Donald Trump was elected to the presidency in November of 2024, becoming the second president in the history of the United States to serve nonconsecutive terms since Grover Cleveland in 1893. In the months following his victory, dubbed “Too Big To Rig,” he parroted QAnon conspiracy theories claiming that the election was stolen from him in 2020.
He and his cabinet wasted no time in getting to work. Here is your short recap of the first year-ish of Trump 2.0.
Shortly after inauguration day, his sidekick, South African billionaire – and apartheid beneficiary – Elon Musk began work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to do so much austerity that even Thatcher and Reagan would’ve been jealous. This included countless government jobs – many rehired after inefficiencies in daily operations, rolling back of Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) hiring practices, cancer funding – including childhood cancer funding– and Veterans Affairs (VA) programs, to name a few targets.
DOGE is no longer active, having ceased operations around May. The team put together by Musk wasn’t made up of the usual suspects we’d associate with a government agency. According to reporting from WIRED, the agency featured 6 young men, between the ages of 19 and 24, playing key roles within the operation, gaining access to a wide range of sensitive information on millions of Americans.
Tariffs have been another key feature of Trump 2.0. For Trump, this looks like a wishy-washy game in which he bullies any world leader he feels he can, and makes up a high number off the top of his head to impose on countries. Tariffs are an import tax, the cost of which are reflected in what you, the consumer, pays for products in order for the capitalist to still turn a profit. A Reuters report suggests the practice has led to inflation concerns, understandably so amongst consumers. Making the sudden 11th hour reversals from President Trump all the more terrifying, especially given the frequency in which this abrupt change takes place.
What’s the theme here so far? Exhaustion. Every day, you look to the news to see Trump breaking yet another crucial aspect of the state that was bare to begin with, leaving millions of Americans scrambling for help, some worse.
In the last opinion piece I wrote, I discussed Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP) being cut for 42 million Americans in order to afford lofty tax cuts for the wealthiest of earners, bringing Bob Marley’s “Them Belly Full” into full existence. Trump’s administration even fought lower courts asking him to unfreeze SNAP funds meant to feed our people.
All of these issues are real, troubling tangible circumstances. However, none are as cruel as what is happening with Immigration Custom Enforcement (ICE).
Quick background: ICE was founded in the heart of the “War on Terror,” as part of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney’s quest for domination and surveillance of American citizens and beyond. Ever since its founding in 2003, ICE’s budget has continued to climb, making this a bipartisan issue that has plagued American politics in the shadows for many years.
Since January, tens of thousands of innocent human beings have been kidnapped off of the streets for the crime of not fitting into the white nativist normativity in our country today. The Brookings Institute found that ICE was conducting their abductions based on who they feel immigrants are., using one’s geolocation, job, language and appearance as the basis for their operations.
This year has been a whirlwind, yet our commitment to one another remains stronger today than ever before.