The Dismantling of the United States
Every strong man that comes into power knows they have a short time to consolidate power. We are on week two of this administration, and the hits keep coming. Not that any of this should surprise anyone who read Project 2025. The objective is to remake the country into an imperial presidency where the courts and Congress don’t have equal powers.
Don’t believe me, is this underway? Here is the order to stop grants at the Office of Management and Budget.
So what does this affect? First off, those funds have been authorized by Congress. Specifically, the House, who, until now, has the power of the Purse. It’s spelled in the Constitution. They want to make this the purview of the President. So, what programs are affected? Here is a short, non-comprehensive list:
Now let’s talk about the Centers for Disease Control because it’s relevant right now with bird flu and tuberculosis:
NEW YORK — U.S. public health officials have been told to stop working with the World Health Organization, effective immediately.
A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official, John Nkengasong, sent a memo to senior leaders at the agency on Sunday night telling them that all agency staff who work with the WHO must immediately stop their collaborations and “await further guidance.”
Experts said the sudden stoppage was a surprise and would set back work on investigating and trying to stop outbreaks of Marburg virus and mpox in Africa, as well as brewing threats from around the world. It also comes as health authorities around the world are monitoring bird flu outbreaks among U.S. livestock.
I know Marburg (an emerging disease in the hemorrhagic family not unlike Ebola) will not matter to Americans. Nor will MPOX. But bird flu keeps the price of eggs up and is one mutation away from becoming a serious problem for humans.
So, ordering agencies like the CDC to stop communicating with the public should also alarm you. Why are they doing this? It’s information control. We see it with Russia all the freaking time. This is textbook authoritarian. Did I mention that silence with a TB Outbreak? Guess who is not on the ground right now?
Do you know what is also a textbook? The flurry of executive orders and other changes. There is so much it’s hard to keep up. Another thing used in authoritarian takeovers is manufactured crises to cancel out all rights until the crisis ends. I expect a few crises on the near horizon.
This report is from an indeterminate Walmart. This could be one of those crisis. This came from Reddit and should be treated with some salt. However,
Why is Walmart out of food?
It was like this a week ago but this week it was the same. Picture taken today by a friend with the same question. We’ve had snow and bad weather plenty of times before. Milk, water, and cold cuts and bread gone before, but FOOD? This is worse than Covid in the fresh produce section. What’s going on?
Why does this piece of anecdote matter? What happens to the food distribution network when food is rotting in the fields? This is per the Harvard Business Review regarding who picks your fruit and veggies, the same group right now hiding from the Feds:
Immigrants play a vital role in the U.S. agricultural workforce: They make up approximately 61% of farmworkers, according to the most recently available data, but as of a 2022 U.S. Department of Labor survey, 42% were not legally authorized to work in the country, meaning they were undocumented. This is part of the group that President Trump and his team have targeted to deport.
Most people probably assume the undocumented group is unskilled labor, but our interviews with four growers with operations in Florida and California and people at industry associations suggest the opposite. “We would lose a lot of our skilled workers,” said one California strawberry grower. “Some of our more skilled people have been here for 20 or 30 years, and they speak English.” One profile that he shared was that of a highly skilled supervisor who makes important daily decisions on planting and harvesting. Another was a skilled mechanic. A third was a crew boss with decades of experience. “These are people who came over in the mid-1980s and 1990s. They have been paying taxes and social security, but they never went through the citizenship process,” the grower said. Labor was 40% of his costs, and Trump’s statements have filled these workers and their employers with anxiety over their uncertain futures.
Never mind, many of these farmers voted for Donald Trump because he would leave their workers alone. They are the good ones. And this is not just agriculture. It’s also meat and dairy.
That’s the food supply. At some point, even the most disconnected and depoliticized American will notice. Anecdotally, at least locally, prices of some goods at the grocers are already going up. And yes, I stocked up on more coffee. Why? I expect trade wars. Some will affect coffee.
The only reason we avoided one with Colombia is because of this.
Now, how about them pardons? I am very cynical about this. It was not just about freeing criminals who tried to overthrow the government; it was about street militias. Trump has signaled he will have their back. It’s dangerous, it’s also textbook of the authoritarian handbook. So is this:
The Justice Department said Monday that it fired several career lawyers involved in prosecuting Donald Trump, escalating the president’s campaign of retribution against his perceived enemies.
The employees worked on special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation that led to now-dismissed indictments against Trump over his handling of classified documents and his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the lead-up to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“Today, Acting Attorney General James McHenry terminated the employment of a number of DOJ officials who played a significant role in prosecuting President Trump,” a Justice Department official wrote to NBC News. “In light of their actions, the Acting Attorney General does not trust these officials to assist in faithfully implementing the President’s agenda. This action is consistent with the mission of ending the weaponization of government.”
Among those let go, an official familiar with the matter told NBC News, were career prosecutors Molly Gaston, J.P. Cooney, Anne McNamara and Mary Dohrmann.
It’s not just revenge. It’s also power consolidation.
Now, how about our allies? Last time around, they saw Trump as a clown and a loudmouth. Not anymore. They are taking him very seriously. Here is an example:
France is considering sending troops to Greenland in response to Trump’s threats to take the island; French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said that other EU countries are also ready to consider sending troops if necessary. Looking at such a confrontation in NATO, the putter rubs his little hands happily.
Did our alliance with France go to the War of Independence? We know Trump wants to leave NATO. Well, now, one of the leaders within the allies is willing to help another member of the alliance against the US. Take all the time you need for this.
This signals that the NATO alliance will not care if the US leaves because we quickly become a danger to the allies. Or at least perceived as such. And if you care about foreign affairs, we are also gutting the training of foreign service personnel. I guess learning about Apartheid is no longer relevant because it’s too woke!
It’s nearly impossible to turn away from this. Especially since I expect to be a target of this administration sooner or later, they are signaling a war against all immigrants, legal or not legal; it does not matter. And in their zeal, not that this is a surprise, they are also going after tribal members who “look Mexican.” They did under Herbert Hoover and Dwight Eisenhower, but those who refuse to learn from history…or believe Trump on the stump. I will repeat it, it was not about the price of eggs.
And if you need an American example of a strong man, because I know the NAZI references get tiresome, Andrew Jackson is a good place to start. Trump is a fan. And yes, Jackson did commit what today we call both genocide and ethnic cleansing. Not that this will be taught in American schools anymore. That’s woke!