Political Pistachio
By Douglas V. Gibbs
Proposition 50 passed in California. The reason for the vote was that California’s state constitution disallows the politicians to draw up the maps that determine congressional districting in the state. California requires any redistricting to be accomplished by an independent panel that consists of citizens, rather than letting someone like Governor Gavin Newsom grab the wheel. However, after Texas changed its maps to eliminate ridiculously gerrymandered lines likely costing the Democrats a few seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, the California Governor decided he needed to fight fire with fire. California’s map is already gerrymandered pretty badly, but Newsom figured he could squeeze a few more democrats out of the tortured map. But, to do so, he needed voter approval to temporarily set aside the state constitution’s demand that the politicians have no hand in redistricting.
“Well,” said a friend of mine. “That’s unconstitutional.”
According to Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ), that may very well be true. The DOJ sued California’s governor, and Secretary of State Shirley Weber over the newly adopted congressional map on November 13, 2025. The lawsuit alleges that the redistricting plan’s gerrymandering is racially designed. If that is so, then it violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. According to the DOJ, that means “California’s redistricting scheme is a brazen power grab that tramples on civil rights and mocks the democratic process.”
According to the election returns, the ballot measure was approved by nearly 65% of the voters. While one might consider that percentage about right considering how blue California has become since the days of it being Reagan Country, that number might seem a little high when one considers that in the 2024 Presidential Election Kamala Harris garnered 58.5% of the vote, which is about 6.5% less than the overwhelming majority that allegedly approved Prop 50.
Nonetheless, the DOJ alleges that they have “substantial evidence” the California legislature’s map was drawn in a manner where “racial considerations predominated, in violation of the Equal Protection Clause…Race cannot be used as a proxy to advance political interests, but that is precisely what the California General Assembly did with Prop 50.”
The map, if the vote in 2026 goes as Governor Newsom assumes, would reduce GOP seats in the U.S. House of Representatives for California from nine out of 52 to four. A previous lawsuit by Republicans to keep Prop 50 off the ballot in the first place was dismissed by the state Supreme Court.
In addition to Texas, Republican-led legislatures in Missouri and North Carolina have also approved new congressional maps in special sessions to combat gerrymandering, with Ohio set to do the same.
With all of that said, the lawsuit may have not been the best way to address this. Article I, Section 4 of the Constitution allows Congress to pass law to “make or alter such regulations” should a state’s prescriptions regarding federal elections be outside basic constitutional principles. Then again, Democrats in the Senate might fight it with a filibuster and refusal to meet cloture, as they did with the government shutdown.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
By Douglas V. Gibbs
Barry Goldwater was branded a fascist in the 1960s for daring to challenge Democrats with conservative ideas. They called Nixon a fascist, Ford a fascist, Reagan a fascist, and both Bushes a fascist. Why would Trump be any different?
President Donald Trump has endured the charge more intensely than his Republican predecessors, but the tactic is familiar. When Democrats cannot win in the arena of ideas, they resort to NAZI name-calling. It’s an insult so overused that many barely register it anymore, but never has it been shouted so loudly.
The first question is simple: Why do Democrats believe “fascist” is an appropriate label for Republicans?
In truth, fascism has nothing to do with the GOP party platform. For many decades, Republicans have stood for limited government, fewer regulations, free market principles, and a return to original Constitutional principles. Fascism, by contrast, is about centralized control, heavy regulation, and subordination of the individual to the state.
We are told fascism resides on the Right. Academia, media, and Democrats repeat it endlessly. But repetition is not proof. To know the truth we need to examine fascism critically.
The free market in America began as rebellion against Britain’s mercantilism. Founders like Thomas Jefferson embraced the idea of laissez faire, which means, “let things follow their own course.” Adam Smith laid the groundwork associated with those free market ideas. Meanwhile, collectivist ideas we now call socialism were already circulating, later codified by Karl Marx. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel laid the ground work for what Karl Marx would ultimately call communism. The Founding Fathers called it Utopianism. Collectivistic ideas, what we today call socialism, is nothing new.
Fascism crawled out of that same Marxist path. Fascism’s intellectual father was Giovanni Gentile (pronounced Jen-Tee-Lee). He was born after the rise of the Jacobins and about a decade before the Fabians were on the rise in Britain. As a political theorist Gentile argued that democracy was actually a system with two cousins. One a liberal democracy, and the other a “true democracy.” America, despite being established as a republic, was already showing signs of becoming a liberal democracy, which Gentile considered to be selfish and obsessed with individual rights. He argued the other, “true democracy,” is a system where people vote themselves into a strong centralized government system, and voluntarily become subservient to it. Gentile saw his mentor as Karl Marx, and he believed that the means of production should be controlled by government and that equity among the members of society was the only way to make it feel more like a family.
Gentile was a socialist, but he felt socialism needed to operate with a slightly different look. It needed a new branch, so to speak. Gentile was a classic collectivist, like the Utopians that the Founders were so familiar with, believing that the individual didn’t truly exist apart from the collective. Every choice, every task, every personal familial decision, and even how you think needed to be connected to the broader goals of society. The community comes first, so everything you do must reflect that.
Mussolini adopted Gentile’s ideas, declaring “All is in the state and nothing human exists or has value outside the state.” Fascism differed from communism, however, in method. Instead of outright ownership of industry, fascism bundled private entities under state guidance, heavily regulating them and using collusion between government and corporations to control the means of production in a manner similar to what we in America might call crony capitalism. Hitler later adopted the same model in Germany.
Though fascism proclaimed itself the enemy of communism, both systems shared the same collectivist foundation. Labeling fascism as being “far right” was a convenient distortion. In reality, both are branches of the same tree.
Today, Western governments deeply involve themselves in banking, community development, healthcare, education, energy, and industry; all in the name of “progress.” That approach mirrors Gentile’s “true democracy,” not Jefferson’s republic. Yet, Democrats insist that because they are on the “left,” their opponents must be “far right,” making them fascist due to their placement on the Democrats’ version of the political spectrum.
The irony is clear: the Democratic Party’s progressive platform resembles the centralized control of 1930s fascist regimes far more than anything in the GOP. But, to protect their narrative, they project. They shout that Trump and MAGA are fascists, hoping the lie becomes the truth. And then, they call themselves the defenders of “true democracy.”
It doesn’t matter that conservatives argue for less government, natural rights, and liberty. It doesn’t matter that MAGA champions individualism and innovation. The Democratic narrative requires Republicans to be the fascists. But, if Americans were to look closely, they might realize it is Democrats who seek centralized control over individuals and corporate resources.
True history about Gentile, Mussolini, and Hitler has been intentionally faded into the background, and all that remains is the Great Lie: fascism is far right, therefore Republicans are fascists. It’s a distortion repeated until accepted. But, critical thinking reveals the opposite. The GOP stands for liberty; the left stands for control. And the louder they shout “fascist,” the more they reveal their own reflection in the mirror of history.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
By Douglas V. Gibbs
A couple months back, The New York Times published a piece titled, “Historians See Autocratic Playbook in Trump’s Attacks on Science.” The headline alone reveals much about its intended audience. Secular, left-leaning Democrats who believe they are the champions of science.
While never proven to be an actual Mark Twain quote, there is a saying that is commonly credited to him because it matches his witty style. “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” That is what I believe we are seeing in the latest political games playing “keep away” with modern science.
Christianity birthed science, driven by a desire to understand God’s Creation. The New York Times’ headline tries to reach back into that era of early science, claiming, “The war on science began four centuries ago when the Roman Catholic Church outlawed books that reimagined the heavens. Subsequent regimes shot or jailed thousands of scientists.” That may be true in part, but the deeper reality is that those conflicts were political, not merely religious. Authoritarian regimes, be they church or crown, could not tolerate dissent. They declared consensus, then crushed opposition to preserve their power.
Today’s authoritarians repeat the same pattern. They claim consensus, accuse their opponents of spreading fear, and insist that dissent must be silenced. In truth, it is they who enforce conformity through grants, lawsuits, and carefully chosen judges, during which they claim that the opposition is trying to force scientists into submission, when it is actually them doing so.
President Trump decisively won the presidential election last year, and he recognizes the unholy marriage of science and left-wing politics. He seeks to hold science accountable, believing America’s laboratories, if freed from political manipulation, can once again power America’s greatness.
A part of that process by President Trump included the firing of the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in September, which sparked lawsuits, with critics crying “politicization of science.” Yet, wasn’t it the CDC that politicized science during COVID, issuing contradictory edicts and silencing dissent in the name of “expert authority”?
As always, Trump’s critics reached for the Hitler/Stalin comparison, even while denying the truth of the fact that it was they who were making the parallel. Trump is not crushing science. He is trying to restore it. He sees how politically motivated lopsided funding rewards only conclusions approved by collectivist ideologues, while punishing genuine inquiry. He wants science to return to free thought and innovation, not snake-oil consensus demanding authoritarian policies to “save the planet.”
As historian Paul R. Josephson observed, “Despots want science that has practical results. They’re afraid that basic knowledge will expose their false claims.” That is precisely why the left fears Trump’s challenge. If science becomes a free market of ideas again, their false claims will collapse under the weight of truth.
The new ruling class may not use gulags or firing squads, but they do wield political correctness, WOKEism, and cancel culture to silence dissent. The new autocrats dress in designer suits, and speak in socialistic rhetoric while enforcing conformity through grants, budget cuts, and surveillance. Critics of President Trump portray his Christian and conservative allies as uneducated yokels who are unworthy to question “approved experts.” But this is projection. It is the progressive left that politicizes science, demands obedience, and punishes dissent.
In the end, their narrative resembles the rulers who tried to silence Galileo. They insist science is politics, and dissent must not be tolerated. Trump and his allies, by contrast, are working to move science back to what it was meant to be: the pursuit of truth, not the enforcement of ideology.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
Tune in today and listen to Mr. Constitution
Constitution Radio, KMET 1490 AM, Saturdays at 1pm, www.kmet1490am.com
Mr. Constitution Hour by Douglas V. Gibbs, Saturdays at 8pm, San Diego’s KCBQ & KPRZ: www.kcbq.com/www.kprz.com
By Douglas V. Gibbs
Six Congressional Democrats have sparked controversy by calling on members of the military and intelligence community to defy President Trump from within. Senators Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Mark Kelly of Arizona, joined by Representatives Chris DeLuzio and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, and Jason Crow of Colorado, released a video presenting themselves as veterans of military or intelligence service. In the video, they urged current personnel to resist the President’s authority, effectively advocating a coup that would render him powerless to carry out his policies.
The lawmakers claimed the Trump administration is turning the military and intelligence community against American citizens, insisting that service members swore an oath to defend the Constitution. Yet their complaint centers on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) enforcing laws against illegal aliens, not against American citizens. The Constitution explicitly requires the President to faithfully execute the laws of the Union, and grants him authority to use the militia, which today includes the National Guard, to execute federal law when necessary.
Their appeal rested on the notion of refusing “illegal orders.” But when pressed, they failed to identify a single order from President Trump that could be deemed illegal. The strategy is less about substance and more about perception. By invoking the phrase “illegal orders,” they plant the suggestion that Trump is issuing them, hoping uninformed viewers will accept the claim without evidence.
In reality, the move amounts to more than political theater. By encouraging defiance within the executive branch, these Democrats are calling for a seditious act against the sitting President. In plain terms: insurrection.
One can only imagine the uproar had Republicans attempted such a maneuver during the Obama or Biden administrations. The double standard is striking and deeply troubling.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
Prices
By Douglas V. Gibbs
I saw a graphic on Fox News a few days ago showing that the price for Thanksgiving this year is lower than it was last year. President Trump is doing everything he can to try to bring down prices. The man hasn’t even been in the presidency for a year, but the criticisms are sharp and being driven by ant-Trump forces. Reality dictates that it’ll take longer for prices to come down than a little less than a year – especially when the Democrats and their allies are doing everything they can to obstruct the President’s policies. Next year, as domestic manufacturing increases, and the foreign investments he has secured go into action, I believe the prices will come down more. But, we have to remember, the primary driver of inflation, besides the cost of doing business, is the amount of fiat money in the system.
During the Biden administration the federal government pumped massive amounts of money into the system. The Democrats adhere to Keynesian economic principles which states that economies are consumer driven and the way to fix poor economic conditions is to “prime the pump” with an influx of government-created money. However, the problem is, when dollars increase without value in the system keeping pace, it creates inflation (the dollar’s value is reduced, and it takes more dollars to purchase items as a result).
It is sort of like what we’ve seen with the bachelor’s degree. With the hard push of everyone going to college, and the government using taxpayer funds to encourage it, more people have bachelor’s degrees, but the need for those degrees has not kept pace. As a result, the value of the degree has decreased, and now if one wishes to land a reasonable position in the professional world, one needs a master’s degree.
Too many bachelor’s degrees being added, outpacing the value in the system (number of jobs available requiring the degree) has caused, in a sense, inflation in the job market and that’s why a kid’s college degree in many cases has not gotten them out of mom and dad’s basement, yet.
The Democrats under Obama and Biden, especially the latter, pumped so much money into the system, they’ve in a sense created a one-way ticket to rising prices for a while. When coupled with the cost of doing business also being on the rise, the inevitability of runaway inflation could not be stopped. President Trump understands this. However, fiat money in the system is not the only factor that drives up prices. Supply and demand, and the cost of doing business are also driving factors. So, he can’t do anything about the fiat money in the system, so he’s trying to get the system to catch up to the money by adding value in the system with increased manufacturing, increased economic productivity, decreasing taxes and regulations, and increasing the supply of goods and services with both domestic production and carefully chosen imports.
As a result, slowly, prices are coming down. Unfortunately, the average person isn’t considering all that I have laid out. The only thing they see is their wallet, and the price tag on the merchandise they purchase. In particular, gasoline and food. I get that. We call those things “kitchen counter issues.” An economics lesson is not what most Americans want to hear. They want dropping prices. And while President Trump is driving down prices the best way he can, due to the influx of fiat dollars into the system it’ll be a slow ride, and some prices will never come down…but their increase may be slowed down.
Yes, people vote with their wallet, but before we start throwing stones, let’s take everything into account. Don’t listen so closely to the media because they want you to believe President Trump is failing and not delivering on his promises. And for those of you in deep blue areas, understand that your prices are probably not leveling off. In fact, in places like California they are probably still on the rise. That has nothing to do with Trump, and everything to do with the policies of those areas. Increased taxes, fees, regulations, and a whole host of other idiotic policies have created an interesting dynamic. While in red-states prices are coming under control, it’s not happening in the same way in blue states and very large cities. Gasoline prices and certain grocery items I buy while I travel revealed to me this truth during the year as I found myself traveling the country for speaking engagements. During my travels I witnessed that while gasoline prices were well over five dollars per gallon in California during much of the year, Arizona once you got east of Phoenix was just a little bit north of three dollars per gallon. Once I got east of Arizona, I never saw gas above 2.99 per gallon (and in many places hovering around about a two and a half bucks) until I got to Mobile, Alabama where it was a tad over three. Much of the eastern southern states it remained close to three dollars, as well as through the Midwest. Once I got west of Minnesota, the prices shot well below three dollars per gallon again. Here where I live in a red zone of blue Oregon, we were paying at the time about 3.85. Now, we are hovering around 3.60. California is still around five dollars, though it has dipped to the high-fours of late, and in Northwest Arkansas, according to a friend of mine, prices are 2.18 per gallon.
As for groceries, there is a major grocery store in a California town just south of where I am at, and for a good number of the items on the shelves their prices are four times what they are at the major store in my little Oregon town. People from California come to my town to shop and get gas because it is so much cheaper.
I bring this up because I found myself surrounded by folks in San Diego, California on one particular thread stating that prices have not come down, and when I responded with something to the contrary, I was accused of living in a bubble. As I told the group, “Prices are lower this time of year more than they were last year on most items. The media is focusing on a handful of things to try to prove the prices have not been coming down. Don’t fall for the B.S.”
The response was quick, and filled with California political darkness doom and gloom. “Nobody can afford anything. Food has sky rocketed same as homes. Companies and stores are struggling to slash prices…[cheap alternative meals] are making a massive comeback and this is a huge sign of a recession…until I see it all turning around for every single American that are not billionaires then I will think otherwise. Everyone is hurting. The job market is chaotic. Chat with the younger ones. You’ll see. Home ownership is a distant dream on top of it all…I predicted the crash in 2008. I see the signs of it back.”
Another told me, “EVERYTHING IS MORE EXPENSIVE!!!!!!”
Another commented, “I am not falling for the B.S. Prices are not coming down in any way in any sector in any situation here in California. I travel five states twice a year and nothing is going down in those states whether they are blue or red…I am so sick of being told the economy is great. Drill baby drill. Energy independence. And yet Trump is going to do a coup in Venezuela…Doug, you are living in a bubble.”
Trump has denied he is looking for regime change in Venezuela, domestic drilling will increase the supply (remember that supply and demand economic principle?) which will push down prices further, and I never said the economy is “great,” but that it is improving. And yes, it is improving, thought slowly. But, you see, this is what happens to folks when they are bombarded by leftist policies in a place like California, and leftist information by most of the sources we have buzzing around our heads. It is easy for us to believe the whole country is like where we live, and the same is true for Californians. They start believing there is no end in sight, then start listening to the media whose desire is to make us feel like there’s no hope, and then we start latching onto things like, as one said, “explain why we gave 4 billion plus to Israel.” I gave a Christian, “we need to support Israel” type of answer; but the real key is that that has nothing to do with our situation. Is the person suggesting the government should have pumped that alleged four billion (and in military aid the amount is actually much much much more) into the American economy? Didn’t I explain that government pumping money into the system is a bad thing?
Unfortunately, we live in a time where we want instant gratification. The Democrats have been working to screw up our economy for a long time. There is no massive quick fix out there where a wand can be waved and suddenly everything is good. It takes time. And some places, like Commiefornia, is not going to feel the improvement instantly. And for them, relief may require a complete change of regime in that State. If anything, I feel like Governor Gavin Newsom is doing all he can to make sure California still gets worse. He fears, I believe, that if things got better for Californians they might think it was Trump’s doing, so for fear of Californians hoping for a liberator, he’d rather keep them in chains. Kind of reminds me of the Democrats using Americans as leverage during the idiotic government shutdown.
Let’s understand that things take time, things are improving despite the massive glut of money in the system thanks to Obama and Biden’s monetary system policies, and that the rest of the country is not California. The way to fix economic issues is not for the government to hand money to Americans. The economic remedy is to put in place policies that reduces the cost of doing business, increases domestic production, reduces imports while increasing exports (those last two something that is being done by Trump’s brilliant tariff policies), and stopping the pumping of fiat money into the system. But, like a tank full of sludge, even though you might be pumping clean water into it to flush out the sludge, it takes a while before the view becomes clear, and the water becomes clean.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary