President Trump announced a new class of battleship, the“Trump” class. It’s interesting, given this is the president who avoided the draft through a questionable medical situation, bone spurs. But this new identification with a battleship is a quintessential chickenhawk maneuver.

According to Trump, each ship will be the largest battleshipin the history of our country, the largest battleship in the history of the world, ever built. Not exactly, and Trump’s claim is unfounded. The new ships are impressive, but so too arethe old Iowa class battleships.

The building of the new ships also raises questions, thatwe'll cover in the podcast.

And the Notes for the podcast are listed below. You can alsofind the full text for the podcast at the substack site: https://erm76.substack.com/p/trump-battleships-and-greenlandoh

Notes:

(1) “Did a Queens Podiatrist Help Donald Trump AvoidVietnam?,” by Steve Eder, The New York Times. Dec. 26, 2018.https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/26/us/politics/trump-vietnam-draft-exemption.html

(2) Merriam-Webster.https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chicken%20hawk

(3) “Trump announcesnew “Trump class” of Navy battleships,” by Kathryn Watson, CBS News. December22, 2025.https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-hegseth-announcement-mar-a-lago-shipbuilding/

(4) “Plans unveiledfor US largest battleships, triple the size of Arleigh Burke-class destroyer,”by Fatima Bahtić, NavalToday.com. December 23, 2025.https://www.navaltoday.com/2025/12/23/plans-unveiled-for-us-largest-battleships-triple-the-size-of-arleigh-burke-class-destroyer/

(5) “BattleshipMissouri Memorial.” Ship Characteristics.https://ussmissouri.org/history/the-ship/ship-characteristics

Please note: Anotherdifference between the older and newer ships besides weaponry and electronics, is the Iowa class battleships were heavily armored. This accounts for some of the weight differential. And both the Missouri and the New Jersey, anotherWorld War II battleships, were modernized and served after World War II in other conflicts before being decommissioned/retired.

(6),” Golden Fleet.US Navy.” https://www.goldenfleet.navy.mil/

Also, please see: “Trump-Class Battleship: Railguns,Hypersonic Missiles and 40,000 Tons of Raw U.S. Navy Power,” by Stephen Silver, 19FortyFive. 12/22/25.https://www.19fortyfive.com/2025/12/trump-class-battleship-railguns-hypersonic-missiles-and-40000-tons-of-raw-u-s-navy-power/#:~:text=Experts%20Are%20Skeptical&text=Iowa%2DClass%20Battleship.,a%20cool%2Dlooking%20ship.%E2%80%9D

Please note: The new ships would have an edge in a power projection situation. But what country is the US going to try to overawe? And is the cost for this factor justified?

(7) “An Overview of Current U.S. Hypersonic MissileDevelopments,” by Lauren Estrada, Defense and Security Monitor. December 22, 2025.https://dsm.forecastinternational.com/2025/12/22/an-overview-of-current-u-s-hypersonic-

(8) “The Golden Fleet’s Battleship Will Never Sail,”Commentary by Mark F. Cancian, Center for Strategic & InternationalStudies. December 23, 2025.https://www.csis.org/analysis/golden-fleets-battleship-will-never-sail#:~:text=That%20would%20imply%20a%20battleship,much%20as%20an%20aircraft%20carrier.

President Trump announced a new class of battleship, the “Trump” class. It's interesting, given this is the president who avoided the draft through a questionable medical situation, bone spurs. But this new identification with a battleship is a quintessential chickenhawk maneuver.

According to Trump, each ship will be the largest battleship in the history of our country, the largest battleship in the history of the world, ever built. Not exactly, and Trump's claim is unfounded. The new ships are impressive, but so too are the old Iowa class battleships.

The building of the new ships also raises questions, that we'll cover in the podcast.

And the Notes for the podcast are ilisted below. You can also find the full text for the podcast at the substack site: https://erm76.substack.com/p/trump-battleships-and-greenlandoh

Notes:

(1) “Did a Queens Podiatrist Help Donald Trump Avoid Vietnam?,” by Steve Eder, The New York Times. Dec. 26, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/26/us/politics/trump-vietnam-draft-exemption.html

(2) Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chicken%20hawk

(3) “Trump announces new “Trump class” of Navy battleships,” by Kathryn Watson, CBS News. December 22, 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-hegseth-announcement-mar-a-lago-shipbuilding/

(4) “Plans unveiled for US largest battleships, triple the size of Arleigh Burke-class destroyer,” by Fatima Bahtić, NavalToday.com. December 23, 2025. https://www.navaltoday.com/2025/12/23/plans-unveiled-for-us-largest-battleships-triple-the-size-of-arleigh-burke-class-destroyer/

(5) “Battleship Missouri Memorial.” Ship Characteristics. https://ussmissouri.org/history/the-ship/ship-characteristics

Please note: Another difference between the older and newer ships besides weaponry and electronics, is the Iowa class battleships were heavily armored. This accounts for some of the weight differential. And both the Missouri and the New Jersey, another World War II battleships, were modernized and served after World War II in other conflicts before being decommissioned/retired.

(6),” Golden Fleet. US Navy.” https://www.goldenfleet.navy.mil/

Also, please see: “Trump-Class Battleship: Railguns, Hypersonic Missiles and 40,000 Tons of Raw U.S. Navy Power,” by Stephen Silver, 19FortyFive. 12/22/25. https://www.19fortyfive.com/2025/12/trump-class-battleship-railguns-hypersonic-missiles-and-40000-tons-of-raw-u-s-navy-power/#:~:text=Experts%20Are%20Skeptical&text=Iowa%2DClass%20Battleship.,a%20cool%2Dlooking%20ship.%E2%80%9D

Please note: The new ships would have an edge in a power projection situation. But what country is the US going to try to overawe? And is the cost for this factor justified?

(7) “An Overview of Current U.S. Hypersonic Missile Developments,” by Lauren Estrada, Defense and Security Monitor. December 22, 2025. https://dsm.forecastinternational.com/2025/12/22/an-overview-of-current-u-s-hypersonic-

(8) “The Golden Fleet's Battleship Will Never Sail,” Commentary by Mark F. Cancian, Center for Strategic & International Studies. December 23, 2025. https://www.csis.org/analysis/golden-fleets-battleship-will-never-sail#:~:text=That%20would%20imply%20a%20battleship,much%20as%20an%20aircraft%20carrier.

The Trump Administration has managed to pillage and plunder the American ethos in less than a year. The goal? The President wants to redefine it in his own image.

And the damage created by Trump's assault may take years to repair. In some cases, it may be beyond saving. For example, can you remove the river of gold paint in the White House without damaging the underlying structures? While a paint issue obviously doesn't equal the other decisions that may directly affect someone's life, it makes a point. The White House is supposed to be our house…the people's house. But given how Trump has remade it to fit his perception, particularly the destruction of the East Wing to make way for a ballroom, we can't turn the page back to restore the building.

This is a podcast of an original post: https://erm76.substack.com/p/the-plundering-of-the-american-ethos

The Notes are listed on the same site and are listed below.

(1) BUCK v. BELL(1927). No. 292. Argued: April 22, 1927 Decided: May 02, 1927. ⁠https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-supreme-court/274/200.html⁠

(2) “10 key numbers that sum up Trump's first 100 days,” by Rachel Treisman, NPR. April 29, 2025.⁠ https://www.npr.org/2025/04/29/nx-s1-5379554/trump-100-days-numbers-laws-immigration⁠

(3) “Are Trump's Actions Truly Unprecedented? We Asked 35 Historians,” by Francesca Paris, Alicia Parlapiano and Josh Katz, The New York Times. April 30, 2025. ⁠https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/04/30/upshot/presidential-history-survey.ht⁠

J'Accuse is Émile Zola's famous 1898 open letter to the President of the French Republic in defense of Alfred Dreyfus, a French army officer who was accused of spying for Germany. The incident blew up in to a political scandal, and the military's general staff used Dreyfus as a scapegoat. Dreyfus was also Jewish, and this contributed to his being targeted for the accusation.

We briefly explored the Dreyfus situation in a July 04, 2025 podcast, and it seems appropriate to recall Zola's words, today, as we continue to face challenges from the Trump Administration.

This is also the first of a two-part look at the Trump Administration's Minneapolis and related ICE operations.

Part 1 covers particular incidents that have and are taking place in Minneapolis. It also explores the Portland operation in regard to the legal issues that are playing out in Minneapolis.

Part 2 will continue and update the situation.

The full text and Notes can be found at:

https://erm76.substack.com/p/podcast-and-full-text-episode-jaccuse

NOTES

(1) “Who was Renee Nicole Good, the woman killed by ICE?,”by Tiffany Wertheimer, BBC. January 13, 2026. ⁠https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1jepdjy256o⁠.Also please see: “F.B.I. Agent Who Tried to Investigate ICE Officer in ShootingResigns,” by Alan Feuer and Glenn Thrush, The New York Times. January23, 2026. ⁠https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/23/us/politics/fbi-agent-ice-shooting-renee-good.html⁠Based on the Times report, “An F.B.I. agent who sought to investigatethe federal immigration officer who fatally shot a 37-year-old woman inMinneapolis this month has resigned from the bureau, according to two peoplefamiliar with the matter.

The agent, Tracee Mergen, left her job as a supervisor inthe F.B.I.'s Minneapolis field office after bureau leadership in Washingtonpressured her to discontinue a civil rights inquiry into the immigrationofficer, Jonathan Ross, according to one of the people. Such inquiries are acommon investigative step in similar shootings.”

(2) “The Insurrection Act, Explained,” by Joseph Nunn andElizabeth Goitei, The Brennan Center. April 21, 2022. ⁠https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/insurrection-act-explained⁠

(3) Truth Social. Sep 27, 2025, 10:19AMhttps://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115276694936263266.

(4) Black's Law Dictionary. (12th ed., 2024).

(5) IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OFOREGON. Case No. 3:25-cv-1756-IM. TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER.https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ord.189270/gov.uscourts.ord.189270.56.1_2.pdf

(6) UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF MINNESOTA. CASE0:25-cv-04669-KMM-DTS Doc. 85 Filed 01/16/26. https://cases.justia.com/federal/district-courts/minnesota/mndce/0:2025cv04669/229758/85/0.pdf

(7) UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUITNo: 26-1105. Appeal from U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.(0:25-cv-04669-KMM). https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca8.113629/gov.uscourts.ca8.113629.00805436077.0_2.pdf

President Trump met with European leaders in Davos,Switzerland, this week. It was an economic meeting with a broad-based agenda, including climate change and other global issues. Politics run deep, and thisis particularly true this year in light of Trump's potential actions, ranging from the taking of Greenland to attacking and then complimenting NATO. And let's add a diatribe against Switzerland, and in a subsequent meeting with SwissPresident Guy Parmelin, praising the Swiss for making high-quality watches. It sounded like the ultimate non-compliment compliment.

THE FULL TEXT/NOTES CAN BE FOUND AT:

https://erm76.substack.com/p/podcast-and-full-text-episode-the

The Notes for the quotes are:

(1) “The Most Startling Line From Trump's Davos Speech,” byPhilip Elliot, Time. January 21, 2026. https://time.com/7355488/trump-davos-speech-takeaways-analysis/?itm_source=parsely-api

(2) “75th Anniversary Of The Munich Agreement,” RadioFreeEurope;RadioLiberty. September 26, 2013.

(3) “October 5, 1938. House of Commons.” Speech byWinston Churchill. International Churchill Society. https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1930-1938-the-wilderness/the-munich-agreement/

(4) “After Trump's Ultimatum, Greenland Talks IncludeSovereign U.S. Bases, No Drilling for Russia,” by Jim Tankersley, Lara Jakesand Adam Goldman,” The New York Times, January 22, 2026. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/world/europe/trump-greenland-deal-framework.html?campaign_id=60&emc=edit_na_20260122&instance_id=169697&nl=breaking-news®i_id=57657450&segment_id=214081&user_id=423e5e0514430d734c860e2b14f2b4d7

(5) “Trump Says “Sometimes You Need a Dictator” AfterAlarming Davos Speech,” by Malcolm Ferguson, The New Republic. January21, 2026. https://newrepublic.com/post/205508/trump-sometimes-you-need-dictator-davos-speech

(6) Truth Social. January 11, 2026. https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115879509461234235

(7) Czechoslovakia had some of Europe's biggest armsfactories.