Thoughts for the Day, May 11, 2026: Who cares if the national debt is greater than the annual income of all U.S. citizens, non-profits, and corporations combined?

It’s now Trump’s problem, and it is only getting worse.

I remember the exact moment of the beginning of the Tea Party in 2009, when CNBC’s Rick Santelli went into his now famous rant about the excessive government spending and intervention following the 2008 financial crisis and the passage of the federal stimulus bill. During a live broadcast from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Santelli criticized the government’s mortgage bailout plan and suggested a “Chicago Tea Party” to protest the government’s fiscal irresponsibility. The movement quickly went viral within hours.

When Santelli went into his rant the national debt was $11 trillion.

Per an article by Evan Gorelick of the NY Times, it’s over $31 trillion, bigger than our entire economy. Here’s what that means: If the federal government were to demand, for an entire year, that all workers hand over 100 percent of their wages, that all landlords hand over 100 percent of their rents, that all investors hand over 100 percent of their capital returns and that all corporations hand over 100 percent of their profits, then at the end of that nightmarish year, the government would still be in debt.

That’s not healthy. The United States hasn’t held this much debt since World War II. And it’s still growing, fast.

Note: Excludes debt the federal government owes itself. Sources: Congressional Budget Office; Treasury Dept. Karl Russell/The New York Times

Yet, today, neither voters nor politicians seem worried. Both parties keep cutting taxes, even as aging Americans receive more money from Medicare and Social Security. Lawmakers keep spending more on the military. And the Treasury must make debt interest payments so huge that they exceed the annual cost of Medicare.

The tax cuts from the “Big Beautiful Bill” and the war in Iran are only making it worse. I am not Rick Santelli, but I know we are heading toward a fiscal cliff. When we arrive, we are not going to like the outcome.

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Where is all this concern about election fraud coming from?

Prior to 2020, the few times I heard about election fraud, it was usually about Chicago where it was said to “vote early and often”. Even in the presidential election of 2000 when Bush carried Florida by only 500 votes, when there were “hanging chads”, and it took a Supreme Court decision to settle the election more than 30 days after the vote, voter fraud was not an issue.

According to the Heritage Foundation, there have been 1,620 convictions of election fraud in the U.S. since 1982, an average of 68 cases per year. The likelihood of any of these cases affecting the outcome of an election is on beyond miniscule.

In 2020, Trump supporters lost 62/63 lawsuits against voter fraud, and the one they won didn’t change the outcome of the election in that district.

Yet today, Republicans, following the President’s lead, are questioning the quality of elections, even in states and districts where Republicans are in control. Rather than facing reality, Republicans running for re-election are afraid of doing anything outside the Trump’s way of thinking, even if they know it is not the truth.

I should not be surprised, considering everyone in Trump’s current administration, had to agree that Trump won the 2020 election before they would be considered for a position in the Trump administration.

The Republican Party is no longer a party of conservatives who can think on their own. The current Republican party is made up of followers who are being told how to think and how to vote. They will follow Trump, no matter the consequences to the country, no matter how many voters they disenfranchise, and no matter the facts. It reminds me of the Pied Piper leading the rats to their death.

It was Trump’s Pied Piper act that led to January 6. The same Republicans who were appalled by January 6, are now passing laws to solve a problem that only exists in Trump’s mind.

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Do you feel reassured that Trump has everything under control?

Per Mary Geddry, Iran is negotiating like it survived the war. Netanyahu is pushing to keep the war open until Iran’s uranium is physically removed. Hormuz remains the global choke point. Oil is back around crisis levels. Gas and diesel are hammering American households. Food inflation may be next. The Fed cannot cut rates because Trump’s war is feeding inflation. Defense-stock ethics questions are hovering over the Pentagon. China is preparing for economic war. Taiwan is preparing for actual war. And the president of the United States is posting like the comments section became commander in chief.

Somewhere in all of this, Americans are supposed to feel reassured that the man who cannot manage his own late-night posting habits is managing a nuclear standoff, a global oil shock, a superpower summit, and the fate of Taiwan.

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The gutting of the Voting Rights Act

For most Americans the recent ruling by SCOTUS which gutted the Voting Right Act doesn’t mean much to them. To me it is a gut punch which takes the country back 60 years to the pre-MLK days. Back to the days when blacks in the South had the constitutional right to vote, but local laws prevented them from voting.

If you only watch one thing regarding the recent supreme court decision gutting the Voting Rights Act, please watch the following video. It is my Video of the Day. Thank you to my sister-in-law Jan for bringing this to my attention.

Sherrilyn Ifill - What Happened to the Voting Rights Act? | The Daily Show

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The Pistons

On Saturday, the Pistons had a chance to take a 3-0 lead in their series with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Pistons were up by one point with three minutes to go. Unfortunately, the Pistons were outplayed and out executed by the Cavalier in those last three minutes, so now the Piston’s lead the series 2-1 going into tonight’s game in Cleveland.

I look for the Pistons to bounce back in game four and use the last three minutes of Saturday’s game as a learning experience to take a 3-1 series lead and continue their march to the Eastern Conference finals.

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Contact your Congressperson

Contact your congressman by following these easy steps This can be done in a few easy steps.

Step 1: find your congressman by clicking on this link, Find Your Representative | house.gov

Step 2: Put your zip code in the proper space.

Step 3: Click the button “find your representative””

Step 4: In the new page that comes up you will see a picture of your congressman. Click on your congressman’s name under the picture.

Step 5: In the new page that comes up, Click on Contact Me at the top of the page and then click on Email me.

Step 6: Fill out the information as required.

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Quote of the Day “To recap: Iran is saying stop the war first. Trump is saying hand over the “nuclear dust.” Netanyahu is saying go in and take it. The oil market is saying please, for the love of Brent crude, somebody put an adult in the room.” Mary Geddry in her blog this morning

Orchid of the Day: Gage Workman, who was put on the Tiger’s 40-man roster prior to last night’s game. In his first at bat as a Tiger, Workman hit a two-run pinch hit homerun to propel the Tiger’s to a 6-3 win over the Royals last night.

Onion of the Day: The injury bug. With the addition of Kerry Carpenter, seventeen of the Tigers’ forty-man roster that started the season have spent time on the injured list, and the season is only 6 weeks old.

Question of the Day: Do you feel reassured that Trump has everything under control?

Lyrics of the Day:

In this dirty old part of the city
Where the sun refused to shine
People tell me there ain’t no use in tryin’
Now my girl, you’re so young and pretty
And one thing I know is true
You’ll be dead before your time is due, I know

Lyrics of the Day for May 3, 2026. War by Edwin Starr

Video of the Day: See above