By Andy Brack
The national chaos and carnage caused by the last four months of the Trump administration is almost beyond belief.
Mainstay American values – truth, justice, exceptionalism and fairness – are shivering as greed, retribution, cheating, lying and corruption gnaw at the foundations of two of our branches of government – the legislative and judicial.
Republican members of Congress excel at being sideline lemmings – do-nothings who seem to thrive on rubber-stamping whatever the executive branch wants. Pitiful Democrats can’t seem to get any act together to cobble together moderate coalitions to stop the madness.
Across America, anxiety grows for many, worried they may lose Medicaid and Medicare or see Social Security benefits wither. And as tens of thousands lose federal jobs, important research stalls to thwart diseases, protect special places, educate, innovate and help the country grow.
Look at the see-saw financial markets. Analysts can’t get a clear read on what’s going to happen next. One day, President Donald Trump threatens more tariffs, sending the market down and gutting retirement savings of millions. The next, there’s a rally after a policy pull-back, which has led to a new term — TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) tariffs. It seems the perma-angry administration sometimes wakes to intentionally say something outrageous – just to manipulate the market.
Look at the courts, where hundreds of lawsuits have been filed to thwart the president’s assault on the rule of law. By one count, the administration saw more than 325 lawsuits filed against it in its first 100 days. Across the country, federal judges have been in overdrive, often pausing lawsuits related to questionable immigration practices, unlawful restrictions on monies approved by Congress, gutting of agencies and more.
One particular suit filed on behalf of the Sustainability Institute in North Charleston is worth noting. In it, the nonprofit complained it was unlawful for the administration to cut off an $11 million affordable housing grant that Congress funded. In a ruling against Trump’s Justice Department, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Gergel of Charleston appeared flummoxed at the audacity of the administration, finding that it did not follow the law in freezing a bunch of grants.
He noted Deputy EPA Administrator Travis Voyles was unable to produce a single document to back up his sworn claim that he’d reviewed each of the grants individually before canceling them, as required by law.
“I was, frankly, embarrassed for the government to read Mr. Voyles’ affidavit,” Gergel said from the bench. “I’ve just never seen anything submitted to me like that. It was, frankly, sort of an insult to the Court.”
Gergel also said that during his 15 years on the bench, the case surprised him: “I’m used to the government speaking to me straight, to answer my questions honestly. Fifteen years on the bench, I’ve never had an experience where I thought the government did not do that.”
David Brooks, the conservative-turned-moderate columnist for The New York Times, this week wrote about his outrage over what he called the moral rot at the center of Trumpism, with its transactional, retributive zeal chewing at the values that millions died for.
“Trumpism can be seen as a giant attempt to amputate the highest aspirations of the human spirit and to reduce us to our most primitive, atavistic tendencies,” he wrote, outraged that Trump would send a Monday message on social media that said, “Happy Memorial Day to all, including the scum that spent the last four years trying to destroy our country.”
First of all, you don’t wish anyone a “happy” memorial holiday as it is a day to respect the sacrifices of members of the armed forces who died for the country.
Second, as Brooks explained, “The use of the word ‘scum’ in that context is called dehumanization. It is a short step from dehumanization to all sorts of horrors. Somebody should remind Trump that you don’t love your country if you hate half its members.”
Indeed.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of the Charleston City Paper and Statehouse Report. Have a comment? Send it to feedback@statehousereport.com.
