A WEEK TO REMEMBER
The Resistance is Building
Well, this was certainly a week to remember.
We awoke on Monday to learn that Elon Musk and his band of young hackers had gained access to the federal government payment system, including personal financial information of every adult in the country.
On Tuesday, the Defense Department gave the Coast Guard Commandant, recently deposed for not being a macho male, three hours to vacate her government housing.
On Wednesday, Donald Trump announced that the United States will be taking possession of the Gaza Strip, relocating its residents to other countries, and developing a massive waterfront resort.
On Thursday, Trump announced a presidential order that would make it illegal to criticize neo-Christian fundamentalists but not those who follow the actual teachings of Jesus Christ.
And by the end of the week, it became apparent that many of the government websites that we all rely on for financial, health, and tax information have been shut down.
Nothing the president or his henchmen did this week enhances the lives of his followers, rolls back inflation, or makes our country great. Their actions benefit only Elon Musk and his billionaire tech bros.
Signs of resistance are beginning to show, however. Investors seem to be getting nervous, as the stock markets have been wavering, and the Wall Street Journal editorial board has been pushing back against some of the Project 2025 initiatives. Federal judges have been reversing or delaying implementation of Trump’s executive orders. Informed voters are flooding congressional inboxes and leaving phone messages for Republican senators and representatives, asking them to take back their authority and honor their duty to defend the constitution and the rule of law.
International reaction to Trump’s plan to relocate Palestinians from Gaza has been swift and scathing. He is rightly portrayed in news media outside of the United States as a bumbling fool. Chinese and Russian leaders have been eerily silent, clearly suppressing their glee at events unfolding in Washington. The mainstream press continues to soft-pedal the news out of fear of being silenced by Trump. Fortunately, new sources of reliable information are appearing online and have not yet been suppressed by the administration.
While it is easy to fear that the Project 2025 crowd will destroy our economy and replace our democracy with an autocratic oligarchy, it is important that we not lend energy to those thoughts. An unexpected side effect of Musk’s attacks on the federal bureaucracy is that it is exposing the value of the departments and programs that are under attack. It will certainly find waste in those departments and programs which should be cleaned up, but I suspect that the amount of wasteful spending is far less than the MAGA crowd believes, and that there is very little politicalization or corruption in the administration of any of the federal departments or programs.
The people who have seized control of our government are not carrying out the will of the voters, irrespective of political party or philosophy. And I do not think this chaos will last for a full term. The Republican congress members cannot agree among themselves on how to implement the Project 2025 agenda, or even how to fund the government next month. A huge plurality of the voters wants the programs that the federal government has been supporting. Most of the people who voted for Trump were asking for the kind of economic policies and job creating initiatives that the Biden administration was actually providing, but they were not aware of those programs and policies because their biased news sources had so badly distracted and misinformed them.
This is not a time to give up hope and hide under the bed. Nor is it a time to envision the worst possible outcomes. It is a time to pay close attention to what is happening in Washington, to practice critical thinking while watching or reading the news reports, to do whatever each of us is able to do to defeat this scourge that has infected our government, and to defend our constitution and the rule of law.
(Cartoon borrowed from Michael de Adder)