Summary
The Trump administration has canceled 90% of USAID’s foreign aid contracts, including critical programs that provide lifesaving therapeutic food to malnourished children.
Mana Nutrition’s CEO reports that ready-to-ship boxes of peanut paste that could save approximately 300,000 children are now stranded in a Georgia warehouse.
Despite Secretary of State Rubio’s claims that “lifesaving humanitarian assistance” would be spared, numerous essential health programs have been terminated, including those preventing diseases like polio, HIV, and Ebola.
These cuts contradict claims about targeting “wokeness” or “waste,” instead showing a reckless abandonment of America’s global humanitarian commitments.
There’s nothing within the established American political framework that can be done to stop this dismantling by any number of citizens. There’s literally no legal way to get Trump out of office that doesn’t involve the GOP turning on him now. And I’m not holding out hope that they spontaneously grow a conscience.
There’s no ability to recall your representative from congress, no petition that can force the dissolution of the executive branch. The constitution is an ancient, flawed basis of governance that’s showing its age. By design, you have to wait 2 years for the next election to change leadership. That’s it. And God help you if those elections are stolen.
If you’re arguing in favor of a civil war to purge bad actors or the Balkanization of the country then be honest. But to pretend any number of peaceful (or violent) protests will get America back to normal is naive. The only way to recall these officials is with a guillotine, and you’re entering entirely new waters there.
So I’m glad you said this, I’ve been having a hard time the past week because I don’t see any way out of our current situation beyond what you have just described and it’s been stressing me because I’ve both felt alone in my conclusions and not wanted to ask my friends, family, and coworkers if I’m way out of bounds because I don’t want to make this time harder on them than I know it already is.
Granted I still don’t feel great about the potentiality of losing my life in such events but I’m grateful to you for making me feel less alone right now. Cheers!
Appreciate that it’s getting through to some people. Its frustrating to think about but even more frustrating that people can’t call a spade a spade. The writing has been on the wall for years and our paralyzed inertia has taken us over the cliff. Willing that inertia to take us back is less than pointless.
It’s scary but also liberating in a way. We’re as close right now to restoring the Roman Republic as we are the American Republic. Whatever comes out will be a blank skate and you get to write your own part onto it, whatever that may be.
Crazy things do happen, nobody really knows how any story ends. Trump was a few inches from having this timeline dissolve in pink mist less than a year ago. Maybe some important people will explode in a Tesla fireball accident.
Keep your head up 🍻
So we roll over and die?
I never said that, I just want people to be honest about what they’re getting into as they ramp up resistance. It’s a very different mindset, you have to be expecting the nuclear option and plan accordingly
General strike with clear, specific demands would work. Easier said than done, especially since most workers in the US aren’t already organized; but it would probably work. It would probably even work if all current major unions striked (a lot of union members are “conservative” though, so if it was seen as political rather than practical, it could break solidarity).
Would that stop them from causing damage unopposed right now? Sure. But how do you think that would end? Are there any meaningful demands that could be conceded to save what’s left of the constitution? Trump was pushing for live fire on protesters in his last administration, and the cooler heads that kept that from happening are gone.
The cat’s out of the bag. The executive branch has been purged of anyone disloyal; there are private military contractors wandering DC who have been unilaterally deputized; career military officials who could be threats are getting tossed. The last opportunity to keep peaceful continuity with the first 248 years of America ended on January 19th.
Fascist dictators don’t get to step down and return to a private life. We’ve never seen one leave office alive.
Will resistance to this oppression end well for the American people? Will foreign intervention topple the cult of personality? Or will our grandchildren be watching the coronation of President Trump III either way?
Who knows? But it’s inconceivable that we’ll be back to normal in 2/4/8 years. This election was a seminal moment, there will be a definite before and after. The question is how stark the difference will be.