Youth Advocacy
Youth Advocacy
Dr. Jerry Goebel
26.08.2026-01.09.2026
📢 Review and Announcements
Welcome to this week's review. Below, you will find direct links to the full articles featured in this Youth Advocacy blog, detailing the critical challenges facing our democratic systems and national security. Let’s unite to make sure young people grow up and understand democracy!
🔍 Read Full Feature: Pete Hegseth and the Cost of "Lookism"
Dive into our analysis of Brynn Tannehill’s article from The New Republic, detailing how blind loyalty and camera-readiness are impacting the U.S. military. Tannehill sums up the situation perfectly: “Trump and Hegseth keep claiming that they’re restoring the American military. To the rest of the world, it looks like chaos and weakness caused by people too egotistical and incompetent to know they’re incompetent: the Peter principle and the Dunning-Kruger effect all rolled into one.” Read the full commentary and the original source here: Pete Hegseth Is Too Egotistical to Know How Incompetent He Is.📰 Read Full Feature: The Pentagon and Classified Leaks
Explore our look at The Hill's coverage regarding internal dissent over the Iran war operations. We examine what happens when public servants speak the truth and why independent journalism remains an essential shield for the public interest. Read the full post here: Pentagon Erupts Over Classified Leak of Iran War Dissent.🗽 Read Full Feature: The Assault on Naturalized Citizens
Review our commentary on The Atlantic's feature regarding the new movement targeting the constitutional rights of foreign-born citizens, exposing the deep contractions and foreign influences within the current administration. Read the full analysis here: Not American Enough.🗳️ Read Full Feature: The Supreme Court and Voting Rights
Examine our breakdown of Matt Ford’s piece on the Trump v. California shadow-docket decision, uncovering how the high court's conservative bloc is facilitating voter suppression by attempting to bring state mail-in voting under direct presidential control. Read the full article here: The Supreme Court Joins Trump’s Insidious War on Voting Rights.🍁 Read Full Feature: Kicking Allies and New Global Alliances
Read our deep dive into Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American, dissecting the reckless tariff wars against long-standing allies like Canada and how world leaders like Mark Carney are building a future that no longer depends on a volatile United States. Read the full breakdown here: Letters from an American: August 24, 2026.
🗳️ Free "Anthems" Music Compilation Release
We are officially releasing a special, free music compilation dedicated entirely to anyone who is supporting fair voting turnout in the upcoming election. This collection is built to inspire, mobilize, and sustain leaders on the front lines of democracy.
How to get the compilation: You can access and download the music immediately on our hidden page: Get the Anthems Music Compilation.
How to tell others about it: We need this music to reach grassroots coordinators, student organizers, and community leaders. Please share this dedicated link directly via your network emails, or copy it over to your social platforms to help amplify the call for voter engagement.
🎬 Visual Stories
Featured Song: “You Don’t Get My Attention”
When confronting the rise of authoritarianism in both government and digital spaces, focus is our ultimate currency. Watch the complete visual presentation for the track “You Don’t Get My Attention”directly on the Jerry Goebel YouTube Channel. This presentation brings the sonic narrative to life, offering a stark reminder of where we must place our boundaries and our energy.
Articles and Commentary
01.09.2026 | TNR
Pete Hegseth Is Too Egotistical to Know How Incompetent He Is
In his second term, Trump picked his cabinet based upon loyalty and whether they would “look good on tv” (lookism). Stephen Miller apparently squeaked under the radar on the looks side because he scored so highly on the loyalty spectrum. What didn’t matter was competence. Especially the type of competence that comes with leading large teams down democratic paths of leadership. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the leadership of the world’s largest military, by the world’s least qualified military leader, Pete Hegseth.
In this article, by Brynn Tannehill, we see the critical and destructive choices Trump has made by selecting someone who only makes decisions based solely upon how it pleases his/her “audience of one.” “How will this please my master?”
In the process, Hegseth has depleted the military both of its best leaders (and minds) and of its stockpiles of weapons. Hegseth’s military is more focused on attractiveness and loyalty rather than competence. This “lookism” is ruining the U.S. military and costing lives abroad. Yet it is exactly how Trump picked Hegseth. Here’s how Tannehill puts it: “This is basically the phrenology of fitness metrics, right up there with BMI.”
Tannehill sums up his article with this important statement: “Trump and Hegseth keep claiming that they’re restoring the American military. To the rest of the world, it looks like chaos and weakness caused by people too egotistical and incompetent to know they’re incompetent: the Peter principle and the Dunning-Kruger effect all rolled into one.”
Trump’s choices for blind loyalty and camera-readiness have set our military back decades, if not generations. He continues to do the same in choices domestically and internationally. Agriculture, basic democracy, economy, education, environment, immigration, infrastructure, international diplomacy, justice, voting rights, and yes, defense. It is going to be hard to tally the damage, harder still to make up the deficits. Trump appealed to a significant portion of the United States that loved his theatrics and performance. Now we have a country that is all show and no content—just like our military under Hegseth.
November 7, 2026; that may be the most important day in U.S. history. The day we learn if democracy will survive. The day we learn if the voting public of the United States has learned to dig beneath the wig and orange makeup, the “lookism” of this regime. Have you made your plans?
31.08.2026 | The Hill
Pentagon erupts over classified leak of Iran war dissent
Someone told the truth…
Hegseth is fuming… most people would reply, “Still?” And we also know that when Pete Hegseth is fuming it is usually because someone is telling the truth to the public and it leaked to the press. What the Washington Post shared with taxpayers (who are funding this war and being asked to support it in multiple ways including the lives of sons and daughters) is that (according to Jared Gans, author of this article): “…top military leaders recently warned Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth against extending large-scale Iran war operations.”
The question is, “Who doesn’t know that?” Who doesn’t know that we are losing this self-initiated war against Iran and have no strategy to turn it around? Apparently, only this White House… And that is largely because Hegseth is working so hard to keep Trump in the dark about how badly he’s failing.
When the Pentagon tried to say that Post reporters were “traitors” for telling the truth in the General’s report, Post Military Affairs reporter, Dan Lamothe, responded: “Fact check: Independent journalism is not a crime. It’s also especially important at a time when government officials are withholding key details and concerns about a war being fought on behalf of the American people with their taxpayer dollars.”
Hegseth has been fighting a war of his own, a war against the press. A war against letting his master, Donald Trump, see how badly he is failing.
What do you think? Is it traitorous to give the public (and Congress) accurate information about a war this regime started and said would only last “four to five weeks (PBS, Feb. 2026),” but is now entering its sixth month? The sad truth is that the President is probably not getting accurate information from his Cabinet pick, Hegseth, either. Most presidents pick their cabinet leaders for their ability to provide accurate information—especially during critical times like war. But we know this regime picked its cabinet members based on three parameters: 1) loyalty to Trump, 2) loyalty to Trump, and 3) how they would look on camera.
What do you think? How is Pete looking on camera lately?
I think Pete is increasingly looking pretty red-faced. The truth is catching up to him. He’s in way over his head, and he’s in overseeing a losing war while following up his lost cause by completely depleting the U.S. Military for generations to come.
What do you think? Does the public have the right to know this? Is it traitorous to tell the public that military readiness is compromised by incompetency at the administrative level?
What made Hegseth mad? Someone told the truth…
You can expect that this regime will turn red-in-the-face whenever and because someone told the truth…
31.08.2026 | The Atlantic
Not American Enough
It seems like almost daily that Republicans seek another way to upend the constitution in order to make the United States into a white, Christian, nation. This week it is a new movement to bar foreign-born citizens—yes citizens—from running for public office. Not that the Republicans or this regime care about the constitution, but fully 20% of the writers of that document were foreign born. Of course, the brain-fart behind all this racism came from Trump’s boy wonder, Stephen Miller, but the banner-carriers are not in short order among this xenophobic class of Trump lackeys. Voices pour in from Red States across the nation, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Arizona. Currently, this ban would impact 26 House members and six senators. But the main target seems to be the Mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani. Here is how the author of this article, Toluse Olorunnipa, describes the situation: “When Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen first floated the idea of barring naturalized citizens from serving in elected office, he cited Mamdani’s mayoral run as one impetus.” And when asked for his reasoning, here is what Mr. Allen said, “We want to make sure that no potential foreign influence or foreign meddling could impact our state’s highest elected leaders...”
The hypocrisy of that statement couldn’t be any more sanctimonious. Republicans support a president who flies around in a jet donated by Qatar (when he’s not hiding in a catering cart with Natalie Harp while others serve as his decoy), and whose both sons acknowledged that a major amount of their loans came from foreign sources. In 2008, Donald Trump, Jr. stated that their companies saw "a lot of money pouring in from Russia" to support golf courses and real estate projects when American banks pulled back and in 2014, Eric Trump stated, “We have all the funding we need out of Russia" for golf courses.
No presidency has been as openly criminal as this White House, and no president more indifferent to the Emoluments clause for public officials. Yet, where are the Republicans to protect Mr. Allen’s charge of “potential foreign influence” in these instances?
The Trump’s are owned by foreign investors, and the Republicans are owned by Trump.
November is our chance to stop this supremacist madness. But, as can be plainly seen, impeaching the president and his cabinet is not enough. Radical changes must occur in Congress and the Supreme Court. Your vote is vital.
Are you volunteering to support free elections? I want to fuel your efforts with some music.
To claim your free copy of the Anthems music compilation, follow these simple steps:
Head over to the private Anthems page on my website: https://www.communitiesoftrust-jerrygoebel.com
Stream or download the tracks directly to your device.
Feel free to share this page with fellow election volunteers and voting advocates who need a lift!
28.08.2026 | TNR
The Supreme Court Joins Trump’s Insidious War on Voting Rights
Do you know who votes by mail and wants his vote to count—but not yours? The President of the United States. A lower court disagreed with him in what will become a landmark case: League of Women Voters of Massachusetts vs. Trump.
The author of this article, Matt Ford, confronts the Roberts’ Court for beginning their preamble to counteract the lower court Massachusetts decision with a blatant lie. He quotes the court as saying: “About five months ago, President Trump issued an Executive Order designed to maintain public confidence in federal elections…” It’s obvious to even the most obtuse follower or anyone who listens to any news besides Fox News and Trump’s own, Truth Social, that Trump has spent the last 20 years trying to undermine public confidence in the US elections.
Voting is a state issue, not a federal issue. But Trump and his Supreme Court want to change that. They are intent on making the Administrative Branch of the Government, the primary decider on who gets to vote and who does not. It’s not the way the Constitution is written, but it is the way this President and the Supreme Court want the law to read. Why? Because their positions are threatened by a democracy and they do not want to lose the power they wield.
Chief Justice John Roberts lied to get into the Supreme Court. He was never intent on promoting the Constitution and protecting the American right to vote. Even in his early days under President Reagan as Special Assistant and also as Associate Counsel. When Roberts was sworn in to the Supreme Court in 2005, Senator Ted Kennedy heavily pressed Roberts over his past Reagan-administration memos, arguing that Roberts historically held a "cramped" and "mean-spirited" view of the Voting Rights Act. In response, Roberts defended his record and explicitly stated his support for extending the landmark 1965 civil rights law. In truth, no one has done more to undermine the VRA than John Roberts and his conservative toadies.
Allowing citizens (especially minorities and women) the right to a fair vote would definitely undermine his efforts to secure a white, Christian, USA that furthered democracy.
This President and this Supreme Court know they will not survive in a democracy with full voting rights. Let’s prove them right at this upcoming election. Let’s end this tyrannical regime and bury its voices.
27.08.2026 | Letters from an American
August 24, 2026
An anti-dependent child will act out against parents because he/she believes they won’t cut him off. Trump is a mentally anti-dependent child with the power of a president. According to Heather Cox Richardson, he is acting out against Canada and other allies because he is losing in so many other areas. Here is how she puts it: “Trump is flailing in Iran, and so—as national security scholar Tom Nichols pointed out in The Atlantic after Trump nonsensically attacked South Korea, another longstanding and loyal ally—he is looking to reassert his dominance. Trump doesn’t dare to cross the leaders who actually threaten the U.S., those like Putin, China’s Xi Jinping, and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. Instead, Nichols writes, he is trying to make himself feel better by ‘kicking America’s allies, the nations he can punish without fear that they will kick him back.’”
In a healthy USA, Congress and the Supreme Court would rein in an incompetent president, but this is not a healthy country and, in particular, not a healthy democracy. Premier Mark Carney’s response to Trump’s tariffs (cutting off trade talks) is the most functional adult response to this president’s tiring adolescent behavior.
As his mind continues to decay (and his body shows continual evidence of it as well), Trump’s behavior becomes increasingly dangerous, isolating the USA from our closest allies. The behavior is not just current. Foreign powers recognize that the United States voted for this man twice—in full admission of his agenda. They are unlikely to rally round a country and a Congress that is so schizophrenic. As Trump courts Kim Jong Un, Xi Jinping, and Vladimir Putin, the world rallies around new alliances. The USA can’t afford a president who thinks little deeper than a spoiled child with a Congress (and Supreme Court) acting as his indulgent and permissive parents.
Make sure whomever you cast your vote for in November has a plan to rein in this president, cabinet, Supreme Court, and Congress; a plan that includes consequences for damaging behavior. It might be too late to influence our allies, but we can at least protect democracy for our children.
. Here is a summary by White: “Perhaps the best one can say is that many Americans, for many different reasons, are not comfortable with the makeup of US society today. They blame Washington, and they vote for Trump.”
For White, the revolution began with Trump; for me, the revolution is about to begin with the overthrow of this regime.
It is critically important that we listen to the voices of world leaders observing the U.S., Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission, Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, Mark Carney of Canada, voices from abroad who might be much abler to inform the U.S. of its predicament than the biased voices at home. From them, we learn the world is coalescing around a global system sans U.S. leadership. A world where even China is more reliable than the U.S.
I hope that not only Congress is taking notes, but also voters in the U.S. The movement within the Democratic party itself shows us that, although everyone is united against Trump and his regime, they are also against the way business has always been done in Washington. Tired of big money, tired of corporate power, tired of oligarchical systems, and tired of the Supreme Court. We’re tired of politicians so old that they have to offer proof they are even alive, of the monarchal system that believes it is privileged enough to appoint someone to Congress simply because she is the brother of a dead Senator.
The whole of the U.S. voting class could quote Lili Van Shtupp in Blazing Saddles, “I’m Tired.”
*White, Hugh. Hard New World: Australia’s Post-American Future (Black Inc).
