Trump was sworn in just over two weeks ago. During this time Trump’s Shock and Awe Campaign has resulted in these actions: pardoning everyone involved in the January 6 Insurrection, appealing to over two million people who are civilian government employees to leave government to be replaced by Trump loyalists and sycophants, firing top officials in the CIA and FBI, threatening to make Canada the 51st state, using tariffs to bludgeon Mexico and Canada into falling into line with his mostly unnamed demands, threatening to reclaim the Panama Canal, closing down USAID, threatening to force Denmark to sell Greenland to the United States, proposing that the U.S. take over Gaza, replacing the demolished buildings with luxury resorts and hotels while shipping off the residents who remain to undisclosed locations, using Guantanamo as the first site for relocating undocumented immigrants while standing by his pledge to get rid of all 12 million undocumented people, threatening organizations involved in DEI or climate change initiatives, and empowering Elon Musk to use AI to radically reduce government spending across every agency. What have I missed? Oh yes, no trans people on girls’ sports teams anymore, criminal investigations of everyone involved in the numerous legal actions against him and pledging to radically reduce taxes for billionaires. Plus he has nominated the worst people for cabinet positions in the history of the Republic. And all this has happened in just 16 days. By tomorrow the list of horrific threats and actions by Trump will surely be even longer.
In the meantime, while Democrats are shell shocked, Republican senators and congressmen are standing by their man, terrified as to what might happen if they do not fall in line. Any elected official who opposes Trump is fearful of being “primaried out” in the next election with massive financial support provided to their opponents by Musk and his billionaire and techbro friends. And Republicans control all branches of government including the Supreme Court where at least four judges (Alito, Thomas, Kavanaugh, and Gorsuch) will never let Trump down.
Can all this really be happening?
The fundamental questions are whether there are any guardrails left and will they hold. For the first time in my long life of (almost) 83 years, this is the first time that pundits are pondering whether this may mark the end of our democracy as we have known it.
Fasten your seatbelts. It is probably going to get worse before it gets better. Keep the faith that it will get better and do what you can to make a difference: give money to organizations like the ACLU and CASA who support immigrants, support Democrats who will be running in two years, speak out, write to your elected officials to oppose these outrageous actions, and when the opportunity comes, join peaceful demonstrations. Have faith that we will get through this.
Thanks, Joe! Inspiring.
I just read an insightful article. The point the made is that–with so many awful things happening at once–a person becomes overwhelmed and consequently this can lead to apathy. So they advocate picking 2-3 specific issues that are important to you and concentrating on those. For me those are: (1) the closure of USAID (and stopping other types of foreign aid); and (2) the war on immigrants. For now, I will concentrate my effort and giving on those two. There is such a long menu of choices, that you likely will pick a couple of others.
Truth!
I agree with you Joe and Mimy! Thank you for this forum!
Supporting immigrants, LGBTQ and refugees are my focus here.