Week 1
I think I’ll try doing a weekly summary of the Trump administration’s actions and the responses to them. Beyond sharing your outrage, for which there are many posts, I’d like to urge you to share what you’re doing. That could be getting off social media and reading more books, organizing against particular actions, leaving the country, or, well, whatever you’re doing these days. You may also add things I may have missed. But please let’s not do the outrage thing on this one thread. I will try to stay away from things he says, as opposed to things he does, and I hope you will too.
And yes, if you like, post your pets.
What the Trump administration is doing, in no particular order
- Fired a number of inspectors general, the previously independent officers who exist in most government departments as a watchdog against illegal and other destructive actions. The law requires a 30-day advance warning to Congress before these firings.
- Withdrew the US from WHO. This is a give-notice action. Withdrawal will not be complete for 3 years.
- Stopped funding for most of NIH. It is not clear when funding will restart. This is damaging research and the educational institutions where it is carried out.
- “Paused” foreign aid, including for PEPFAR, the one good thing that George W. Bush did. It supplies medical aid and medications for AIDS victims worldwide.
- Took a number of actions to eliminate DEI. This was surprisingly thoroughgoing, and not what I expected would be the first priority.
- Issued an executive order to end birthright citizenship. An executive order cannot negate Constitutional provisions, so we don’t know how this will play out. It also appears to negate Native American citizenship.
- Fired a bunch of people at the top of the immigration courts.
- Introduced a bunch of Trump merch, including scamcoins.
- Elon Musk threw two Nazi salutes.
- Trump visited North Carolina and California and promised an executive order to turn the large faucet to send water to southern California. Yes, this is nonsense.
- (Last week) Trump called the Prime Minister of Denmark to demand Greenland for the US.
- Terrorized migrants with publicity about raids that probably would have taken place anyway. The administration is not ramped up to do the kinds of thing they threaten. But workers in California’s fields are not showing up to harvest fruits and vegetables.
- Pardoned or commuted sentences for the J6 defendants.
- Pardoned Ross Ulbricht, drug lord, because of libertarian worship of his use of Bitcoin.
Pushback
- A large number of lawsuits were filed against the birthright citizenship order. A judge in Washington State called it “blatantly unconstitutional” and wondered how a lawyer could support it. Other lawsuits as well. Chris Geidner (Law Dork) is keeping track.
- Bishop Mariann Budde of the Episcopal Church asked Trump to show mercy to people who are frightened – particularly migrants and LGBTQ. This was a pretty typical Protestant sermon, encouraging the hearers to do good. It’s not unusual in a Protestant church to point to particular people or groups who are doing a good job or could do better. Non-evangelical Protestant, that is.
- Reaction to Musk’s Nazi salutes has been strong and neutralizing of the gaslighting.
- A variety of resistances across the country to ICE and other police organizations.
- At least two of the J6 defendants have refused to accept Trump’s pardons.
207 more weeks to go. What are you doing?