By Stephen Golub, Benicia resident and author, “Benicia and Beyond” in the Benicia Herald, 11/8/2026
…“You know that flag flying over the courthouse …Means certain things are set in stone …Who we are, what we’ll do and what we won’t. …It’s gonna be a long walk home…” …………– Bruce Springsteen, Long Walk Home
Donald Trump has done his best to debase that flag and shatter that stone.
America’s dominant political figure over the past decade has been an incredibly corrupt, amazingly incompetent, brazenly bigoted, massively misogynistic, compulsively lying, nation-dividing, retribution-preaching, bribe-taking, hate-mongering, nepotism-exemplifying, Epstein-buddying, pedophile-protecting, sexual-assaulting, minority-demonizing, immigrant-smashing, Obamacare-slashing, election-denying, democracy-subverting, rule-of-law-roiling, insurrection-sparking, criminal-pardoning, dictator-hugging, Putin-kowtowing, Ukraine-betraying, allies-attacking, affordability-afflicting, felony-committing narcissistic sociopath.
But he finally received a remarkable repudiation. What a difference an Election Day makes.
One month ago, how many of us predicted that the Democrats would win over 250 seats in the House and probably 56 in the Senate? That every statewide position in Texas (Texas!) would go Democratic, as would the state’s House of Representatives?
One month ago, how many of us had even heard of South Carolina Senator-elect Annie Andrews? Texas Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa? Likely Mississippi (Mississippi!) Senator-elect Scott Colom, who’ll be the first Black senator from there since 1881?
The list of shocks, firsts and superlatives is nearly endless. As is the joy many of us are feeling, along with a lightness in our steps and a weight off our shoulders.
And yet…
As former Bill Clinton campaign manager James Carville declared in 1992, “It’s the economy, stupid.” If Trump hadn’t foolishly fueled inflation through his tariffs and war, might many of his disenchanted supporters still be in his thrall? Might many independents have held their noses and still preferred the Republicans? Might we be at the start of a nasty, multi-pronged Department of Justice fight to overturn Democratic victories?
Now, other factors played parts in the huge Democratic win, but they were also Trump’s responsibility: his corruption; his reflexively unintelligent embrace of artificial intelligence and data centers; ICE’s violent, repressive overreach.
My point here is not to rain on the parade. I remain elated by the results, not least because their implications go far beyond simply winning. For instance…
The Democrats can now push through legislation for targeted tax cuts, tariff relief, Iran war oversight, health insurance subsidies, stabilizing social security and many other matters.
What if, as seems inevitable, Republicans oppose such measures and Trump vetoes them? Then that’s fuel for the Democratic fire for the 2028 campaign.
The Democrats will launch major investigations into the corrupt dealings of Trump, his cronies and his family, as well as the many illegal or otherwise execrable steps his administration has taken.
All that being said, this is just the start of a very tough journey for American democracy, one that hopefully takes us to an even more just and tolerant place – an even more perfect union – than our flawed but preferable pre-Trump periods.
Then there’s our place in the world. We elected Trump twice. Can we really guarantee our allies and admirers that we won’t turn to someone like him again? It will take years, maybe decades, to regain the world’s trust – if it happens at all.
It’s going to be a long road home.
But at last we’ve taken the first, very big step.
[Much closer to home: Here in Benicia, poll workers at one Election Day polling station were witnesses to more modest but still-notable examples of democratic inspiration. One took the form of several folks volunteering that this was their first time voting – to the applause of those present.
Another instance was a woman who, though she lacked hands, was so determined to cast her ballot herself that she used her toes to maneuver it into the ballot box.
Democracy, like many things in life, is something to never take for granted.]
See them running a con
A con the whole family’s in on
Don and all of his spawn
Grifting Along with the BUMBLING TRUMPLEWEEDS
A fund that’s just for slush
That would make Caligula blush
Insider trading galore
Pardons for purchase and more
Just leave your bribe at the door
Grifting Along with the BUMBLING TRUMPLEWEEDS
You accepted a gift – a bribe – of a luxury jet from the Qatari government
A new Air Force One you said would be FREE but has cost the taxpayers a billion dollars so far.
And if you ever relinquish the presidency, you plan to keep it for your own getaway – uh, library.
Three cheers for the Red, White and BLING!
Let’s Make Ameri-KA-CHING!
They keep grifting away
Lining their pockets all day
Who says crime doesn’t pay?
Grifting Along with the BUMBLING TRUMPLEWEEDS
I just love this wee hamlet, with its aging pipes and complicated budget decisions. I really do. I love the hills. The water. The historic buildings. The art. The gardens. The neighbors who can turn a quick walk alone downtown into a spontaneous street party.
I also love Benicia enough to know that loving it isn’t the same as pretending everything is fine.
It’s not.
The closure of the Valero refinery has put some very large questions on the table. How do we pay our bills without selling off our future? What do we owe the workers whose livelihoods have depended on the refinery, and the land and water that have borne the costs of its operation? Who gets to decide what comes next, and who gets stuck living with the consequences?
These are not questions that can be answered with slick slogans, shiny yard signs, or a few reassuring words from someone who won’t have to live with the long-term impacts of what we decide today.
I really don’t trust easy answers, especially to complex questions.
I know them both personally. They are genuine, caring people who were showing up for Benicia long before their names appeared on ballots. And they have stamina. They have endured years of meetings, commissions, and volunteer commitments. And they keep showing up!
And they have vision as well as experience.
They care about the arts. Not as decoration, but as part of the life of this city. Terry spent years chairing Benicia’s Arts and Culture Commission, and I know Kari’s commitment to the arts personally. She supports local artists and is married to a musician. A town without artists might have a balanced budget, but it won’t have much soul.
In addition, Kari has spent years advocating for environmental protections and for the apparently controversial proposition that prosperity shouldn’t require poisoning the place you live. And Terry brings a background in business, finance, and community development.
And then there is the matter of paying for the place we love. Not particularly romantic, I know, but neither are broken water mains, deteriorating streets, or a city budget held together by optimism and bubblegum.
This November, Benicia voters will consider three measures addressing how the city raises revenue. Measure X would modernize the business license tax, exempting businesses with $100,000 or less in annual gross receipts, setting rates by business type, and establishing a separate tax on marine terminal activity. Measure Y would establish a limited city charter, allowing the property transfer tax proposed in Measure Z to take effect only if voters approve both measures. Measure Z would impose a one-time tax on certain property transfers, including commercial sales, newly constructed homes, and higher-value residential sales. Homes built before January 1, 2027, and sold for $2 million or less would be exempt, along with certain family transfers and deed-restricted affordable housing.
These measures raise questions worth asking. Who pays? How much? Where does the money go? What will it mean for the people who live and work here? We need to pay our bills, certainly. And we ought to be thoughtful about how we do it, and who carries the weight.
By local standards, I am a newbie to Benicia. I moved here ten and a half years ago. I am also an artist and an educator. I hope to be able to stay here. I hope Benicia will be a place where artists can make art, where teachers can teach, where small businesses can thrive, where families can put down roots, and where the hills and the water aren’t merely scenery for the next lucrative business venture.
In Benicia we live with the consequences of decisions made before us, and where people we will never meet will live with ours. Let’s be mindful neighbors now and even better ancestors to those who will come after us.
Just when it seems our actions and image can’t sink any lower, a wave of Trump betrayals cascaded over Ukraine this month.
Firefighters battle a blaze at a residential apartment building in Kyiv, Ukraine, following a large-scale Russian ballistic missile and drone strike on October 14, 2026, which also targeted key energy infrastructure and left hundreds of thousands without power. BBCBenicia resident and author Stephen Golub, A Promised Land
By Stephen Golub, Benicia resident and author, “Benicia and Beyond” in the Benicia Herald, 10/18/2026, Updated for the Benicia Independent on October 20, 2026
>> For over 25 years, ending with the Covid era’s onset in 2020, I took numerous overseas consulting and research trips to support democratic development abroad. On those journeys, I was so often struck by how much foreigners admired America’s ideals or respected our power.
When I called a Polish legal aid program “great,” a young Polish law professor jokingly but approvingly replied, “Great! Typical American! So enthusiastic!” Shortly after 9/11, I insisted to an Indonesian taxi driver that the attack caught us by surprise. His response suggested that he considered the United States omniscient and even omnipotent: “America must have known! America knows everything!” During two visits to Ukraine, I encountered similar sentiments in a nation striving for democracy and prosperity after nearly seven decades of crushing, genocidal Soviet domination.
Most of my overseas contacts and colleagues were not blind to America’s sins and setbacks. But they also saw substantial good in Americans, not least because of our help for their societies.
Times Have Changed
Those days of democratic hope and more general U.S. development support are gone. Donald Trump and Elon Musk slashed and burned the U.S Agency for International Development, with public health cuts potentially causing over 14 million deaths by 2030.
Trump has also alienated allies such as Canada and Denmark, both of which sacrificed soldiers for our Afghanistan war; embraced tyrants such as North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, with whom he exchanged “love letters” (in Trump’s own words), despite his expanding nuclear arsenal capable of destroying US cities; and pardoned world-class criminals, such as Honduras’s drug kingpin/former president, Juan Orlando Hernández, who was serving a 45-year sentence for conspiring to import 400 tons of cocaine into America.
All of this, and much more, has trashed our reputation abroad. Amazingly, China and its brutally repressive President Xi Jinping are now more admired in most surveyed countries than the United States and Donald Trump.
Even Worse
But just when it seems our actions and image can’t sink any lower, a wave of Trump betrayals cascaded over Ukraine this month. Not only is he abandoning that beleaguered nation, which is helping us against Iran; he’s instead siding with Russia, which aids Iran as it targets American soldiers, allies and interests in the Middle East. More on that in a minute.
By way of background, though: Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, in a campaign that most observers thought would topple Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government in a matter of days or weeks. Instead, despite their more limited firepower and personnel, the Ukrainians brilliantly and heroically turned the tables on Russia, stymying and even reversing some of its advances.
Since 2022, Ukraine has mastered the art of drone warfare, to the point where it’s taking the offensive to a certain extent by targeting refineries, data centers and other economic and strategic targets deep inside Russia, with regrettable but relatively small and inadvertent numbers of civilian casualties. The attacks have taken a toll on the refineries in particular, thus constraining petro-state Russia’s resources for pursuing the war.
For its part, Russia has committed human rights abuses on massive scales: kidnapping thousands of Ukrainian kids, murdering Ukrainian civilians in areas its occupied, launching massive missile attacks against civilians and even escalating its crimes in recent weeks.
Which brings us back to this month’s news regarding Trump’s betrayal of Ukraine, first by suspending sanctions against Russian diesel transactions, a move that boosts Russia’s capacity to attack Ukraine while yielding little benefit for America. Here’s a good New York Times summary:
For [Ukraine], the blows came one after the next in just one very bad week.
Mr. Trump blamed the war launched by Russia against Ukraine almost five years ago for rising diesel prices, instead of what energy experts call the real cause: the war that Mr. Trump launched against Iran. He temporarily lifted U.S. sanctions on Russian diesel sales in what is likely to be a failed attempt to lower those prices. He unilaterally declared an “ENERGY CEASEFIRE” in the war that only helped Russia and hurt Ukraine. And he called for a new Ukrainian president.
Here’s how a leading conservative and former George W. Bush speechwriter, David Frum, summarized the significance of Trump suspending sanctions against Russian diesel sales:
But while the deal will not benefit American consumers, it has immense consequences for others. For Vladimir Putin’s Russia, the deal is a potential lifesaver. For war-ravaged Ukraine, it is the most outrageous and heartless Trump betrayal to date. For Trump’s entourage, the deal promises corruption opportunities on a multibillion-dollar scale.
But wait, as a dystopian game show host might say, there’s more! In the past week, Trump has dumped far more betrayal on Ukraine. As another useful NY Times summary put it, after suspending the diesel sanctions, Trump:
…lifted [broader] sanctions on Russia and pressured Ukraine to stop hitting Russian oil refineries. Kyiv began reporting sudden restrictions on a Pentagon-funded satellite internet network, gaps in the sharing of U.S. military intelligence and delays in the delivery of American interceptor missiles…
[Tensions] reached a new pitch on Monday when Mr. Trump said that “Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine” and that “they haven’t been doing much” — even as Ukrainian civilian casualties from Russian attacks have reached new highs, rising by 85 percent last month compared with a year before, according to the United Nations.
Aiding the Enemy
All of this is against the backdrop of Russia’s intense, ongoing aid to Iran in its war against America. As confirmed by General Dan Caine, Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, this includes sharing intelligence information and satellite imagery that helps Iran target US soldiers, bases and interests.
Russia is also: supplying Iran with a variety of armaments, including drone components and possibly entire drones for use against US soldiers and our Middle Eastern allies; exploiting the Caspian Sea (which both countries border on) and Russia’s secretive “shadow fleet” of ships to help Iran evade sanctions and obtain weapons and other supplies; and aiding Iran’s construction of nuclear facilities.
In contrast, drawing on its years of experience battling Russia, Ukraine is helping the US and our Middle Eastern allies with anti-drone equipment, training and advice and electronic countermeasures so as to limit the impact of Iran’s attacks. It’s asked for US aid in the forms of anti-missile weaponry and negotiating a ceasefire with Russia on fair terms that don’t amount to Ukrainian surrender.
In response to Ukraine’s aid, everything Trump has done is the strategic equivalent of multiple stabs in Ukraine’s back.
Why should America care about Ukraine? Because if Russia triumphs there, it may in turn attack other European allies, most immediately the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania. Because further aggression could drag us into a far more costly war – one that, unlike in Ukraine, puts American lives at risk. Because it’s also seeking to undermine our other European allies. Because by destabilizing those allies, Russia threatens America’s mutually beneficial economic relations with them, which have been a source of much of our prosperity. Because Russia’s attack is not just against Ukraine, but against a rules-based world order that America has supported to our own great economic and strategic benefit through Republican and Democratic administrations alike since World War II – until Trump came along.
Finally, because backing a democracy and fighting a dictator, at no cost to us in terms of lives and at minimal cost to our finances at this point (since European nations now provide much of the support), is the right thing to do.
The Biggest Betrayal
Which brings me back to that Polish law professor and that Indonesian taxi driver. Like so many across the globe, they admired America for its good intentions or respected us for our pure power. They weren’t blind to the mistakes we’ve made and the destructive things we’ve sometimes done. But they still saw a country, that for all its faults, and through Republican and Democratic administrations alike, was often a force for stability, prosperity and democracy.
Who could say that now, as Trump smashes alliances and embraces autocrats – even ones like Putin, who aids Iran even as it seeks to slaughter our soldiers? As we struggle against that despicable Iranian regime, which Trump’s impulsive war of choice has only strengthened (with Russia’s help), a war that our standing around the world has only weakened? As America First becomes America Last in much of the world? As Make America Great Again becomes Make America Mocked Again?
The biggest betrayal, then, is not what Trump is doing to Ukraine or our other allies, as despicable as those acts are. It’s what he’s doing to us at home and what he’s doing to our ideals, our image, our respect and our power across the globe.
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