Don’t ever say you weren’t warned. You were. Over and over and over…
You were told that Donald Trump was a shyster, a con-man, a grifter, a buffoon, a clown…well, everything but a statesman. That, he is not.
Today (Jan. 28) der Führer ordered a freeze on all federal grants and loans (an order that was promptly shot down by U.S. District Judge Loren Alikhan, at least until Feb. 3) without so much as a thought about the ramifications of such a move.
Just like the manner in which he issued blanket pardons to even those who assaulted police officers on Jan. 6, he opted out of doing actual work that would entail making surgical cuts of wasteful expenses and instead, just said, “Hell, cut everything.”
That’s also the way in which he offered a buyout of all federal employees, never mind the inconvenient fact that many of those are responsible for collecting taxes and even more bear the responsibility of sending out Medicare, Social Security payments and tax returns for tens of millions of Americans.
But here’s the hidden kicker.
If der Führer le Orange is ultimately successful in stopping federal grants and loans, the repercussions will be widespread and will affect every single living American – including the “poorly educated” MagHats whom he professes to love.
But you were warned.
He fired inspectors general across the board so now there’s no one to keep tabs on the Gang of Idiots he’s appointed to head various departments and agencies. No guardrails to keep these clowns from taking bureaucratic action to enrich themselves – and they most assuredly will.
Cutting off federal grants and loans will adversely affect every victim of floods, earthquakes, fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, train derailments, major industrial accidents and any other natural disaster you can imagine. Remember the flood of 2016? Lots of folks didn’t carry flood insurance. Had it not been for the Small Business Administration and its 1-pecent home loans to rebuild, there would be a lot more homeless in South Louisiana today. Were it not for FEMA, even with all its warts, a lot of hurricane victims in North Carolina, Louisiana, Florida and Texas would be in much worse shape.
Those are the most obvious effects but let’s dive a little deeper.
The federal government invests $149 billion per year in America’s colleges and universities, of which $41 billion is in the form of grants which constitute a form of financial assistance to individuals or organizations to fund RESEARCH AND PROJECTS. Another 65 percent of that $149 billion, or $97 billion, goes to student aid, including scholarships, work-study and student loans.
Now we already know about the skyrocketing costs of higher education, thanks in no small part to Bobby Jindal’s repeated cuts to higher ed budgets. But, unfortunately, that’s the story everywhere. So, with ever higher tuition now comes the very real threat of the elimination of the one lifeline that lower- and middle-income students could grasp: student loans and scholarships.
Take that away, and overnight the dream of a college education vanishes for a large segment of American society. And I’m not just talking about minorities, though they would be among the hardest hit; it also affects the kids of Joe the plumber and Sam the electrician who were counting on that scholarship or that student loan.
Suddenly we will have an exclusive higher education system available only to the elite, which is quite possibly exactly what the Repugnantcans want.
And the most tragic part? It was all spelled out in Project 2025 for us to see.
All these things occurred in just his first week back in office. Imagine what’s in store for the remaining 207 weeks.
I’ll even go out on a limb and make a new prognostication: All these marks (that’s what they call the targets of con-men) will rush to invest in Le Orange Trumpo’s magic cryptocurrency only to one day see it collapse under its own corrupt weight. People will end up destitute, losing every possession because they sunk their hopes in a snake oil salesman but the snake oil salesman will walk away a richer man, having bamboozled the faithful yet again. Can you say Enron?
And now you’ve been warned.
Louisiana Voice 
Why doubt the intrinsic value of Trump’s crypto currency? It has pledges and promises of its namesake. And who among is more a man of his word than Trump? That, by the way, is parody.
Unfortunately, Tom, the warning signs have been around for at least eight years or more. Yet a small plurality of American voters chose not to heed them. And I have no doubt they will continue to be led blindly and willingly down the path to the democratic destruction of the country. The rest of us can only hope and pray that the institutional guardrails and roadblocks thrown in his way stand up to the constant onslaught and barrage of his incessant attacks on our democracy long enough to prevent him from achieving complete success at autocracy. Too many are willing to do his bidding. Too many cannot see his methodology or his true intent.
No MAGA voter is ever going to acknowledge Trump’s lies or their own responsibility for swallowing them. The few who might will be politically inconsequential. But for millions of MAGA fascists whatever they are angry about, whatever their complaint is, it will always always always be the fault of liberals and other undesirables. They self-righteously believe they have all the right answers all the time and you never do. It’s an alternate reality – a delusion – and they are deep into it. There is no coming back from this level of selling out. Try to imagine any MAGA voter you know waking up to Trump’s lies and owning up to their own clueless contributions to our current problems. Is there any realistic scenario in which that happens? I can’t think of one and that’s why I believe there is no resolution that does not inevitably come down to violent conflict.
Trump’s threats were seen only as “that’s how Trump is.” More excuses were made for his vengeful and dictatorial statements as they are today. He’s keeping every promise except getting grocery prices down and ending the war in Ukraine, on his “first day in office.” He’s dismantling the country while we all stand and watch. Our country is in a precarious situation. Thank you, Tom, for trying to help people see the truth.
I respectfully submit that “Identity Politics”, by any person, side or group, has not ever resolved, corrected or remedied any real problem or challenge, and never will. It is destructive.
Great article! Agree with Mr. Spillman, but the violent conflict has already happened, re 6Jan. Trump’s violent pardons will not work, those cowards will continue the bullshit, but rest assured, our Homeland Security will function. I quote from a dear old WWII officer at our Officer luncheon last spring “Ron, we are refighting the Civil War”, thoughtful pause, then “the devil is in the Baptist Church.”