I had intended to wait at least 100 days before commenting directly on the second Trump administration. As I wrote in my “vote of no confidence” post following the election, many of the people who voted for Trump have legitimate concerns about the government. I was hoping that Trump might address some of these concerns and that we might find some way of preserving our democratic republic, despite his intentions otherwise.
However, President Trump has done nothing so far to indicate that he intends to make the government more responsive to the needs of the people rather than the preferences of multi-millionaires, billionaires, and monopolistic corporations—and himself. Taxing imports, which will raise the prices of most things working people buy, to help offset tax cuts for people who already make more money by doing nothing than they possibly can spend, is hardly a logical way to start leveling the economic playing field for most of the people who voted for him.
Trump is doubling down on Biden’s unconditional support of Israel’s war to erase Palestine from the map. He has already derailed the final stage of implementation of the ceasefire agreement by threatening to resettle the Gaza Palestinians in Jordan and Egypt—permanently. Since the U.S. has supported Israel in the war, Trump claims that Israel will give Gaza to the U.S. to be turned into the “Riviera of the Middle East.” It’s not difficult to guess who Trump has in mind as the primary real estate developer for that project. How does such a proposal benefit middle-class Americans?
The final straw for me was when Trump demanded access to half of Ukraine’s mineral deposits, forever, as payment for the U.S.’s past support of Ukraine’s defense against the military invasion by Russia. Ukraine refused but negotiation of mineral rights continues. Trump has added threats to cut off Ukraine’s access to the internet—stifling its defense. This is like having helped a neighbor whose barn is burning down and threatening his house, and demanding half his neighbor’s crops for the rest of his life as payment for what you have already done—telling him to forget saving the barn, with no commitment to help save the house.
The U.S., EU, and Canada, among 40 countries, have helped Ukraine fend off Russia’s use of military force to annex about 20% of Ukraine, including Crimea. As the rest of the world understands, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine’s sovereign territory is a clear violation of international law as well as the norms of human decency. Russia wants control over Ukraine’s natural resources. What Russia is trying to do by military force, Trump is trying to do by extortion.
If Russia is allowed to succeed in Ukraine, we will have returned to the world order before World War II. We will have taken the first step toward World War III. To Trump, this is just another business deal. I don’t believe these actions reflect the moral priorities of most people who voted for him.
When it comes to immigration issues, all Trump has done so far is accelerate Biden’s deportation policies. Deportation rates thus far are no higher than at times during previous administrations. He has reversed Biden’s executive orders protecting undocumented immigrants but has not gone beyond his own executive orders to address the larger issues of legal immigration. The immigration bill he has signed was worked out during the previous administration. He has ordered the expansion of the prison facility at Guantanamo Bay Cuba to incarcerate the “worst of the worst” immigrants who have committed violent crimes. However, taking a few more gang members off the street is hardly going to make America safe again.
Trump’s attempt to deny birthright citizenship ignores the 14th Amendment to the Constitution: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” If people born in the U.S. are not subject to its jurisdiction, there is no legal authority to deport them.
Since taking office, Trump has shown little interest in reducing government waste, having turned that task over to a group of young “techies” under the direction of multi-billionaire, Elon Musk. In his State of the State Address on February 19, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker commented, “It’s in fashion at the federal level right now to just indiscriminately slash school funding, healthcare coverage, support for farmers, and veterans’ services. They say they’re doing it to eliminate inefficiencies. But only an idiot would think we should eliminate emergency response in a natural disaster, education and healthcare for disabled children, gang crime investigations, clean air and water programs, monitoring of nursing home abuse, nuclear reactor regulation, and cancer research.”
I’m sure there is plenty of waste in the federal government bureaucracy. However, mass firings of new employees won’t accomplish anything other than reducing the ability of agencies to deliver the public benefits promised by Congress. Canceling legal contractual commitments with its constituents is hardly a way to make the government work for the people. I doubt that Trump voters expected to be faced with unpaid bills waiting for promised government payments to cover them.
The logical way to find waste and corruption in big bureaucratic organizations is to ask people who work there. There are people in these bureaucracies who know where to find corruption and waste and would love to help get rid of it. I know, I have worked in such organizations. These people will share what they know, if assured they will not be fired or otherwise penalized. Those responsible for the inefficiencies are the “yes” men and women who build and protect these bureaucracies, not the recent employees being fired. The professional bureaucrats know how to play the system and will never appear on Musk’s computerized list of people to fire.
If Trump were serious about reducing military spending he would be working for world peace, rather than preparing for a global war. And, he would reduce the military budget accordingly; not by firing people because of their race or gender or cutting veterans’ benefits, but by eliminating major offensive weapons programs. The military claims more of the federal budget than all federal employment combined.
If Trump were serious about dealing with the economic problems of the middle class, he would do something about price gouging and profiteering by the pharmaceutical/healthcare industry—healthcare expenditures amount to about three-quarters as much of total government spending for all goods and services, including Medicare and Medicaid.
Most of Trump’s actions thus far seem to be more about testing the limits of his presidential powers rather than addressing either domestic or global issues. He seems to defy both U.S. and international rules of law, purposefully and intentionally, and doubles down on anyone who opposes him. He has even defied the federal court rulings that some of his executive orders are illegal or unconstitutional. He won’t stop expanding his power until someone stops him. I don’t believe this is what most of Trump’s supporters voted for him to do.
Governor Pritzker stated in his address, “We don’t have kings in America, and I don’t intend to bend the knee to one…. If you think I’m overreacting and sounding the alarm too soon, consider this: It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic. All I’m saying is when the five-alarm fire starts to burn, every good person better be ready to man a post with a bucket of water if you want to stop it from raging out of control.” “Tyranny requires your fear and your silence and your compliance. Democracy requires your courage. So gather your justice and humanity, Illinois, and do not let the ‘tragic spirit of despair’ overcome us when our country needs us the most.”
Pritzker’s courage in refusing to bend his knee to a would-be king should inspire those of us who don’t want the U.S. to be ruled by a king to do whatever we can to stop it. I remember World War II but can only imagine the horrors of a World War III, with the advanced weapons that have been developed since then. New York City could end up like Gaza and Iowa might look like the Sahara Desert. And whoever is left in America 80 years from now might look back and ask, “How in the world could this have happened to a highly educated, economically affluent society.”
I didn’t expect Trump to feel obligated to represent those of us who voted against him. He made it clear during the campaign that he intended to punish those who opposed him. I think most of his actions thus far, including those in Ukraine, are motivated by revenge. Now it appears he was simply using most of the people who voted to return him to the presidency. He never admitted defeat but was desperate to succeed where he knew he had failed before. He never intended to do any of the things he could have done to make government work for the good of the people. He never wanted to be the President; he always wanted to be the King.
It may be too early for many Trump supporters to even consider that they may have been used. Some who share my concerns also may think it’s too early to draw such conclusions. But it only took “one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic” in Germany. It will take longer to dismantle the U.S. government because it is stronger than the German government before World War II. However, if we truly want to make America great again, we must do whatever we can to save our democratic republic, before it is too late.
John Ikerd
Notes:
https://www.theguardian.com/.../hamas-israel-hostages...
https://time.com/7212848/trump-gaza-own/
https://www.theguardian.com/.../its-blackmail-ukrainians...
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-zelensky/
https://apnews.com/.../trump-biden-deportations-border...
https://www.nbcchicago.com/.../full-text.../3678119/
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYONGDA188S
https://www.usaspending.gov/explorer/object_class
https://open.substack.com/.../heath.../p/february-21-2025...