Four (Five) Replies to Trump

Daily updates of the Trump Administration display a collection of horrible policy decisions mixed with lies and bullshit. 

An example is the confirmation of Project 2025 architect Russell Vought in a party-line vote. John Fetterman has generally voted for Trump nominees, even being the sole Democrat who voted for Pam Bondi for Attorney General; he did not do so here—like Pete Hegseth for Defense, this was a bridge too far. Senate Democrats had an all-nighter beforehand. 

Russell Vought now leads the influential Office of Management and Budget. As you might recall, Project 2025 is the over 900-page blueprint for a Trump Administration that the campaign assured us was not something they supported. How dare people suggest that! 

Vought founded two pro-Trump groups whose work has focused on discrediting structural racism and curtailing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. The chapter that Vought wrote for Project 2025 detailed how the budget agency could be used to withhold money appropriated by Congress and eliminate dissent within agencies by purging them of employees.

A comment on Volokh Conspiracy, a "sometimes libertarian blog," provides a good summary of who Trump truly is. The comment is from one of the people not slavishly supporting Trump, including a few people who you might think should know better. This last crowd at times grants Trump is wrong while still being more anti-Democrat than anti-Trump. 

If the President can fire anyone he wants, can block Congressionally allocated funding at will, issue regulations without following the process that Congress set out, push politics into non-political areas, then he is treating the government as his personal serfdom. Trump is doing all of that.

The blog's contributors are a mixture. The person who gave his name to the blog voted libertarian but cited anti-election commentary that is more conservative anti-Democratic than anti-Trump. He mostly provides a discussion of random court rulings as compared to addressing First Amendment connotations of the Trump administration. He covered one such incident relatively briefly with a bland statement he opposed it on policy grounds but its legality was more of a mixed bag, perhaps.

One person does provide a strong opposition, especially involving immigration issues, consistently being libertarian. The other main contributor has had a slew of pro-Trump analyses. The remaining material is mixed, sometimes providing anti-Trump material.  

Senator Elissa Slotkin, the former CIA agent who is the new senator from Michigan, provided a good speech during the Democrats' all-nighter. Her speech begins at the twenty-two-minute mark. She ends with four means of reply:

• Legislation
• Litigation
• Communication (Talk About Issues)
• Elections 

The only legislation that has taken place so far is the far-from-ideal Laken Riley Act, which exploited someone's death to target immigrants. 

Nonetheless, long-term, legislation provides an answer, including a slew of illegal Trump moves. We might not like some of them but even if they legitimize illegal executive acts, they are at least more above-board about handling things.   

Litigation is already slowing down things like moves against birthright citizenship and attacks on trans prisoners. Litigation is a long game, influenced by a YOLO Administration aiming for the stars. 

One thing not to do is to needlessly give in. Trump purported to fire FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub. She responded that he did not have the power to do so. Meanwhile, the fifteen anniversary of Citizens United brought some conversation. 

Communication is a range of things, including trying to get the media to properly respond to the events. Some articles in mainstream media outlets underline what is happening. 

For instance, the Washington Post had an article about how the National Science Foundation is now combing its science research projects to make sure they don't violate current taboo terms such as “inculcate or promote gender ideology."

Communication includes people calling their representatives to make their views heard. It is congressional Democrats showing up at US AID offices. Senator Slotkin is from a swing state that Trump won. She will sometimes play nice. She communicated in her speech, however, she has limits. 

The final response are elections. There are special elections even now. 2025 locally is about whether or not to retain Eric Adams, the latest dubious New York City mayor, who at times plays nice with Trump (surely not to convince him to drop the pending proseution against Adams!).  The long term goal is to regain control of the House in 2026.

My ambit is in a tiny way to communicate. I'm somewhat evangelistic that way. Don't claim to be anything special. Probably should do more. But, I do think the various means to communicate the issues, including engaging with people online, provides some help in the long run.

Meanwhile, though we are moving along 2025-wise [it's already February -- not too long ago, it wasn't even Election Day], Trump has not been in power for three weeks. It has been a lot in a short amount of time. But, it's just beginning. 

The four replies will continue to be important. The final reply is personal. You have to be good in your everyday life. Retain your integrity. Don't be a lying asshole. Treat others with respect. Do the best you can. It's a long haul.