By Andy Brack
Since the January inauguration of President Donald Trump, the nation has often felt like a place without red lights.
It’s been go, go, go. But in government, like in traffic, if there aren’t a few red lights to help to order what’s happening in the course of human events, then people, agencies and a country run in different directions like mad headless chickens. There are huge collisions. We alienate friends around the world. And all of this results in self-inflicted confusion, injuries and even deaths.
Just look at an incomplete laundry list of all of the chaos caused by the Trump administration in the last few months:
Immigration: Not only have there been loads of illegal deportations, but raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the presence of National Guard troops in larger cities like Washington, Chicago, Portland and Memphis illustrate the administration’s thumbed nose at the rule of law. In the last week, more than 250 people were detained in Charlotte, sending waves of fear throughout the area.
Agencies: The administration pushed through efforts to close the U.S. Agency for International Development and Department of Education. It fired and furloughed thousands of vital workers, such as health researchers and park rangers. It stripped power from the Federal Election Commission and Federal Trade Commission as well as gutted major research and grant funding.
Payments: The administration fiddled with sensitive payment systems managed by the Treasury Department, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, sending seniors into conniptions about benefits and spreading mass confusion.
Foreign policy: Its shoot-from-the-hip interactions with governments all over the world frayed relationships with allies. Trump needlessly embarrassed allies, such as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and embraced authoritarian despots, such as this week’s bromance with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince.
The list of horrors goes on and on – environmental degradation, tariffs that are undercutting farmers and consumers, vengeful prosecutions, the longest government shutdown in history and huge potential increases in health insurance costs.
Fortunately, some of the nation’s red lights may be quietly coming back, as Trump seems to be getting into a bunker mentality thanks to sagging polling numbers and potential health issues.
Look at changes in the last couple of weeks:
Judges are severely scrutinizing whether the Trump administration is seeking revenge through a politicized Justice Department that indicted a former FBI director and state attorney general.
The GOP-led House of Representatives, which stalled for almost two months over the sex-trafficking Epstein files, flipped course when the politics changed and voted to release them. Then blustery Trump, who had been pleading to keep the files in which he is mentioned quiet, suddenly embraced their release.
The U.S. Coast Guard surprised many with a new policy this week that said the swastika and noose were no longer considered hate symbols, only to recant almost immediately after a backlash.
This seemingly slow return of red lights in government also is happening in South Carolina, as witnessed by recent events here, too.
Earlier this week, four Republican state senators declined to vote on a bill that would have created the strictest abortion ban in the nation in a state that already has a strict six-week ban. That allowed three Democrats to kill the proposal and keep the bill from reaching a full Senate committee.
Also in recent days, GOP gubernatorial candidate and U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace unleashed the wrath of GOP and Democratic leaders after a profanity-laced outburst at law enforcement officials at Charleston International Airport, sending her stock down in the court of public opinion.
Bottom line: There are hints that reason, common sense and the rule of law are emerging from the paralyzing MAGA fog that has gripped the nation. Unfortunately, the forces of anti-democracy still have time to regroup. Be vigilant. Protect and fight for your freedoms.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of the Charleston City Paper and Statehouse Report. Have a comment? Send it to feedback@statehousereport.com.
