2 weeks Ago
It would be easy to feel hopeless right now when it comes to what’s happening in America. Since Donald Trump returned to office on January 20, he has been busy signing executive orders to rid the US of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, proclaiming that trans people don’t exist, meeting Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss turning Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East” and imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court. Outside the Oval Office, Trump, along with his unelected billionaire sidekick Elon Musk, has been planning what looks like a hostile takeover of the US government.
Under Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), hundreds of government workers have been dismissed or reassigned as part of a plan to cut the federal workforce. Read more Musk has proclaimed that USAID, an agency responsible for humanitarian programmes, is “a criminal organisation” and moved to shut it down. USAID’s criminal activity? Providing food in countries where people are starving, offering polio vaccinations in countries where it’s still a danger, providing prosthetic limbs to injured soldiers in Ukraine and containing the spread of Ebola in Africa.
You know, terrible things like that. You might also have heard about the US’s withdrawal from the World Health Organisation and the Paris Agreement on climate change, the change in direction at the Pentagon and a freeze on civil rights litigation. Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
Photo: Getty It would be easy to feel hopeless. I certainly have over the last couple of weeks, but we can’t succumb to that emotion. Hopelessness breeds inaction, and we can’t afford to be inactive when this kind of thing is happening.
Instead, we must look for reasons to feel hopeful, even in the depths of despair. One thing I’m clinging to is the fact Trump did not win the election by a landslide. He won 312 electoral college votes, which is 20 fewer than Barack Obama in 2012 and 53 fewer than Obama in 2008.
Seventy-five million eligible Americans did not vote for Trump. He is the president, but if they band together, those who are not on his side can present powerful opposition. In state capitals across the US, thousands gathered to protest against the Trump administration and Musk’s role in it That opposition began to take shape this week as people took to the streets in protest.
In Los Angeles, there were three consecutive days of demonstrations against Trump’s immigration policies, with thousands gathering to make their feelings known. On Sunday, protesters waving Mexican flags blocked traffic on the Hollywood Freeway. On Tuesday and Wednesday, students in schools in California and Texas staged walkouts to protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in schools, a practice that was banned until Trump’s recent inauguration.
On Wednesday, in state capitals across the US, thousands gathered to protest against the Trump administration and Musk’s role in it. Protesters at the Tennessee State Capitol building in Nashville. Photo: Reuters Elsewhere, it has been heartening to see videos on social media of people standing up for their neighbours and friends in the face of frightening ICE raids and anti-trans sentiment.
There are plenty of people who are doing all they can, from working on information campaigns to ensure people know their rights during a raid to placing themselves outside neighbour’s front doors when ICE officers arrive. Others are flying flags outside their homes in support of the LGBTQ+ community. Of course, while the people have the power, some have more than others.
At the FBI, a top-ranking official refused to provide names of those responsible for the investigation of those involved in the attack on the Capitol Within federal organisations, individuals are refusing to co-operate with Musk’s team by way of protest. At the FBI, James Dennehy, a top-ranking official, not only refused to provide names of those who were responsible for the investigation of those involved in the attack on the Capitol in Washington DC on January 6, 2020, but also wrote a defiant email encouraging colleagues to “dig in” and stay strong in the face of what he referred to as a “battle”. In the US Treasury, David Lebryk, who had been acting Treasury Secretary until Trump chose a replacement, refused to comply with Musk’s team’s requests, which included looking for source-code information relating to the US’s payment system.
He then abruptly retired, depriving the DOGE team of 35 years of knowledge and expertise. US president Donald Trump in the White House. Photo: Reuters With the Republican Party holding the majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, elected Democrats are limited in what they can do there.
However, they can support the significant number of complex lawsuits being brought against the Trump administration by unions, individual states and other organisations. Trump and Musk’s approach has appeared to violate the law on multiple occasions, from granting access to classified information to people unauthorised to have it, to exposing private and personal information. There is no doubt this is a scary time, especially if you’re someone who belongs to the groups directly in Trump’s line of fire, even in Ireland.
Unfortunately, we know that the political discourse in the US has a direct impact on our own, so concern is justified. Still, it would be wrong to think that no one is taking action. It’s early days in the Trump presidency, and it’s early days in the response.
Hope is there, if you look for it, and look we must. Read more.
