In only one month in office, President Donald Trump is rapidly making America weaker at home and abroad.
Instead of his promised new “golden age,” Trump is creating chaos and making America weaker through a blitz of legally questionable executive orders, mass firing of federal workers, freeze of trillions in federal grants and loans and inflammatory rhetoric towards America’s allies.
Legal experts say the administration’s aggressive actions have approached the red line of openly flouting court orders that could lead to a constitutional crisis.
Trump’s indiscriminate mass firing of federal workers undermines essential government functions, threatens a key check on executive power and will make America less safe.
Thousands of the more than 220,000 probationary employees working for the federal government around the U.S. have received termination notices in recent days as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to dramatically reduce the federal workforce.
The Internal Revenue Service began laying off more than 6,000 employees, and the CIA is moving to dismiss an unspecified number of officers working on recruiting, according to former officials, in what could be one of the largest mass firings in the agency’s history, reports the New York Times.
The problem is not just the volume of federal employees fired at once, but how it is being done.
CNN reports that: “A developing Trump administration plan for deep staff cuts and drastic changes at the Federal Emergency Management Agency is raising alarm among some state officials and even Republican lawmakers, who worry that it will weaken responses to future disasters.”
Trump’s second term “has been defined by an onslaught of executive actions that have caused, some say by design, disruption and even chaos in widespread quarters of American society,” says U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper who decided last Thursday he could not grant a motion from unions representing the workers to temporarily block the layoffs. He found that their complaint amounted to an employment dispute and must follow a different process outlined in federal employment law.
“The mass terminations have caused chaos in the federal government. The Trump administration struggled to rescind the firings of employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration and employees working on the bird flu epidemic at the U.S. Department of Agriculture,” reports the Guardian.
Trump and his aides have spurred racial divisions at home by attacking Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives. Conservatives have successfully pushed myths about DEI. Perhaps the biggest lie is that it calls for the hiring and promotion of Black Americans over more qualified white men.
Contrary to popular belief, the biggest beneficiaries of DEI initiatives have been White women. White men who are from rural areas, disabled or LGBTQ have also benefitted from DEI.
Trump’s actions will hurt American businesses that benefit from diversity through an increased talent pool of workers and managers, more engaged employees and increased innovation.
The administration’s approach to immigration has also gone beyond its stated campaign goal of deporting criminals to deporting immigrants who have not committed crimes.
Last week, the administration cut protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitians in the United States, putting them on track to be targeted for deportation this summer.
“The Haitians affected by the decision had been living in the United States under Temporary Protected Status, which is intended to help people in the United States who cannot return safely and immediately to their countries because of a natural disaster or an armed conflict. More than 500,000 Haitians in the United States are eligible for the status,” the New York Times reports.
The administration has also ended temporary protections against deportation for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants living in the United States.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a decision to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for about 348,000 Venezuelan immigrants.
The decision means they could face deportation and the loss of work permits in April. The rest of the roughly 600,000 Venezuelans in the program could lose the legal status and associated benefits in September.
Trump is making the world less safe.
Since Trump took office Jan. 20 he has threatened to devastate the Canadian economy with tariffs and take it over as the United States’ 51st state.
Trump has also threatened Mexico with high tariffs, to take Greenland from Denmark and take over the canal from Panama. He has sided with Russia despite their invasion of Ukraine, and openly talked about removing Palestinians from Gaza.
Some political observers and foreign policy experts believe Trump’s policies alienate allies and help Russia and China.
What is clear is that Trump’s reckless policies are creating uncertainty at home and abroad.
“Companies report widespread concerns about the impact of federal government policies, ranging from spending cuts to tariffs and geopolitical developments,” said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, reports the Associated Press. “Sales are reportedly being hit by the uncertainty caused by the changing political landscape, and prices are rising amid tariff-related price hikes from suppliers.”
A separate report said U.S. consumers are also preparing for higher inflation because of potential tariffs. They’re broadly expecting prices to be 4.3% higher 12 months from now, which is a big jump from last month’s forecast of 3.3% inflation, according to a survey by the University of Michigan.
Instead of Making America Great Again, Trump is making the country weaker and the world a more dangerous place to live.
Reprinted from the Philadelphia Tribune
About Post Author
