or apps that you don’t use much or at all? Delete them. You would be surprised how many apps and devices are tracking your actions and your locations—without your knowledge or consent—and then using or selling your data. If you value your privacy, stay away from online gambling, app-based journaling and personal health apps like period tracking. Big Brother is watching you gamble your earnings, journal about your life and ruminate about a missed period. They will use your vulnerability and click history against you. Go analog.
6- Cut Back on Online Shopping. Online shopping became commonplace during the COVID19 pandemic, but the pandemic is over. Delivery is big business, but all of that unnecessary driving is bad for the environment and chews up our roads. Yes, some goods are difficult to buy locally, but local is where I start. If I can’t find what I want locally, I will try to buy direct from the manufacturer or from a maker on Etsy. I find that I get better quality, more unique products—that are more likely to be made in the US—when I buy direct. Pro Tip: unsubscribing from relentless retail email lists will help you do less online shopping.
7- Say Good-bye to Fast Fashion and Hello to Vintage. Discount retailers like TJ Maxx, Ross, Kohl’s, WalMart and Amazon promote cheap, poorly made clothes that don’t last long. “Fast fashion” clothes cost so little to make that if you return them, online retailers usually dump them, rather than restocking. This has led to trash dumps of discarded cheap clothes worldwide. For unique, affordable fashion and housewares, I suggest vintage or secondhand stores or buying direct from makers. I know many people who shop regularly online at Posh Mark, Etsy and Ebay. In Midtown Tucson, there’s a five-mile stretch on Speedway between Campbell and Wilmot with some great vintage and secondhand stores: Buffalo Exchange, Midtown Mercantile, the Antique Mall, Speedway Outlet, Goodwill, Annabell’s Attic and Bookman’s. Happy bargain-hunting.
8- Don’t Wear Logo Gear. Stop giving corporations free advertising by wearing branded clothes and buying logo gear. Yes, it’s nearly impossible to buy athletic shoes without logos, but there are plenty of clothes, hats, purses, backpacks and other gear without logos. Obviously, feel free to wear branded gear from sports teams, schools, universities, unions, causes and businesses you want to support, but I for one refuse to promote robber barons by displaying their logos. I’ve started using fun stickers and patches to cover up logos. Perhaps you have a cool water bottle that you really like, but it is emblazoned with a corporate logo that you don’t want to look at every day. Sticker it! Many creators are also making stickers with their designs. I bought a collection of art stickers and stickered all of my water bottles.
9- Be Self Reliant. Learn a Craft. Make Stuff. Fix Stuff. Americans have become too dependent on technology and store-bought conveniences. Being lazy and letting machines do everything for us—like remembering our friends’ phone numbers—isn’t making us smarter. Many of us don’t have the practical skills our parents and grandparents had like sewing, cooking, vegetable gardening, basic woodworking and basic home and auto repair. These skills used to be taught in schools but not anymore. YouTube is a wonderful how-to resource, but you can’t ask questions in real time. How can we bring together older people who have these skills and younger people who want to learn them?
10- Find Community in Real Life. You may have 1000 online friends, but how many of them are real friends? How many of them have you met in person? How many of them would console you when you’re sad or hug you when you’re lonely or bring you a meal you’re sick or give you a ride when you don’t have wheels? Self-isolation is not good for our mental health or our society. We need to get out more, people.
Segment 3: Dementia and Drugs in the White House
We, on the left, often attribute Trump’s inaccurate statements as willful lies meant to deceive. Several months ago, I wrote a Substack piece entitled Make Lying Wrong Again. I was tweaked at Trump, Vance and Musk for lying about migrants eating cats and kids getting sex change operations in public schools. I was frustrated because the drumbeat of lies and ridiculous stories in campaign speeches, in debates and on social media seemed continuous. And, of course, this has only gotten worse since Inauguration Day.
It’s one thing to be a pathological liar who seeks to gain by deceiving others. I’d put Musk and Vance in that category. You’ll remember that Musk, Vance, Bezos, Zuckerberg, Vivek Ramaswamy, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Senator Lindsey Graham, and many others warned how dangerous Trump was and spoke out against them. Seeing where the money and power currently lie, they all flipped and are now true believers.
Up until recently, I would have put Trump solidly in the “pathological liar who seeks to gain by deceiving others” category. Just look at the history of his business dealings, the lawsuits and the extra-marital affairs. He has not been a good husband or a reputable businessman, so why would we expect anything more from him?
Trump told lies about “crooked” Hillary Clinton, perpetuated the “pizza-gate” pedophile fabrication, led “lock her up” chants and called for harm against her during the 2016 campaign, but all of that was dismissed as nasty campaigning by a guy with a reputation as a jerk.
These days his outlandish lies and disjointed stories are so profuse and absurd that it makes me wonder if something else is going on. We’ve never seen Trump’s medical records. How much plaque is in his brain?
What if Trump actually believes what he is saying is factually correct? Haitian refugees in Ohio are eating pets. Children are getting sex changes in public schools. The Los Angeles fires and the tragic DC plane crash were caused by DEI policies. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is a dictator who started the war against Russia. The 2020 election was stolen. The January 6 insurrectionists were sightseers and “good people.”
What if Trump is not a conniving business genius looking for the next sucker but only a cognitively impaired old man who says or posts whatever comes into his head, with no concern for the facts or the consequences of spreading misinformation?
If Trump believes it, it must be true. [Sarcasm] There’s even a MAGA hat that says: Trump was right about everything.
In a recent podcast on Musk’s Takeover, I noted that, “When I observe erratic, aggressive and illogical behavior [like Trump’s behavior or Musk’s behavior], I ask myself three questions. (1) What legal or illegal drugs is this person on? (2) Is there an underlying diagnosis? (3) And what is the end goal?”
Three weeks ago, I theorized world domination to be the end goal of the Trump/Musk Administration. I call “bingo” on that one.
BUT the American people have been given NO information and NO mental and physical health records for President Trump (who at 78 years old is one of the oldest presidents in our country’s history) AND no mental and physical health records or drug screening test results for unelected co-president Musk and members of the DOGE team.
The American people deserve transparency regarding underlying diagnoses and legal and illegal drug use in the leadership of this country.
Trump, Musk and Musk’s DOGE team are making sweeping, dangerous and uncalled-for changes to our government that will throw millions of American families into financial and emotional chaos in the name of “efficiency” and ridding the government of “wokeness” (AKA diversity, equity and inclusion, DEI, programs).
I want assurances that these people are sane, not mentally impaired and not hopped up on pharmaceuticals or illegal drugs when they’re making these decisions.
Playing amateur psychologists, several reporters in the mainstream media have been dancing around Trump’s abnormal behavior, befuddled speech and frequent factually inaccurate statements. They muse about the optimal way to report on Trump’s incorrect statements, wild claims and unconventional ideas (like just taking Greenland for its mineral wealth or taking Gaza for its real estate development potential). Should they take him “seriously but not literally,” “literally but not seriously,” “not literally or seriously” or “literally and seriously.”
Trump is the president. Roughly 50 percent of the people who voted in 2024 voted for him. I say we should take him literally and seriously and hold him accountable for his statements.
During the campaign, many people made light of Project 2025 and said that Trump was a huckster who made grandiose statements and that we should take everything he says with a grain of salt—that we should not take them literally or seriously. For example, some said that he could never deport millions of migrants and undocumented workers. He was totally serious about deportation, and it’s happening. He’s not joking about grabbing mineral wealth from Greenland and Ukraine. He’s not joking when promotes pushing out the Palestinians and making war-torn Gaza into a glitzy playground for the rich.
So, we should take his outlandish plans literally and seriously—particularly if there is money to be made.
But what about the hundreds of untrue statements Trump has made? Is he willfully lying to us to “trigger the libs” or does he believe what he is saying?
Is Trump just a flim-flam man or does he have Alzheimer’s or dementia? What is Musk on? If this is their “normal”, it’s not normal.
This reminds me of the Iran-Contra scandal during President Ronald Reagan’s time in office. Before Trump and President Joe Biden, Reagan was our oldest serving president. During the Iran-Contra investigation, Reagan repeatedly said that he didn’t recall specific facts or events. I kept thinking: How can he be so forgetful? Is he lying under oath?
A few years after Reagan left office, the Reagans released the news that the former president had Alzheimer’s and would be retiring from public life. All of a sudden, Reagan’s forgetfulness during Iran-Contra made sense.
Does Trump actually believe the cat story, the sex change story, the 2020 election was stolen story and the mixed up story about who started the Ukraine War?
Not knowing reality from fiction is a bigger deal than just lying for fun and profit.
The public has a right to know if the president is impaired.
Thank you for listening to A View from the Left Side today.
For now, this is Pamela Powers signing off.
If you like this podcast, please subscribe, like it on social media, make a comment and share it with your friends.
In the meantime, please take care, be healthy and stay vigilant. See you next time.
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