Piatt.substack.com For MAGA/Republicans, the joy of “owning the libs” now extends to watching them squirm as MAGA/Republicans starve poor , hungry people. I’m old enough to remember when intentionally starving people to achieve a political end was considered a war crime. In my book, it still is.

With his history of financial fraud and massive grifting, Donald Trump’s solicitation of private mega donors to pay for his gilded party palace White House ballroom demands close scrutiny. Instead, Republicans in Congress - including Iowa’s “Silent Six” - simply look the other way. Read more below.

Piatt.substack.com Two days after Republicans got shellacked nationwide, this is a pix from the streets of Washington, DC. THREE TIMES the number of soldiers normally at this site during Trump’s military occupation of DC.

Given his history of financial fraud and grifting, Donald Trump’s solicitation of private mega donors for his gilded party palace of a ballroom at the White House demands urgent oversight. Instead, Republicans in Congress - including Iowa’s “Silent Six” - simply look the other way. Read more, below

Piatt.substack.com Donald Trump’s effort to raise $350 million from private, corporate mega donors for his gilded White House ballroom demands close scrutiny. Is it getting the close scrutiny it deserves? Not from the Republican Congress. Read more by clicking the link above or below.

Donald Trump’s chosen method for financing his $350 million glitzy new White House ballroom is an open invitation for massive corruption. Republicans in Congress couldn’t care less. Read more in my weekly column, “Barry Piatt in Politics: Behind the Curtains,” below.

Piatt.substack.com I’m old enough to remember when Presidents of the U.S. and their followers didn’t think intentionally starving kids was a swell legislative tactic. All while they - the president and his cronies - danced the night away at a lavish (and garish) Gatsby party.

The way Donald Trump is financing his his vandalism at the White House East Wing and his gilded party palace of a new White House ballroom is an open invitation for massive corruption. It needs strict scrutiny, but it’s not getting it. Read more below.

Donald Trump’s chosen method for financing his White House East Wing vandalism and construction of his gilded ballroom is an open invitation for massive corruption. Sadly, Iowa’s “Silent Six” congressional delegation doesn’t care. Read more below.

The way Donald Trump chose to fund his vandalism at the White House East Wing and construction of his gilded White House ballroom invites massive corruption. It demands close scrutiny. It’s not getting it from Iowa’s “Silent Six” in Congress. Read more below

The way Donald Trump chose to pay for his White House East Wing vandalism and the construction of his gilded party palace of a ballroom in its place, is a “corruption incubator” that cries out for close scrutiny. Yet, Iowa’s “Silent Six” congressional delegation remains silent. Read more below.

There are new questions this week about how Donald Trump is financing his vandalism at the White House East Wing, and the construction of his gilded White House party palace. But Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) isn’t asking any of them. Read more below.

Donald Trump has launched a new “incubator for corruption” in Washington, DC, but Senator Chuck Grassley doesn’t even seem the least bit curious about it, much less bothered by it. Read more below.

If you are as sick as I am about what Donald Trump did to the White House East Wing last week - and new polling shows a solid majority of Americans are - you need to read this week’s “Barry Piatt on Politics: Behind the Curtains” column. Click below to read it now.

If you are even half as sick as I am about what Donald Trump did to the White House East Wing last week, you have to read this week’s “Barry Piatt on Politics: Behind the Curtains” column. Just click below to read it now.

If you are even half as sick as I am about what Donald Trump did last week to the White House East Wing, then you need to read my column, “Barry Piatt on Politics: Behind the Curtains.” Just click below to read it now.

If you are half as sick as I am about what Donald Trump did to the White House East Wing last week, you have to read this week’s “Barry Piatt on Politics: Behind the Curtains.” Just click below and read it now.

If you are even half as sick as I am about what Donald Trump did last week to the White House East Wing, you need to read this week’s “Barry Piatt on Politics: Behind the Curtains” column. Just click below to read it now.

Trump says there’s no money to pay federal workers, but he’s spending: $20 to $40 billion to bail out Argentina $300 million on his vanity ballroom $172 million on two luxury jets for Kristi Noem Hundreds of millions for outfitting his foreign jet

If you are even half as sick as I am about what Donald Trump did to the White House East Wing last week, you need to read this. Click below to read it now.

Trump’s incremental approach to bringing fascist authoritarianism to America aims to keep Americans from noticing what he is really doing. For millions of Americans it is doing just that. Which is why efforts like the “No Kings” rallies are so important. Read more, below.

Trumps strategy of bringing authoritarian fascism to America in a series of incremental baby steps that add up to a giant pole vault over the Constitution is aimed at making sure people don’t notice that’s what he is doing. For millions of Americans that strategy is working. Read more below.

We’re all frogs in the heating pot now. Millions of Americans still under estimate the seriousness of Donald Trump’s incremental, but constant, attacks on America’s democracy. That’s the whole point of his incremental strategy. Read more in my weekly column, below.

Trump’s incremental approach to imposing authoritarian fascism on America presents a special threat and requires an even more diligent resistance. Read more in my weekly column, “Barry Piatt on Politics: Behind the Curtains.” below.

How Trump’s incremental march toward fascist dictatorship threatens American democracy in a way you may have overlooked. Read more in my weekly column, “Barry Piatt on Politics: Behind the Curtains,” below.

10/19/2025: JUST PUBLISHED! My new “Barry Piatt on Politics: Behind the Curtains” column for this week is just out. I look at the enormity of Trump’s attacks on the constitution and our democracy, and remind us all to keep our eyes on the big picture, as well as Trump’s daily outrages.

Piatt.substack.com Read this week’s column while it is still easy to access, before it moves to the archives Sunday morning to make way for a brand new edition. Click the link above or below to read about Sen. Chuck Grassley’s (R-IA) transformation from corruption fighter to corruption enabler.

Piatt.substack.com What happened to Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA)?? He used to fight corruption. Now he enables it - with his silence, growing history of looking the other way, and active, overt, obvious and bitter partisanship. Read more in my weekly column by clicking below or on the link above.

Piatt.substack.com My column this week examines Senator Chuck Grassley’s (R-IA) transformation from one time fighter against government corruption to one of the Senste’s biggest enablers of it today. It’s been a strange, sad journey to witness. To read my column, click on the link above, or below.

Piatt.substack.com I used my Medicare card at the doctor’s office today AND thanked a WWII II vet I met there for his service in that war. According to today’s Republicans, I guess that makes me a full blown socialist AND a flaming member of Antifa.

Piatt.substack.com My column this week examines Senator Chuck Grassley’s metamorphosis from “watch dog” against corruption to “lap dog” for it and enabler of it. Click below to read it now.

Piatt.substack.com Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), one time (long, long ago) “Watch dog” against corruption today is more of a “lap dog” for it. Read my column, “Barry Piatt on Politics,: Behind the Curtains,” where I examine his metamorphosis

Piatt.substack.com This week’s column examines US Senator Chuck Grassley’s (R-IA) metamorphosis from “watch dog” against government corruption, to “lap dog” for corruption. He’s become a consistent an enabler for some of the worst corruption in American history. Click below and read it now.

Piatt.substack.com US Sen. Chuck Chuck Grassley (R-IA) was once a “watch dog” against federal government corruption. Today he is a “lap dog” and enabler for corruption. This week in my column I explore that metamorphosis. You can read it by clicking on the link above or below.

Piatt.substack.com This week my column examines the metamorphosis of Sen Chuck Grassley from a “watch dog” on corruption to a “lap dog” and enabler of it. Read more in my column by clicking the link above.

Piatt.substack.com This week my column explores the metamorphosis of Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) from one time “Watch Dog” against corruption to “Lab Dog” and enabler of it. Read more by clicking the link above.

Piatt.substack.com This week’s column is headlined: “Shhhh! Please Don’t Wake Senator Grassley. I take a look at Grassley’s metamorphosis from “Watch Dog” against corruption in government to his current status: “Lap Dog” and enabler of corruption. Click the link above.

Piatt.substack.com The complete nuttery Trump is pulling with tarrifs - 100% on China on a whim?? - is pretty good evidence of why the constitution gives tariff authority to Congress and not the president.

Piatt.substack.com I just wish Republicans - who control all three branches of the government btw - were working to end the government shutdown as hard as they are working to blame Democrats for the government shutdown.

Piatt.substack.com At this point in Donald Trump’s America, if you aren’t resisting fascism in America, you are enabling it.

Piatt.substack.com What the Republican Psrty needs desparately at this moment in history is, at least, a Republican wing of the Republican Party. Right now, the fascists own it lock, stock and barrel.

Somebody finally explains what’s going on in Donald Trump’s Washington, DC. Read my latest “Barry Piatt on Politics: Behind the Curtains” column, below,

Face it, America. America’s president is not on America’s side. Read more, below, in my weekly column, “Barry Piatt on Politics: Behind the Curtains.”

Read this week’s “Barry Piatt on Curtains” column, just published today. Finally, somebody answers the question, “WTH is going on in Washington, DC?”

JUST PUBLISHED! 10/05:2025: My new column for this week, “Barry Piatt on Politics: Behind the Curtains” has just been published! Read it below.

If you haven’t yet read my column this week hurry and do it now while it is still easy to access. It disappears in the wee hours of Sunday morning into the ether of the digital archives. Read it now, below.

The two year anniversary of the failure by Congress to pass a new Farm Bill after the old one expired turns a spotlight on the ineptitude - and misplaced priorities of the “Silent Six,” Iowa’s all Republican congressional delegation. They own a big part of this massive failure. Read more, below.

Piatt.substack.com Who knew the war Trump wants to use the Pentagon to fight is the Culture War?

Iowa’s “Silent Six” in Congress dropped the ball big time on the Farm Bill. The old one expired TWO YEARS ago and to this day they STILL haven’t been able to get a new one passed. Read more, below.

Piatt.substack.com We know the constitution requires Congress to enact a declaration of war to wage war against a foreign nation. I think a congressional declaration is also required - and should be - when a president is stupid enough to unilaterally declare war against the American people.