Witness the Chaos

~ MaryG

I’m starting to hear more stories of individual lives affected by the chaos in DC: my son’s friend (a 2024 college graduate) is losing his job at the local Air Force Base because he is a “probationary employee” (employed less than a year); my cousin’s brilliant daughter is a diplomat on maternity leave from a State Department post abroad and has no idea what will happen with her job upon her return—a job for which she is uniquely well qualified and very highly trained; a friend of a friend’s disabled daughter is losing all of her special services and programs in Connecticut; and the mother of a trans 18-year old in my church is trying to source the medications he needs from pharmacies outside the US because Trump’s anti “child mutilation” order arbitrarily states that 19 is the age at which the order does not apply.

And, like millions of other Americans, we’ve seen our healthcare costs go up and retirement investments and overall net worth go down since January 20.

I feel as if we are basically powerless to do anything about what’s happening in Washington right now, but at least we can “bear witness”— and that’s what I’m witnessing right now.

What are you witnessing in your community? Do you know anyone who has lost their job as a direct result of Dear Leader & his chainsaw-wielding Robot Man?

Honestly, sometimes I think Republicans are just mean. Can you imagine treating a person sitting right in front of you as if they don’t even exist?

25 thoughts on “Witness the Chaos”

  2. The Hurting is going up exponentially. We feel it in Europe big time. The Orange Man wants us gone or on our knees. This is never going to happen. I try to boycott American products whenever possible, because of the tariffs.

    How did Anthony Scaramucci, who served very briefly as Director of Communications under T in 2017, put it in a recent interview?

    What T does now is UNAMERICAN. And he said that working however briefly with T is a stain that will stay forever on him.

    That’s why he’s telling the truth wherever and whenever, even knowing that there could be potentially nasty consequences coming his way. We call this “Civil Courage”.

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    1. Yup that’s it. It feels Unamerican for our country to be so erratic and unfair. Watching the Irish Prime Minister kiss Dear Leader’s ass yesterday (“your golf course is stunning”) felt surreal.

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  3. So far, nothing personal the way you have written about, but the onslaught of chaos from DC continues to bash away at me, and I am blue, blue, blue. Sigh. Selfishly, I am worried about Social Security. It is half of our income.

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  4. The affect of the U.S. constantly shifting policies and attacks on other sovereign nations (I’m Canadian), has mobilized citizens of these countries to do what they can to fight back. Many, maybe everyone I know, now reads labels to ensure they do not buy American products and we are no longer planning trips to the U.S. It is about the current administration and their bullying tactics, not because of ordinary Americans who have always be seen as generous, good people. I need not remind everyone that Canadians fought for, and with Americans in Afghanistan and over 150 of our troops died alongside American soldiers. Please do not make their ultimate sacrifices be in vain. Please do not give up on making your opinions known and pressuring your government representatives. That is the power you still have.

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    1. Thanks for sharing your perspective. I’ve been intentionally seeking out Canadian products in the grocery store. I’m Team Canada 🇨🇦 now. My state is 100% democrats in Congress. Not one Republican. So beyond encouraging them to keep fighting, I feel there’s not much I can do. It’s the residents of Red States that really need to step up now.

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      1. We do hear that many US citizens are supporting us and we do appreciate it. Like I mentioned, it is not the American citizens, it is the current administration causing the chaos for everyone. Thank you for your support. Stay strong.

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  5. A friend’s son who worked in the Department of Transportation for more than 25 years was forced to resign. His wife still works there but is unsure of her immediate future.

    Another friend tells of her daughter-in-law’s loss of a grant for her non-profit, and of an Ivy League administrator she knows who had to let five of his staffers go because of a grant cutback.

    We must fight back. I continue to write about pressuring our legislators. Despair and apathy, though totally understandable, are just what the authoritarians want.

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    1. Thanks for sharing those stories Annie. And for all you are doing to fight back! Are you in a red state? I’m in Massachusetts…I’m not sure it really does anything to keep reaching out to our 100% Dem delegation.

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      1. I’m in a blue state, but I call my electeds regularly—sometimes to thank them for what they’re doing; sometimes to say “I sure hope you’ll…” Tomorrow’s vote on the continuing resolution is critical. If the Dems hang together, they can slow the onslaught a bit. But some are worried about being blamed for the shutdown that will probably follow—even though Trump and Musk are doing exactly that to the govt piece by piece. So a call saying “Vote no on cloture” could stiffen some spines.

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      2. I just heard on the news that Schumer is going to allow the vote tomorrow and there will not be enough no votes to cause shutdown, but my 2 senators are voting no.

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  8. I work in a very bro-y place and sadly mostly hear distorted comments about how much waste there used to be before Trump, seeming happy about the cuts. Oblivious, giving away the store. I also can’t believe so many people are still shopping like normal as the stock market’s doing what it’s doing.

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