Fourth & Democracy | J.D. as the Future, Veterans Struggle during the Shutdown, the New Crusades & Trump Steals Thanksgiving

Welcome to Fourth & Democracy: where the playbook meets the public square.

The Secretary of Defense vowed that the United States would “kill Islamic terrorists committing atrocities” in Nigeria – echoing the president’s guns-blazing rhetoric on foreign intervention. While the two compete in a howitzer-measuring contest, J.D. Vance has begun openly casting himself as heir apparent to a president whose health appears to be failing.

Meanwhile, the government remains shut down amid a fight over healthcare and food assistance – and it’s veterans and furloughed workers who are feeling the pain first. You wouldn’t know it if you saw Mar-a-lago on Halloween night though, the white trash elites partied into the morning hours – sipping martinis and fawning over half-naked dancers.

It’s a lot to unpack, but we’re here to break it down with you.

Let’s get into it.

1st & 10: The Race to the Bottom — MAGA’s New Generation

Last week felt like a coronation for the next wave of MAGA while Trump was off on his Asia tour. As the president awkwardly saluted flags and wandered through photo ops with Japan’s prime minister, Vice President J.D. Vance was busy working the crowd at a Turning Point USA rally.

The internet erupted when photos surfaced of the recently widowed Erika Kirk embracing Vance after introducing him to a packed house of Ole Miss students. Within hours, social media was ablaze with speculation – rumored divorces, secret relationships, and whispers about the GOP’s future. And let’s be honest: it’s not exactly far-fetched to wonder whether MAGA would rally behind a non-Christian Indian woman as First Lady. They like “immigrants,” as long as they’re white.

Beneath the gossip lies the real question: can J.D. Vance inherit the cult of personality that Trump built? The movement behind Project 2025 needs its next strongman – and Vance is trying to prove he can play the part. But he’s stepping into a vacuum where the loudest voices are getting uglier by the day.

Since Charlie Kirk’s death, the movement’s youth wing has been sliding toward outright fascism. Nick Fuentes – an openly antisemitic incel who once told his followers that “a lot of women want to be raped” – is suddenly being mainstreamed. He’s popping up on podcasts with more “respectable” right-wing figures like Dave Smith and Tucker Carlson, while leaked Young Republicans group chats reveal Nazi jokes and racist rhetoric that would’ve once been career ending.

This isn’t a rebrand, it’s a race to the bottom – and they’re running full speed.

2nd & Long: VA Workers & Veterans Struggle during the Shutdown

The government is now in its second month of the shutdown, and hundreds of thousands are feeling the strain. From SNAP benefits being cut to federal employees picking up side jobs to survive, the seams of the American government are splitting apart. Inside the Department of Veterans Affairs, an already overburdened workforce is buckling under the pressure. Mass retirements have thinned the ranks across the country, leaving clinics short-staffed, overworked, and running on fumes.

Communication from leadership has nearly evaporated. Many workers go a week or more without hearing anything from above – no meetings, no guidance, no reassurance. The silence has bred anxiety and isolation among employees still on the job. Some are even dipping into retirement savings just to stay afloat through the shutdown.

While Veterans Health Administration staff are technically funded through prior-year appropriations and continue to receive paychecks, they’re being asked to do more with less – all while veteran needs are increasing. Clinics like the one in Castle Rock, Colorado are emblematic: only a few providers remain, many of whom are part-time, leaving veterans waiting weeks for mental health or dental appointments. The VA has begun referring more patients back into the system from Community Care – the program that allows veterans to see civilian doctors for faster treatment – even though the program itself is bogged down by scheduling delays and red tape.

Behind the scenes, the agency is quietly experimenting with automation and AI to process disability claims, bypassing human review in some cases. It’s pitched as efficiency, but to those inside, it feels like the slow creep of privatization – one more way to cut corners under the guise of modernization.

Republicans have long weaponized their “support the troops” rhetoric for political gain, only to abandon those same troops when governing gets hard. Many veterans serve as federal employees, especially within the VA and Department of Defense. When they’re overworked, under-communicated with, or forced to choose between paying bills or serving their country, it’s more than a bureaucratic failure – it’s a moral one.

We can’t have an effective civil workforce when the people holding it together are exhausted, ignored, and left wondering if the system they’ve devoted their lives to will be standing by the time their next paycheck arrives.

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3rd & Short: I Thought He Said ‘No More Wars’?

First, the United States continues backing Israel’s genocide in Gaza while corporate media recycles Trump’s hollow talk of a “ceasefire” while Bibi does what he wants. Then comes renewed aggression toward a nation with the world’s largest oil reserves – Venezuela – whose leadership now faces the unmistakable scent of regime change. And now, the president and his secretary of defense are openly framing foreign policy like a modern-day crusade.

“Our power will stop all wars and bring a new spirit of unity to a world that has been angry, violent, and totally unpredictable.”

– Donald Trump, Inaugural Address, January 20, 2025

“They’re dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done – I’ll have that done in 24 hours.”

– Donald Trump, 2024 Campaign

“Netanyahu knows I want this war to end.”

– Donald Trump, TIME interview, 2025

“In a period of just seven months, I have ended seven ‘un-endable’ wars. No president or prime minister – and for that matter, no other country – has ever done anything close to that.”

– Donald Trump, United Nations General Assembly, 2025

Yet today, the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier group and its attachment ships are parked in the Caribbean – a show of force aimed squarely at Venezuela amid rumors of U.S. strikes any day now. The official line is “counter-narcotics operations,” but few believe that’s all it is. Every move looks like a prelude to another regime-change, especially after Maria Corina Machado dedicated her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump – only this time it’s cloaked in the language of law and order instead of liberation.

And now Nigeria is on the president’s list. Over the weekend, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that the United States could send troops there over reports of Christians being targeted and killed.

“They’re killing the Christians, and killing them in very large numbers. We’re not going to allow that to happen,” he said, instructing the Pentagon to prepare possible action in West Africa and threatening to immediately cut off all aid to the country.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth echoed him, promising that America would lead the world “in the defense of Christianity.” It’s not just rhetoric – it’s theology turned into foreign policy.

The phrase isn’t random, either. Hegseth literally wrote a book called American Crusade, a political manifesto that frames modern conservatism as a holy war to reclaim the nation for God and “real Americans.” Now, the language has jumped from Fox News hits to Pentagon briefings.

The original Crusades, waged a thousand years ago, were sold as missions to protect the faithful and reclaim sacred lands. In reality, they were wars of conquest – ruthless campaigns of domination wrapped in divine justification. What we’re seeing now is their modern echo: a self-anointed savior class invoking Christianity to rationalize violence, empire, and extraction.

Trump once promised no more wars. Instead, he’s writing new ones into scripture.

4th & Democracy: He Took their Thanksgiving – Your Christmas Could Be Next

With the government still shut down, the cruelty isn’t collateral – it’s the entire point. It’s distraction by design: keep the public from seeing the Epstein files, let the elite keep flying on private jets, and call it governance. Meanwhile, SNAP benefits were cut on November 1st, leaving millions of poor and working class Americans without food assistance just weeks before Thanksgiving. The same families who already budget by the penny are now being told to make do with nothing on the one holiday when their stomachs should be full. Shelves at food banks are running bare. Grocery store lines are shorter, not because people are comfortable – but because they can’t afford to show up.

As Rick Wilson wrote in his recent Lincoln Square piece, “Donald Trump cancelled Thanksgiving.”

And he did it with a smile. While the poor were choosing between groceries and rent, he and his sycophants flew to Mar-a-Lago for a Great Gatsby-themed Halloween party. Photos and videos showed half-dressed dancers parading before guests who looked like victims of botched plastic surgery pretending they were America’s elite. There’s no empathy in this regime, only optics – only the pleasure of watching those beneath them beg for what used to be a right. They’ve turned hunger into spectacle while they dance the night away.

While the working poor skip dinner and the holiday together, the Federal Reserve quietly injected $28.7 billion into the banking system to keep markets afloat – a silent bailout hidden beneath the noise. At the same time, it cut interest rates to the lowest level in three years, a move meant to calm investors but one that screams recession – especially with hidden jobs numbers. The liquidity is flowing to the top while the base is being bled dry.

So yes, the “middle class” – and the absolute ghouls who mocked SNAP recipients online – might manage Thanksgiving dinner this year. But if the warning lights flashing from the Fed are right, if credit tightens and debt payments keep climbing, then by Christmas it could be their turn to wonder how they’ll make it.

That’s how this always goes. First it’s the poor – the invisible ones – who lose their safety net. Then it’s everyone else who discovers the ground was hollow all along. Just like the ICE raids that started with “immigrant criminals” and grew to sweep up journalists, protesters, and political opponents – they always come for everyone eventually.

He cancelled their Thanksgiving. But by Christmas, you’ll feel it, too.

What to Watch: The Ballot Box

Election Night

Today’s elections might not have the fireworks of a presidential race, but don’t underestimate what’s on the line. Voters in New Jersey and Virginia will decide who runs their states, and New York City will choose its next mayor – three contests that will show whether democracy is still awake at the local level while Trump’s regime tries to choke it at the federal one.

Why should you watch? Because these are the proving grounds. Governors aren’t just state leaders – they’re the last line of defense when a madman starts enacting fascism on the American people. A blue wall of governors means election certification in 2026 is safer, reproductive rights stay protected, and public schools and unions can keep breathing while the federal machine tries to privatize everything in sight.

So here’s your homework: get on Substack, turn on the news, watch the coverage, and don’t scroll past it. These races are where the fight for democracy actually lives – in polling places, not ballrooms or beach side resorts. Every precinct, every margin, every voter who refuses to stay home is another crack in their Project 2025 plans.

Find coverage here on Lincoln Square and from your favorite LS personalities on social media and Substack

The Sports World

The Los Angeles Dodgers just beat the Toronto Blue Jays in one of the most compelling World Series we have ever seen – but there are still plenty of sports to watch. As baseball ends, NCAA College Basketball begins. The first games have already begun, so be sure to check local listings for your favorite men’s and women’s matchups for the 2025-2026 season.

Despite a gambling scandal plaguing the league’s headlines, the NBA stars are lighting it up on the court. The first week of action saw multiple 40 and 50 point games – stars who put up big numbers included everyone from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of OKC to Austin Reaves of the Lakers. Tonight’s matchups include Orlando at Atlanta and OKC vs the Clippers – both on NBC and Peacock.

The NFL is entering Week 10 of the regular season and there’s been plenty to talk about this season. Surprises of the first half include the New England Patriots who sit at 7-2 atop the AFC East while Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers sit atop the standings in the NFC South. Thursday night you can watch the Raiders line up against the Broncos on Thursday Night Football on Prime Video.

A Final Word

Finances and everyday life are getting harder for working-class Americans – for everyone, really. As SNAP benefits are cut and the shutdown drags on, mutual aid is becoming more important than ever.

If you’re doing okay right now and have the means, consider picking up a few non-perishable items and dropping them off at your local food pantry. There are countless government employees, veterans, working parents, and neighbors doing everything they can to stay afloat – and a little help can mean everything.

We, the American people, are going to get through this – but only if we look out for one another.

Stay informed, stay connected, and if you’re able, become a subscriber to Lincoln Square to keep up with what’s really happening here at home and across the world. At a time when corporate media is being bought up and access to information is becoming more and more expensive – reader-funded outlets like Lincoln Square are invaluable to keeping truth and facts accessible in this fight for democracy.

Because in times like this, solidarity isn’t just a word – it’s survival.

Stay loud. Stay grounded. Stay up.