Pigpen is in the Oval Office . . . MAGA Abandon ship if you have any decency left

"A Cell for you, and a cell for you!" In an odd way Opra's famous phrase is hanging over the Trump TACO Train like Pigpen's Cloud and FoxNews is among the grifters.

Jun 10, 2025

It may be the fruit salad of all cultural mixed metaphors . . . but let’s face it; the firehose of corruption, lawlessness, incompetence, cruelty, malice and revenge is so stunning that only Charles Schultz’s Pigpen can provide a cultural meme worthy of the mess the TACO Trump Train has created of our world.

Take note if you are among the high-level appointees of the Trump administration. The combination of grifting, lawlessness, corruption, and incompetence has reached a level that will require a thorough investigation into the havoc you have created - no matter what your party or persuasion.

Get out now and you may have a chance for redemption, especially if you have the courage to speak out as well.

Attorney General Pam Bondi, who ostensibly is the watchdog of legal matters for the nation, is going to have to tie herself in knots to explain how she was not engaged in insider trading when she traded over a million dollars in stocks during the early morning hours before Trump’s first jarring tariff announcement. Marco Rubio might be able to salvage his dignity, though it’s doubtful. Even former-speaker Pelosi needs to have a Road to Damascus moment on stock trading if she is not to be a target.

I am not suggesting that we take a page from the Trump playbook and simply start locking people up - hell no. We need a full-blown, by-the-book series of investigations and a truth and reconciliation process, all within the rigorous framework of the rule of law.

Restoring the faith of the American people in our institutions demands nothing less. While we are at it, let’s ask that some thought be given to assuring that we have a better system for assessing the effectiveness of those institutions in the future.

In 2018, a law was passed that required the Department of Defense (DOD) to annually pass a full financial audit. Yet it has never passed a single audit. Since becoming legally obligated to complete audits in 2018, the DOD has received a "disclaimer of opinion" on each of the seven full annual audits it has undergone. In essence, this means that the DOD failed to provide sufficient information to the auditors to allow them to come to a conclusion.

Since becoming legally obligated to complete audits in 2018, the DOD has received a "disclaimer of opinion" on each of the seven full annual audits it has undergone. The Department of Defense (DOD) has never passed a full financial audit. If information is being purposefully withheld, there should be criminal liability involved.

For those who think that President Trump will use his pardon power to put these people out of reach of the law, nothing could be further from the truth.

So here’s the good news: he can try, but Presidential pardons are not a free hall pass for those pardoned. A presidential pardon generally does not protect individuals from investigations into their past behavior, even if that behavior was the basis for the pardon. While a pardon restores rights lost due to the offense, it doesn't erase the record of the conviction or necessarily shield individuals from further scrutiny, including civil suits.

A President's power to issue pardons is broad but not without limits. While the Constitution grants the president the power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, there are two key restrictions: the pardon power only applies to federal offenses, and it does not apply in cases of impeachment; take note, Clarence Thomas.

The President does not have the power to pardon a company, including Fox News. The President's pardon power, as outlined in the U.S. Constitution, is limited to granting reprieves and pardons for "Offenses against the United States". This means it applies to federal offenses, including those committed by individuals, but not to state offenses or civil matters. Companies are not considered individuals - except when they can shower money on political candidates under the guise of free speech. Otherwise, they cannot be pardoned by the President.

There is much damage that has been done, some of which may never be undone but we can still wrest our country back from the hands of tyrants.

About Wayne King and Anamaki Chronicles Substack

Wayne is a North American "mutt" with a family heritage that winds through his Native American, Canadian and US Colonial roots. His love for the philosophical founding documents and sacred stories and dreams of the Iroquois Confederacy, the US Revolutionary Founders, and the sacred artist, musicans, writers and poets whose works and images are a celebration of the circle of life are the source of his inspiration. His images blend the real and the surreal to achieve a sense of place or time that reaches beyond the moment into what he calls "a dreamlike quintessentialism" designed to spark an emotional response. Using digital enhancement, handcrafting, painting, and sometimes even straight photography, King seeks to take the viewer to a place that is beyond simple truth to where truth meets passion, hope and dreams. Join the mailing list and be first to see new images and to receive special offers on cards, prints, limited editions and more.

Wayne lives on the “Narrows” in Bath, NH at the confluence of the Connecticut and Ammonoosuc Rivers and proudly flies the American, Iroquois and Abenaki Flags, attesting to both his ancestry and his spiritual ties. Anamaki is a derivative of an Algonquin word meaning “abiding hope”.

Art, Columns and Podcasts are produced at Anamaki Productions, Winter Warrior Studios in Bath, NH.

Author, podcaster, artist, activist, social entrepreneur and recovering politician. A three-term State Senator, 1994 Democratic nominee for Governor. His art (WayneDKing.com) is exhibited nationally in galleries and he has published five books of his images, most recently, "New Hampshire - a Love Story”. His novel "Sacred Trust" - a vicarious, high-voltage adventure to stop a private power line - as well as the photographic books are available at most local bookstores or on Amazon.

Anamaki Chronicles Substack has no paywall, we exist through the generosity of subscribers and the purchase of art , books and merch from the Anamaki.com website and from Wayne’s gallery of images.

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