Fresh Eyes

With all the mayhem that the Trump regime has brought and is bringing to our government and our society, I feel the impact myself most deeply when those actions affect me, and when they affect ones I know and care about. And yes, I care about people I don’t even know, too.

But when some want to discount this regimes white-collar coup and destruction of the balance of powers in our government as just ‘politics as usual’ or ‘they don’t really mean that…’ or… I say, hang on. Here are some people I know.

• USAID: I work with 2 women who retired from USAID, one of whom is on the board of the USAID Alumni group. They have been so distraught and practically in tears worrying about colleagues stranded overseas, and of course about the funding that won’t go to protect children from contracting diseases such as HIV.
• NIH Funding: One of my best friends was/is mid-way through the process of getting funding for a medical technology that will be cheaper to produce and less toxic to human patients that the current version. Now he can’t even talk to the partner organizations that were helping.
• Universities: I know bunches of folk at local (and distant) universities, but one colleague I spoke with a week or so ago was incredulous at the fact that he had just come from a long meeting in which the technical staff of the university were gathered to try and devise a way to automatically remove ‘diversity, equity or inclusion’ from ALL of its websites (this is a massive state university) and replace with ‘health and wellbeing’. What a waste.
• Trans folks: I am personal friends with some, and have friends that have trans kids / young adults. They are all terrified.
• Gay and lesbian folks: I am fortunate to have a number of gay and lesbian friends in my life, and some are already making plans or have left the country. Others who don’t have the means are retreating. NONE of them should be targeted in the senseless ways this regime is operating.
• State and National parks: One of my brothers told me his campsite was being refunded. Campgrounds in the Smokies are being shut down for lack of funding. Great.
• Environment: I am on the Board of a non-profit that serves a small college located in the rainforest of the Democratic Republic of Congo. My colleagues on the Board are seeing funding dry up, and therefore jobs lost, projects halted or cancelled, and environmental impacts increased in all sorts of ways. Impacts that affect ALL humans on this planet.
• Religion: This so-called ‘Christian nationalism’ affects me directly, as I am not a Christian. I feel greater fear now that my loved ones and other non-Christians (Buddhists, Agnostics, Jews, Atheists, Muslims, etc.) could eventually be targeted.
• Immigrants: I have been fortunate to host refugees (from Syrian, then from the DRC) in our house. I am fortunate to be close friends with families from a couple of different countries. My friends from Mexico – they are most at risk, I think, at the moment. People who have spent most of their lives in this country. They have 3 kids, one is a college grad, the other in college, and the youngest in high school. All fabulous students. They are hard-working, law abiding people. NO they have never voted because guess what, they can’t! The lies told about immigrants are shameful, and the actions this regime are taking are unbelievably inhumane, illegal, and disgusting.
• Education: Well – suffice it to say that I spent my career as a public school teacher, then in the corporate world in executive education. Watching this regime dismantle public education in favor of privatization and re-segregation of our schools is horrifying. The few teachers I know, who were already hanging on, are now completely untethered. I agree that there was need for reforms to improve public education, but I would never replace public education with this voucher system.
• Finance: No need to say much here. Just look at the stock market. Look at the price of groceries. The dumbest thing in the world, that actual economists agree is a bad idea, this regime has put in place: tariffs. So, the gentleman whose construction company worked on our house last year called today. His projects dried up due to prices and general cold feet – and he’s trying to find work.

I think I could go on. But I’m exhausted, just by listing the above. No, this isn’t acceptable. I am angry. I don’t think I’m alone.