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Trump and Musk aren’t ‘saving money’ by ‘slashing a bloated budget’.
They’re taking a wrecking ball to the United States of America.
Even if you believe we should be reducing the size and scope of the federal government, consider this: the shock doctrine approach is reckless, incompetent and dangerous. The Trump Administration is smashing its way through our federal government – and the nation is crumbling fast.
If Trump and Musk truly cared about this country, they’d roll out their policies with consideration for the impacts of their actions. From hiring freezes to federal employee layoffs to funding seizes to gaining access to sensitive data to tariff trade wars to shuttering public health websites, the wrecking ball approach has been endangering hundreds of millions of people.
The Trump Administration is using its anti-DEI executive orders to upend the federal agencies, halting DEIA programs and scrubbing out anti-discriminatory policies with a 50-year legacy of success. They’re threatening to fire federal employees who do not comply and to cut off funding for those agencies that do not fall into line.
First of all, if they truly cared about this country, they’d affirm policies that help us become “a more perfect union” by building understanding of diversity as strength. (Which is what DEIA programs are designed to do.) Secondly, they would honor and respect civil servants who have dedicated their careers to upholding rule of law, their duties to this country, and the well-being of the United States. Instead, they’re firing them in purges, going on witch hunts, making chilling threats, mocking them, and dismantling the institutions that serve the country.
For those who think shrinking “Big Gov” is sensible, Trump’s administration is not actually downsizing anything. It’s consolidating power into the executive branch in alarming ways that should concern people on all sides of the political spectrum. It’s a classic example of federal power run amok. Under the unelected leadership of Elon Musk, the newly formed DOGE is amassing levels of authoritarian control that this country has never seen before. Their illegal actions constitute one of the worst constitutional crises in decades as the executive office oversteps its purview in unprecedented ways.
The wrecking ball isn’t just smashing through domestic agencies, though. It’s also wreaking havoc with international relations.
Trump’s blundering tariffs policy caused international alarm and concerns of a global economic crisis. Though he backed off with a 30-day reprieve in exchange for minor concessions from Canada and Mexico about troops along US borders, the insulting, offensive manner in which the tariffs were announced has caused serious harm to our relationship with our nearest neighbors. And for what? In the end, it seems that Trump might settle for tariff deals that were not significantly different from before.
And the damage is done.
The fiasco soured relationships with Canada to the point that the notoriously friendly and goodwilled Canadians are booing the US National Anthem at sports games. It also led to far-right Governor Doug Ford to threaten to rip up Elon Musk’s $100 million SpaceX contract. Canada is not for sale hats soared in sales and international relations are at an all-time low after Trump’s alleged jokes about Canada becoming the 51st state set off triggered concerns over Canada’s sovereignty.
If you’re pissing off the Canadians, you’re doing something wrong.
To make international matters even worse, Musk abruptly cut off funds to USAID, impacting thousands of workers and threatening global stability. Aid funds are one way that the US has exercised ‘soft power’, leveraging it to stop human rights abuses, rein in dictators, lean on authoritarians, and more. We can critique the use of USAID as a leverage point for diplomatic negotiations, but halting those programs overnight is like taking a chainsaw to a cow. Carnage is unfolding. USAID is responsible for 42 percent of the world’s humanitarian aid. Millions of lives are at risk because of it, along with international relationships worldwide.
It is impossible to list all of the detrimental actions that have unfolded in the past weeks and are slated to happen in the coming weeks and months. It is equally hard to imagine how the United States will withstand four years of this chaos and destruction.
It doesn’t matter if you voted for or against Trump in the last election. This chaos isn’t what any of us voted for. Musk with unlimited powers isn’t something we voted for. The destruction of the United States isn’t something we voted for. This illegal, unconstitutional, anti-American authoritarianism isn’t something we voted for.
The wrecking ball must be stopped.
