Trump is Making Us Question Again (Well, at Least Some of Us) by J.E. Dean

Less than three months into what will be a long four years, President Trump has changed America. Things that were abnormal, and in some cases unimaginable, are now a new normal. Things like accidentally sending an unjustly accused man to a harsh Venezuelan prison, telling America there is nothing to be done about returning the deportee to America, and then defying a court order when told to “facilitate” a return. And, of course, recklessly imposing mammoth tariffs and precipitating an eleven billion dollar decline in the value of the stock market.

And then there is Trump hawking “Teslers” in front of the White House, taking a lap in the presidential limo at a stock car race, and redecorating the Oval Office in garish gold.

I ask myself, sometimes daily, what is going on? Is there a rhyme to Trump’s reason? Maybe I do have some strain of Trump Derangement Syndrome because I can’t find one. I simply reassure friends who claim that “Trump is not right (in the head)” that “this can’t go on.”

This month, after more than eleven weeks of endless Executive Orders, some on paper straws and water pressure in shower heads, as well as angry retribution against perceived enemies, movement is being seen. Trump is shedding supporters. Yes, even true believers, some of them at least, are starting to question Trump.

I wish I could credit the Democrats for this welcome and hopefully-not-too-late movement away from Trump. Some in the party, including Bernie Sanders, AOC, and 25-hour speechmaker Senator Cory Booker, deserve some credit, but the President himself is paving his road out of town. He’s doing it by prompting questions.

Questions are often the best means of finding the truth, but they also are a powerful weapon against autocracy. And people are asking questions. Lots of questions. Questions that Trump, and even Press Secretary Karoline Levitt, a woman friends from New Jersey have called “a piece of work,” can’t answer. Questions like, “Why are you defying court orders?”

Here are a few:

Trump met with right-wing conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer (look her up if you are not familiar with her), who advised the President that two national security advisors were not “loyal.”  Trump fired them. Is the President taking personnel advice from Loomer? Why?

Who in the White House developed the formula for Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs?” The tariff rates have been described as unrelated to tariffs but instead reflect, in part,  trade deficits with individual countries. Why were tariffs imposed on an uninhabited island, but not on Russia? And, most importantly, now that the U.S. (and world) economy has been shaken to its core, why is Trump willing to precipitate a world depression?

Is Trump aiding or participating in insider stock trading? Anyone knowing that Trump was about to “pause” most of his tariffs could have bought stocks low and sold them high the next day. Senators Schiff and Gallego want to know who knew what when. They smell a rat.

Why did President Trump appoint clearly unqualified people to cabinet-level offices, especially RFK, Jr.? Check the spread of measles across the south and southwest, especially Texas. My personal question: Why haven’t you fired RFK, Jr.?

And what about “Signalgate?” Why did President Trump’s National Security Advisor accidentally add an Atlantic Magazine writer to the text exchange? More importantly, why did none of the other call participants confirm who was on the text exchange?

And what about retribution? Law firms are being extorted for representing clients and, just this week, a former Trump official has been accused of treason for questioning Trump’s policies during the President’s first term. My question:  Will Attorney General Pam Bondi seek an indictment for someone who disputed Trump’s claim that the 2020 election was stolen?

Trump is sinking in the polls but seems too busy golfing to notice. Or too busy redecorating the Oval Office in gold, watching Elon Musk dismember the federal government, and otherwise engaging in behavior that is reminiscent of Benito Mussolini, the man who in addition to forming a disastrous alliance with Hitler, sought to take Italy into a golden age.

The people—Trump supporters and everyone else—are starting to realize what Trump’s America is. It is an America where Social Security offices are closed or woefully understaffed; where veterans are losing access to essential services; where federal support for education, the arts, and humanities is being slashed; and where Trump is making Canada and Mexico look elsewhere for friends.

Dare I say it? This nonsense cannot go on. Mr. President, your policies are impacting people’s everyday lives, including the people who voted for you.  Do you have no shame?

J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, and, too infrequently, other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s List on Medium and Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.