Well, they have gone up by 44 percent (so far). Gasoline currently costs about $4.40 per gallon nationally. In plain language, Trump's betrayal of his promise to not stir up another war in the Middle East has resulted in Americans' cost-to-drive going up by just shy of 50 percent – and in just four months' time.

As bad as that it is, worse, arguably, has been Trump's dismissive, contemptuous comments about the costs he's imposed on Americans. It's all "worth it," he says. Adding that he "doesn't think much about Americans' financial situation." if he had said either of these things during the 2024 campaign, it is likely Kamala Harris would have been elected. Not that it would have mattered, given the puppet put at the head of the show does not change the show. Except in one important way. Had Harris been selected puppet for the string pullers who put on the show, the resurgent opposition to the string-pullers would have retained its cohesion. Instead, it has fractured into factions, the major ones being the demoralized and the deluded.

This was probably the object of the exercise. It would certainly cause the pieces to fall into place. It would make sense of what is going on. Trump was selected to destroy what the string-pullers rightly perceive to be at least a nascent, embryo threat to their show. And to usher in a new show. You can perceive the pieces of that falling into place. The data centers being built all over the country. What could they be for? Why, exactly, is "data" such an important commodity? It is said because we're to be bought and sold, basically – and there is probably truth in that. The corporate-government nexus has determined it must know everything about us. Why? Because knowledge is power. Especially when the corporate-government nexus (in that order) has the power to leverage that knowledge via coercion. Why do you suppose Google – and it is not just Google – wants to scan your ID/face as a condition of being allowed to search the Internet? Why do you suppose the bank bar-scans your (sic) driver's license every time you make a transaction, even though the teller has known you for 20 years?

Why do you think one of the very first things Trump did after he was inaugurated was to invite three tech bros to the White House for a public circle jerk? You got a look at some of the string-pullers but most didn't see them. Probably because they didn't want to. That is how the string-pullers successfully selected Trump as their puppet. Desperate people – after four years of vacant-eyed Biden, "masking" and the LGBTQ+ parade – desperately wanted to believe Trump was not a puppet, but – as always – he came with strings attached. Strings we could have seen if we'd set aside our wish to not see them. After all, it was Trump who set the stage for everything that came after Biden was selected to front the show for awhile. It was Trump who put the "mask" on – and then took it off. Who declared  the "emergency" that he could have ended that set all the pieces in place to assure the selection of the vacant vessel calling itself Joe Biden.