The George W. Bush “Shock and Awe” invasion of Iraq in 2003, which was initially hailed as a huge success, turned out to be the opposite. Bush’s approach left no room for followers of Saddam Hussein to remain in the government to help stabilize the divided country, facilitated a decades long insurgency, and created instability in the Middle East, which persists to this day. Furthermore, the pretext of weapons of mass destruction turned out to be a lie. The Shock and Awe invasion was a disaster.

Trump unleashed his own Shock and Awe initiative this week, this one on the American people. Following the instructions of the Project 2025 playbook, a week following Inauguration Day, Trump ordered an indefinite freeze on most federal spending. But wait! The next day the order was rescinded. The initial announcement, which targeted all spending except Medicare and Social Security, sent immediate shockwaves throughout the economy and the country. Still, damage was done. Do Trump’s people have any idea as to what they are doing?

 Make no mistake, however. More is to come. Deporting undocumented immigrants is first on the list. His press secretary boldly announced yesterday that Trump considers any immigrant without proper papers a criminal. Today the Trump Administration announced that Guantanamo would be expanded to accommodate the first wave of deportees. There are an estimated 12 million people who are undocumented, the vast majority being law abiding, hardworking people, who pay taxes. Many industries depend on them to do the heavy lifting and work Americans do not want to do–farm laborers, construction workers, hospitality and restaurant workers, and many others. Rumors are that Trump has already worked out a deal with the private prison companies to build massive concentration camps across the country. If Trump carries through on this, he will initiate a reign of terror, separate more families, cause irreparable pain and suffering, deplete the work force, and trigger high inflation.

The federal defunding announcement this week was just the initial shot across the bow. Trump and co-president Elon Musk also announced that they are offering federal employees a golden parachute to leave en masse to be replaced by carefully vetted sycophants. This will result in the most competent people leaving the government (because they can get other jobs) and the low performers staying, which is probably what Trump and Musk want anyway. So, buckle your seatbelt. We are in for a wild ride.

The only good news is that in scanning The Washington Post this morning I noticed that Trump had chosen Led Zeppelin to head up the EPA. Terrific choice, I thought, even though he is a British citizen, and probably knows little about anything besides rock music. Maybe there is some light at the end of the tunnel after all. But when I looked more closely, I discovered that the guy is actually named Lee Zeldin, a former Congressman from New York and outspoken climate change denier.

Oh, well.

Hang in there, as they say. Have faith that we will get through this and do what you can to ease the suffering. Our legal system will provide some guard rails and resistance will  happen.