We cruised along w/ “rule of law” for 246 years, but screeched to almost zero and a legal gray area, akin to Frodo’s. [FN1] All peaceful means must be used to dislodge the idiotic, wannabe king from behind the wheel. Some blanch at criminal penalties, but, generally 1/12

a contract can be struck down, in whole or in part, if it is illegal or opposed to public policy. [FN2] With civil remedies we can grab cash. An example of trump’s violations of the emoluments clause [FN3] is the Saudi deal. Last November, trump’s naming 2/12

“Saudi Arabia a ‘major non-NATO ally’” gave them “‘defense trade and security cooperation benefits,” plus they got to buy “300 Abrams tanks” & F-35 fighter jets” plus “access to advanced AI chips.” [FN4] In return, trump’s Org’n gets to partner in a “a $7 billion 3/12

‘[t]rump-branded hotel and golf course’” w/“‘500 mansions, priced” betw $6.7 million & $24 million.’” It violates “an ethics agreement” fr trump’s 1st term. [FN5] Tax cuts the rich bought w/bribes effectively sack our Treasury & this 4/12

GOP [FN6] doesn’t even bother w/the oft-told lie of “trickle-down” economic benefits. [FN7] We can’t recover money after the rich’uns [FN8] move it very far off shore or from countries. trump is corrupt, incompetent, & under control of a foreign power. Close by are 5/12

the nuclear football and internet access. He can torch the planet or crash the economy long before a toxic coronation can confer upon him a crown. Removal of trump from the Oval Office by any & all peaceful means asap is critical. We need to look down the road if we survive. 6/12

Clawback of trump’s ill-gotten gains might dent the debt he’s left us. Getting back up to speed won’t be easy, but if we line up schemes trump & his RICO have done, we can try to recover $$ & identify & bar from office [FN9] those who sought to destroy our country. 7/12

Footnotes:
FN1. In Tolkien’s “Fellowship of the Ring,” Frodo is stabbed by a nazgul & starts to slip away to a place that would have killed one book, much less a trilogy. Arwen carries him on horseback & barely beats all the nazgul & gets him to Rivendell in time.
FN2. See, Calamari and Perillo, Contracts, 5th ed (2003), p. 842. 8/12

FN3. “And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States], shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.” U.S. Const. Art. I, §9, cl 8. 9/12

FN4. Jed Legum, “Update: The Saudi Payback,” Popular Information, 1/14/26, accessed 1/15/26.
FN5. Id.
FN6. This GOP is not the “party of Lincoln.” Any doubts about that ended when trump granted pardons to the Jan 6 insurrectionists, including lone son of a bitch who sauntered through the Capitol with the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia over his shoulder. 10/12

FN7. “Trickle down” economics never provided benefits to any but the rich. See, Mahrun Etebari, “Trickle-Down Economics: Four Reasons Why It Just Doesn't Work,” United for a Fair Economy, 7/9/2003, accessed 1/16/26. 11/12

FN8. “I’m a rich’un Bic.” Jett Rink, portrayed by James Dean, explaining to Bick Benedict, portrayed by Rock Hudson, that Rink has hit oil. “Giant,” (1956).
FN9. Const. Amend XIV, § 3. 12/12