Disaster ahead!!

After his first month back in office, the direction that Trump plans to take our country is now frighteningly clear. His ignorant toxic narcissism has set us up for disaster on many fronts.

National weakness

The Donald has always been in thrall to the dictators and strongmen of the world. Now he is actively weakening our national security.

His choices to head the Defense Department (Pete Hegseth) and to be the National Security Advisor (Tulsi Gabbard) are unqualified, inexperienced, and uninformed, and they are security risks. Their only “qualification” for these important roles is their personal loyalty to Trump. Hegseth is a known alcoholic and Gabbard is a friend of Putin and Assad.

Trump accused the former chair of the Joint Chiefs (Mark Milley) of “treason.” Trump has fired the head of the Coast Guard, Linda Fagan.

Hegseth has fired General Charles Q. Brown, the Chair of the Joint Chiefs, and Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the chief of the Navy. Hegseth has previously referred to Franchetti as a “DEI hire.” This means he fired her for being a woman. He fired General Brown because he is a black man.

The Republican Administration’s government-wide war against “DEI” literally means that they oppose any policy or program that supports women, the disabled, or people of color. Admiral Fagan was fired specifically because she has promoted DEI policies in the Coast Guard.

Next on the chopping block are likely to be members of the military’s Judge Advocate General (JAG) corp. These are the military’s top lawyers who administer the military code of justice. Hegseth has previously referred to these people, who serve as the legal and moral conscience of the military, as “jagoffs.”

Trump vindictively revoked the security clearances of the 51 former intelligence officials who signed a letter in 2020 warning about possible Russian influence in the Hunter Biden laptop affair. Trump has said that these former officials “should be prosecuted.” At the same time, Trump is giving security clearances to anyone he chooses – people who have NOT been properly vetted.

Firing experienced military and intelligence personnel over flimsy “loyalty” issues (or over the even more ridiculous “DEI” issue) while appointing amateurs to protect our nation is a recipe for disaster.

Climate collapse

In his inaugural address, Trump said that he would declare a “national energy emergency” and make it easier for oil companies to “drill, baby drill.” Since taking office, he has announced that the US will withdraw (once again) from the Paris (climate) Agreement.

The same week he did this, Los Angeles was on fire and New Orleans received 10 inches of snow. The effects of climate change are worsening rapidly and the Trump administration not only wants to stop making progress – their policies will accelerate the disaster.

Withdrawal from the Paris Agreement is an abdication of US leadership in the world and shows that we are an unreliable partner. The only other countries in the world that are not parties to the Paris Agreement are Iran, Libya, and Yemen.

On January 22nd, Trump ordered a suspension of the disbursement of funds from the Inflation Reduction Act. The order was called “Terminating the Green New Deal.” The Inflation Reduction Act offers tens of billions of dollars worth of loans, and loan guarantees, to support a large number of clean energy related projects.

Extreme weather events (hurricanes, floods, wildfires) already cost the United States more than $100 billion a year and kill or displace thousands of people. Thanks to the current Republican administration, these disasters will now increase in both frequency and severity.

Sickness and disease

The new Secretary of Heath and Human Services (HHS) is a former long-term heroin addict who claims to have had a “brain worm.” He has no medical training at all and has frequently been critical of vaccinations and antidepressant medications.

RFK Jr. does not trust science and constantly pushes dangerous and false information. In 2019, his anti-vaccine preaching led to the deaths of 83 people, mostly infants and children, in Samoa.

This incompetent conspiracy-monger now presides over the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA_H), the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) and more.

As I write this, there are 90 cases of the measles in West Texas and 9 in neighboring New Mexico. The outbreak, of course, is centered in an “under-vaccinated” community. Meanwhile, medical research is being hobbled, even halted, by the Trump administration and disease treatment and data-gathering resources overseas are being defunded and shut down.

During the next pandemic, which their incompetence will surely bring to our shores, the people now in charge will not close businesses and schools, they will not rapidly develop and deploy a vaccine, and they may even prevent us from wearing protective masks!

Politicizing law enforcement

Thanks to the spineless Senate Republicans, long-time critic of the FBI, Kashyap Patel, is now in charge of the agency that he detests. The Trump “Justice” Department has already forced out many top FBI officials and has demanded a list of every agent who participated, in any way, in investigating the 2021 Capitol rioters.

Patel, who has published a list of (so-called) “deep state” enemies, has said he would not pursue political vendettas and wanted to “rebuild the FBI.” Following the model of his hero Trump, this language means that Patel will, indeed, pursue political vendettas.

His “rebuilding” of the FBI means he intends to destroy the FBI by removing or punishing anyone who has ever investigated Trump. Patel has called these law enforcement officials “criminal gangsters.”

Also, last summer, the Trump-loaded Supreme Court essentially placed the President above the law. In its Trump vs. U.S. decision the court created the justification for an imperial Presidency that Trump will no doubt take full advantage of. On (so-called) Truth Social, on Wednesday, February 19, 2025, Trump referred to himself as “THE KING.” The Official White House “X” page even posted a picture of Trump wearing a crown!

Government corruption

As evidence that the current Republican administration encourages and promotes theft, law-breaking, and corruption all I really need to do is mention two words: Elon Musk. (!!!) Trump has given Musk carte blanche permission to raid government departments and agencies to cause trouble, freeze funding, and fire people.

This unelected, drug-using, authoritarian, South African racist billionaire is attempting to do to our Federal government what he did to Twitter – destroy it financially, ruin people’s lives, and turn it into a cesspool of right-wing conspiracies and hate. It is absolutely not a coincidence that Musk has focused his destruction on those agencies that have been investigating him and his companies.

It is also interesting to note that one of Trump’s many executive orders attempts to stop enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The order actually claims that banning bribes and other forms of corruption is bad for US businesses! The truth is that the law allows US businesses to refuse to pay bribes to corrupt governments or business partners because they can claim that US law will not let them. The law protects US businesses!

Trump and his Project 2025 friends believe that corruption is the best way to conduct business and run the government. They believe money should always have the final say.

Unsafe transportation

On Trump’s first full day in office he fired David Pekoske, the head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) – before his term was up. He also fired every member of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee.

On Thursday, February 20, Trump fired 243 TSA employees. This was on top of 400 TSA employees released the previous weekend. If you have ever been in a security line at an airport, you know that the TSA was already understaffed before these cuts.

Just before President’s Day weekend, Elon Musk fired hundreds of employees at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The Republican Administration claims that air traffic controllers were immune from the purge. Even if you believe that, losing support staff has made their jobs more difficult. And again, the FAA was chronically understaffed before these cuts.

I am not going to claim that the recent airline crashes are the result of these short-sighted staffing cuts, but the longer-term risk for air travel safety should be obvious.

Violence in the streets

Before the Inauguration, Vice-president-elect Vance said that those January 6th rioters who were violent, and who hurt police officers, “obviously shouldn’t be pardoned.” On his first day in office, Trump proved he was oblivious to the danger posed by these “patriots” by releasing them all.

It is not yet known whether the fight to defend our Constitution and the rule of law from the Project 2025/MAGA/Republican coup will lead to violence in the streets. The recent nationwide “Not my President’s Day” protests across the country were peaceful.

Yet, the Republicans are just getting started with their authoritarian imperial presidency agenda. Things will likely get worse before they can get better. Assuming that Americans continue to take to the streets to express their anger and outrage against the new fascism, there will be push back.

Trump’s January 6 bullies now owe him bigly. And they have guns. Trump freed them because he wants them out there making threats and scaring people.

We must not forget conservative hero, Kyle Rittenhouse, the vigilante 17-year-old who, in August 2020 killed two protesters and seriously injured a third in Kenosha, Wisconsin. There is danger when politically-motivated, self-righteous, vigilantes take to the streets with guns.

And history shows that another, perhaps more common, danger is when peaceful street protests are met with violence from the police or the military. Will Trump send the military into the streets of America? Will they ignore their oaths to defend the Constitution and obey such orders? And what side of the conflict will your local and state police be on? Do you trust them to ignore illegal orders from an authoritarian President? Or will they join ICE and as the stormtroopers of the new order?

Conclusion

Our country is facing multiple serious existential threats. The current Republican administration is hell-bent on making every one of them worse.

Sources:
George Chidi, “Military leaders should expect Trump crackdown – from disloyalty to diversity,” The Guardian, January 20, 2025.
Oren Liebermann and Haley Britzky, “Trump administration fires top US general and Navy chief in unprecedented purge of military leadership,” CNN, February 21, 2025.
Idrees Ali et al, “Trump removes US Coast Guard chief, official cites DEI focus,” Reuters, January 21, 2025.
Katie Bo Lillis, “Trump revokes security clearances of former officials who signed Hunter Biden laptop letter with executive action,” CNN, January 20, 2025.
Hugh Cameron, “Donald Trump orders security clearances to be given to whomever he wants,” Newsweek, January 21, 2025.
Catherine Boudreau at al, “Trump declares a national emergency and moves to boost US production of oil and gas,” Business Insider, January 20, 2025.
Kalina Gibson, “The Trump administration’s retreat from global climate leadership,” Center for American Progress, January 21, 2025.
Kate Magill, “Trump freezes IRA funding,” Manufacturing Dive, January 22, 2025.
Jeff St. John, “Trump freezes Inflation Reduction Act and infrastructure-law funding,” Canary Media, January 21, 2025.
Brian Mann and Katia Riddle, “Antidepressants harder to quit that heroin? Fact-checking RFK Jr.” NPR, January 30, 2025.
— “Experts Say: Deadly Samoan measles outbreak caused by RFK Jr.’s “Disaster” visit,” Protect our Care, December 10, 2024.
Brandon Drenon, “Kash Patel vows to ‘rebuild’ FBI after Senate confirms him,” BBC, February 21, 2025.
Michael Waldman, “The Supreme Court gives the President the power of a King,” Brennan Center for Justice, July 1, 2024.
Angela Yang, “‘Long live the king’: Trump adds monarch rhetoric to actions,” NBC, February 19, 2025.
Ewan Palmer, “White House responds as Elon Musk faces new conflict of interest claims,” Newsweek, February 18, 2025.
— “Pausing foreign corrupt practices act enforcement to further American economic and national security,” Executive Order, February 10, 2025.
— “US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act,” International Trade Administration. (I don’t know how long this official .gov web page will remain online!)
Josh Funk, “Trump fire heads of TSA, Coast Guard and guts key aviation safety advisory committee,” AP, January 21, 2025.
Joey Garrrison, “More than 200 TSA employees fired in Trump’s push to cut federal workforce,” USA Today, February 20, 2025.
Asawin Suebsaeng, et al, “Trump and Elon’s ‘Pointless Bloodbath’ at the FAA is even worse than you think,” Rolling Stone, February 21, 2025.
Alexandra Marquez and Alex Tabet, “JD Vance says violent Jan.6 rioters shouldn’t receive pardons,” NBC News, January 12, 2025.
Tom Dreisbach, “Criminal records of Jan.6 rioters pardoned by Trump include rape, domestic violence,” NPR, January 30, 2025.
Rebecca Falconer, “Thousands rally against Trump in nationwide ‘Not My Presidents Day’ protests,” Axios, February 18, 2025.
— “Kyle Rittenhouse: Who is US teen cleared of protest killings?” BBC, November 19, 2021.