I have to admit that for the first three months after the national tragedy of November 5, 2024, I lost my voice. I was in shock and I did not know how to respond or what to say. The US voting populace elected a president who (throughout his previous presidency and until the present time) demonstrates a level of narcissistic behavior that should disqualify anyone for public leadership .....with complete and utter disregard for truth or facts in his public pronouncements, .....who espouses and promotes ideals and policies of authoritarianism and fascism, imperialism and isolationism, .....who has a business legacy of profiteering through exploitation, litigation, tax evasion and bankruptcy, .....who has, by virtue of being elected as president, avoided multiple prosecutions for felony criminal behavior in promoting a false narrative of election fraud while supporting and standing by during an insurrection upon the federal government for the purpose of overturning a legitimate democratic election. (See previous post Choosing a Path - 2024 Presidential Campaign Issues, 11/22/24)
Upon being elected, he has installed and empowered an unelected oligarch (see above image: no explanation required) to serve his program of dismantling the federal government with complete disregard the separation of powers, for the budgetary power of the legislative branch, and without regard for the impact upon tens of thousands of federal employees, scientific researchers, well established programs of refugee assistance affecting thousands of individuals and families who have been diligently pursuing this legal process for years. He is attempting to immediately discontinue funding for humanitarian programs of foreign aid supporting interests of health, safety, and food security without allowing time for a process of rational evaluation of the purpose, value, and impact of this elimination of funding. Untold thousands of persons around the world will suffer great harm from this abrupt and disruptive SLEDGE HAMMER strategy, and many individuals and families in the US testify that their world is turned upside down ...I have a family member who works at a university in the office dealing with scientific research ... their world is turned on its head in disarray, including for many, the status of even their next paycheck. Another family member works with refugee programs and their international work is now defined by complete uncertainty, cancellation of programs and funding for people in the middle of lengthy processes of approval and relocation (including, for example, individuals serving as allies of our efforts in recent wars). The employees now wait for furloughs and layoffs. These are only anecdotal and partial descriptions of the disruption that affects untold numbers of individuals, offices, departments and programs that have been serving legitimate interests. Add to this across the board firing of new employees throughout the federal government without time or effort of engaging in analysis of the impact on important government functions and in disrespect of the planning and life changes that these individuals and families have undergone to obtain these jobs and that they will suffer by their immediate termination.
Immigrant families are living in fear (do you celebrate this? ... Shame on you... its un-American and un-Christian) waiting to see how the Trump anti-immigrant agenda will be enforced, not knowing if family members will be taken away and possibly detained as prisoners for an indefinite time in Guantanamo Bay or even another country. From the economic perspective, we wait to see the impact on our economy and our workforce if this disruptive and destructive deportation agenda reaches any level of success. I'm not even going to talk about how Trump is disrespecting our international neighbors with his tariff talk, but they seem to be standing up for their own interests in ways that have already made the bully in chief stand down on his overblown promises.
In service of the Project 25 agenda, he is using the federal government to enforce the ideological priorities of a minority voice of the conservative Christian community and conservative political community in complete disregard for facts, data, and historical, sociological and scientific understanding in a wide range of areas, notably, for example, in the areas of climate science, our history of racism and gender discrimination, and understanding of transgender issues. Add to this the blanket pardons of almost every individual involved in the January 6 insurrection, without regard for the severity of their criminal behavior and the violence that they perpetuated upon the capitol police and security employees, as well as Trump administration efforts that are underway to enact retribution against the members of the justice community who rightfully investigated and sought judicial action against the perpetrators of these crimes. It is clear that, for much of the damage that Trump is inflicting upon our federal government at this moment, we will never recover. So where do we go from here? To be continued ...