t’s been a while since I’ve written. I feel badly for my recent silence. Depression, helplessness, and frustration at my lack of a bigger platform have kept me quiet. But for whatever it’s worth, here goes:
Americans are shocked and amazed at what is happening to our country. To those who voted for Mr. Trump—whether because you felt left behind, believed promises that inflation and foreign wars would be solved on day one, wanted lower taxes, were frustrated by empty shelves, or worried about job automation—I have to say: you were misled.
These promises were part of a Trump playbook long known. Ask the creditors left unpaid in Atlantic City, the students at Trump University, or the buyers of Trump-branded steaks and coins. Trump is our 21st-century PT Barnum, but he doesn’t believe a sucker is born every minute—he knows it’s every second. Compared to Trump, Ponzi, Barnum, and other snake oil salesmen look like a junior high baseball team facing the New York Yankees. He’s a major-league confidence man.
(Apologies to the Bronx Bombers, a team I’ve adored for ages. I could have used another analogy, but I’m tired.)
Most Americans who cast votes for Trump had their reasons. There was the supposed economic crisis (that really wasn’t), the “America going down the drain” argument (it wasn’t), the unsecured border, the “Joe Biden deception,” and the disastrous debate. The last-minute selection of a Democratic candidate who wasn’t the product of the primaries, but was instead anointed by Joe Biden, left many feeling the process was unfair and uninspiring. It was not the Democrats’ finest hour. Joe, intoxicated by power, didn’t want to go. He should have kept his original promise not to seek a second term. At least then, Democrats would have had a fighting chance against a master manipulator of fear.
Now, we face a form of authoritarianism unprecedented in our 250-year-old republic. There’s an attack on higher education—yes, it needs reform, especially to address extreme left-wing antisemitism—but it’s being done with a sledgehammer, not thoughtful policy. We see the militarization of policing, the degradation of the civil service, and the panicked rehiring of those fired without thought for the consequences. Foreign aid workers, whose tiny fraction of the budget did so much for our world image and influence, are gone—costing us dearly in goodwill and, as Bill Gates warned, in the lives of thousands of children.
Now we see unbridled corruption: a president blatantly enriching himself and his family at taxpayer expense. We see the violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clause, with the acceptance of a $400 million airplane “gift” to the U.S. government, destined for Trump’s library—possibly in Miami, God help us. We see the HHS Secretary, an unqualified anti-vaccine advocate, firing qualified medical professionals from the vaccine board. RFK, Jr.—a scoundrel and a liar—fits right in with the dramatis personae of the Trump administration: the drunkard Pete Hegseth, the clueless Linda McMahon, the silly Kash Patel undermining the FBI as not even the rigid, constipated James Comey could, who himself undermined Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
The most frightening part? This president is only six months into his term, and there is no one to restrain him. Certainly not the Republican Congress, whose members are terrified of losing their primaries—and their parking spaces at National Airport. The rest abandoned ship during the first term, wrote books, and are now glad they’re not there. But now, the ship of state may sink—with all of us aboard.
